Boulder County

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Boulder County

COUNTY OFFICIALS WANT TERM LIMITS EXTENDED
Elected Boulder County officials, except Commissioners and the District Attorney, are asking for a ballot question to extend their terms. Six officials, including the Sheriff, Assessor, Clerk and Recorder, Treasurer and Coroner want the County to ask voters to extend their terms by 4 years to 12 years, or three 4-year terms, to provide continuity and expertise in positions that are technical rather than policy focused. Positions such as Coroner are very difficult to attract competent candidates to. That task is made more difficult with term limits. The Board of County Commissioners will conduct a public hearing on the term limit issue on Tuesday, July 12 at 3:00pm in the Commissioners hearing room on the third floor of the County Building at 14th and Pearl.

LAND USE CODE REVISION PROCESS UNDERWAY
County officials are seeking citizen input on needed revisions to the land use code, site plan review processes, customers service and any issues affecting the use or development of private property. Commissioners Toor, Pearlman and Mayer have initiated the code revision project signaling a departure from the command and control posture during the Stuart and Danish administration. County property owners are very engaged in this process and are meeting with planners and commissioners frequently to provide suggested revisions. At the top of property owner’s lists of revisions is the repeal of the building site merger regulations. That regulation, adopted in 1994, arbitrarily merged contiguous building sites that were owned by the same individual and merged building sites that were recorded on a single deed. In 2004, state lawmakers passed legislation making that practice illegal. Boulder County has implemented an administrative process to unmerge merged building sites but the rules have proven to been cumbersome and uncertain. Property owners have been reluctant to apply for unmerging of building sites and are seeking a repeal of the rule and elimination of the unmerge process. Other revisions to the code that are being considered include numerous changes to the site plan review process, green building and energy conservation provisions, sign code, non-conforming uses, and county development standards. The code revision process began in May 2005 and will take two years to complete. Project manager Michelle Krezek can be reached at 303.441.3930 or via email at mkrezek@co.boulder.co.us.