FLOOD00941

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Stream Name: State rivers and streams
• Title: Progress Report State Land Use Plan and Management System
• Date: 2/1/1972
• Prepared For: State of Colorado
• Prepared By: Colorado Land Use Commission
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

6

Zoning Resolutions at the County Level

A general assessment of the problems of zoning in Colorado must mention the general
lack of consistency in ordinances, the small number of zoned counties, the shallowness
of many of the resolutions, and the practice of zoning without reference to well-drawn
and adopted plans. On the positive side, we may be optimistic about the progress being
made to establish zoning in critical unzoned counties, and about the high degree of in-
novation exhibited by several counties in developing positive land use controls.

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. LAND USE POLICIES AND
CONTROLS NEEDED

eight million gallons per day in thirty years and roughly twenty million gallons per day
by the year 2050. If one million acres should develop in the manner and at the densities
proposed by this development, these lots could generate three times the state's currenf
population and insatiable water, sewage, and public service demands.

Future control over the development or redesign and development of such a subdivision
is critical as, like this development, many subdivisions are being promoted for sale for
investment potential which will likely lead to increased pressure for increased densities
which would, in turn, lead to greatly increased water and sewer requirements.

Further, experiences in other parts of the country have proven that as population con-
centrations and transportation routes change, areas which were once rural in nature
and seasonal in use have been quickly converted to densely developed permanent
residences with serious problems, including those of inadequate water and sewer
capabilities and inadequate school facilities.

2.
COUNTY LAND USE PLANNING AND CONTROL

. STATUS

Early in its investigation of planning needs in Colorado, the Land Use Commission began
to survey the status of local land use plans and controls. This work has been expanded to
include documentation of plans and controls relevant to problems identified at the
workshop meetings. The work done to date indicates the principal causes for the lack of
control over subdivision activity in the state.

. Land Use Plans

Brief Critique of Land Use Planning at the County Level

A vast majority of county plans are not based upon coherent programs and often
represent little more than arbitrarily created portrayals of development or, at the other
extreme, simple extension of past development trends. These plans vary in content as
well as geographic coverage dependent upon the matters with which the counties were
concerned, the type of professional assistance available, and the degree of local in-
volvement.

. Zoning Resolutions