Planning director wraps up 20 years with county

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

Larry Timm, retiring from a long career in land-use planning, will probably be one of those diehards who watches public hearings on cable television.

Timm, 64, who left the job of director of Larimer County's planning and building division on Aug. 25, admitted that he will likely be tuned in to the county's Sept. 9 hearing on forming an intergovernmental agreement with Wellington. It's a project he's spent a lot of time on in the last year, and some controversy still remains.

This month, county commissioners and planning commissioners will be hearing from rural residents who don't want to be included in Wellington's growth management area. On the possibility the commissioners want to recommend changes to the town's GMA, a work session for town and county officials is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 29.

An intergovernmental agreement with Timnath also remains elusive as Fort Collins and Timnath work out the boundary to which each community might grow. Timm said the county wants to make sure current annexation agreements developers of rural subdivisions signed with Fort Collins remain in force.

Timm's tenure with Larimer County started in 1973. His first stint ended in 1979 after serving for four years as planning director. He then spent 17 years as a community development director for cities in Wisconsin and in Grand Junction. He returned to the planning director's job in Larimer County in 1996.

"I was surprised at the lack of change (in county planning), except that we were in the middle of the master plan process," Timm observed. "The codes were virtually the same as when I left."

Physically, however, Larimer County had changed a great deal in 17 years, he added.

One new concept from the second master planning effort is conservation developments that require clustered housing and preservation of larger spaces.

"My impression is that they do work," Timm said. "They're more accepted now than when they came out in 1999. Having smaller parcels (for homes) and common open space adds to the value of their property."

In the last decade, the planning department has come under fire for its work on updating livestock regulations. County commissioners twice abandoned their efforts after contentious public hearings.

"A lot of people didn't know we had regulations," Timm said, "so they thought this was a new layer and they resisted it."

A different department, the Rural Land Use Center, is now working with citizens on improving regulations for horse facilities only. (See page 20.)

Timm is well aware of the differences between his perspective as a planner and the anxieties of people trying to develop property or expand a business.

One principle of the master plan is to keep rural areas rural, he said, which deters business development or expansion under the county's code.

"We're not against business," Timm said. "It's just where is the best place to put it. The best place is where it can grow and mature, and that's not in a rural area."

Timm said the planning department doesn't try to drag out the approval process, but some projects come in with unresolved, serious issues. Examples include lack of legal road access or lack of water rights.

"Sometimes the developer can't solve them at all," he said. "If a project comes to us with no problems, it would go through pretty fast."

Looking at the department's future, Timm noted that the county master plan is 12 years old and ought to be revisited within five years. "Finding the money is going to be difficult," he added.

In his future, Timm sees camping, golfing and volunteer work. His wife, Anna, is a recently retired first-grade teacher.