County outlines steps for RFL plan

By Linda Bell
Red Feather Lakes Correspondent

The first building block for the Red Feather Lakes Area Plan was put firmly in place on Sept. 14 when county officials finally met with community residents. County representatives missed an earlier date, scheduled for Aug. 18, due to flash flood alerts, which left the community to fend on its own.

In an almost unanimous show of hands, the 50 residents attending the September meeting indicated their intent to move forward with the county to adopt a boundary and create a county-appointed plan advisory committee.

County Commissioner Kathay Rennels noted the window of opportunity for a plan was ideal now, with the $50,000 allocated to the plan in the county budget, her own personal interest in the area high, and Red Feather Lakes already showing signs of more rapid change.

Larry Timm, county planning director, stressed that the plan needs official status and accountability for it to be adopted by the county planning commission. He said the process needs to be fair and open to everyone who wants to participate. All meetings will be public and inclusive to anyone or group affected by the plan, whether inside or outside the plan boundary.

A proposed boundary, using the fire district plus additional outlying undeveloped private land, received support. A map and more information will be online in early October at www.larimer.org.

Dennis Frydendall, president of Red Feather Storage and Irrigation Co. Inc., said his organization has been trying to establish a Red Feather Lakes water district for approximately 10 years, and he was concerned that the proposed district couldn't deliver to additional land outside the current fire district.

Russ Legg, chief planner for the county, said that was just the point of an area plan. A plan that says, "there's no possibility of getting water to that land because the water district stops here, or fire protection because the fire district stops there," saves time for county planners, money for would-be developers and worry for the community, he explained.

An area plan doesn't mean all the land within the boundary would be developed; it only means the county has a way of knowing how the community wants to direct that land, Legg said.

County officials invited people from within the boundary to apply to be on the 12-member plan advisory committee. Residents agreed the PAC should represent the property owners association, business interests, longtime residents, weekend and summer residents, large landowners, the volunteer fire department, water interests and others. Applications for the PAC were due Sept. 28. The county will choose a balanced committee based on community representation and interviews.

Jill Bennett, senior planner in charge of the planning process for Red Feather Lakes, said after the PAC is appointed she expects it to meet monthly for about 18 months. All interested people will be kept informed through teleconferencing and the Internet.

Rennels said the $50,000 budgeted by the county will be used primarily for mailings, staff time and travel, maps and Internet services, likely including a web site. The policy steering committee for the project will be the board of commissioners and the planning commission. A county commissioner and a planning commissioner will serve as ex-officio members of the PAC. State statutes give the county planning commission final responsibility for adopting the plan.

Bennett said the process would probably not be completed until the winter of 2005-2006, but key community meetings would be scheduled for the summer of 2005 when all residents would have a chance to participate.