RLUC passes 10-year mark

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

The Rural Land Use Center's director, Jim Reidhead, marks his 10th year with Larimer County this month--a job not without controversy over how to fit a new model into old ways of doing business.

Nevertheless, he and his small staff exude pride in doing their part to keep housing development off parcels of private land important for agriculture, wildlife and scenic views. Their tally has surpassed 8,000 acres--all accomplished by working out voluntary agreements with landowners to protect part of their acreages and to cluster new housing in places where it makes sense.

"We measure success with the rural land use process not by what we get, but by what we don't get," Reidhead said.

In the mid-1990s, county residents decided it was time to give rural landowners a different, and perhaps better, option to splitting up their acreage into 35-acre tracts. State law gives landowners the right to subdivide into 35-acre parcels without any county land-use review. Their other option was to undergo rigorous land-use scrutiny through the subdivision process with the reward of getting smaller lots and more homes. The RLUC aims for something in the middle.

To make the rural land-use process possible, local legislators had to get a new state law passed in 1996. The county had to set up procedures outlining its expectations and development guidelines. Reidhead had to test the concepts with real people.

"The rural land-use process isn't easy, but it's easier," he observed.

To use the process, a person has to own 70 acres or more. A landowner with 70 acres, for example, could easily split it into two 35-acre parcels, which would allow two homes. Under the RLUP, however, a landowner agrees to not develop at least two-thirds of the total area and, in exchange, get up to double the housing units.

Since 1996, 54 property owners with nearly 11,000 acres have used the process. While the RLUC has been criticized for being too generous with its bonus housing units, Reidhead notes that many of the approved home sites have not been developed. About 6.5 percent of the lots already had homes, 26.5 percent have new homes, but 67 percent of approved lots remain undeveloped.

"Our applicants have other goals than just development," Reidhead said. Goals range from estate planning to raising money to help farming operations stay in business.

Some have said only farmers should be able to use the process because the original intent was to protect agriculture. "The county attorney has assured me it's illegal to make a distinction between real farmers and developers," Reidhead replied.

Landowners using the RLUP can choose to put a covenant on their residual land that restricts development for a minimum of 40 years. Some, however, choose to place a covenant or conservation easement on the property in perpetuity.

Those with 40-year covenants--the first come due in 2038--can then petition the county to remove the deed restriction. If further development is approved, the landowner must purchase the development rights at then current market value. Reidhead speculated that revenue from development rights might go to the county's open lands program, because the RLUC doesn't buy anything.

The RLUC runs with a 2.5-person staff. Along with Reidhead, Brenda Gimeson works full time. She is office manager and plans coordinator - the person who provides information and guidance to help clients get their projects to completion.

Gimeson, with a background in agriculture and transportation, joined the RLUC in June 1997. "I'm really proud of the fact that the RLUC is successful in helping the ag community," she said.

Vicki Scharp works halftime as administration assistant.

One of the biggest unresolved issues for the RLUC is how to monitor the management agreements for the undeveloped residual land. Reidhead will soon ask the county commissioners to approve a new fee for forest management plans, which will pay for periodic monitoring, but there is no plan for other properties unless a land trust is monitoring a conservation easement on the property.

"We have a bit of reprieve because the original applicants are still on the property," Reidhead said of his concerns.

The ultimate measure of success for the RLUC, he acknowledged, is the long-term quality of those protected lands.