Red Feather Lakes plans to create local business zone
By Linda Bell
Correspondent
A public review in May of the proposed Red Feather Lakes Business zone,
which will eventually be added into the Larimer County Land Use Code, brought
out a handful of interested business owners who voiced no dissent and even
offered some congratulations to county planners on the proposed conditions.
The Red Feather Lakes Planning Advisory Committee endorsed the business
zone proposal in April.
In crafting this section, applicable to new construction only, county planning
officials took into account the special nature of the existing conditions
in Red Feather Lakes. For example, said county planner Jill Bennett, there
is no established provision in the existing code for having residential
and business use on the same lot, or two businesses on one lot.
Lucille Schmitt, member of the PAC and a longtime local real estate agent,
said the business zone is the first step in applying the Red Feather area
plan in a practical way, and it's something the community has been working
toward for a long time.
At present, the entire Red Feather Lakes plan area is zoned O-Open. Schmitt
said a business zone within the larger open zoning would greatly alter
how things are done in the future. It will be easier for new businesses
to be built within the zone, assuming they meet county planning and health
codes, and for existing businesses to function and change without costly
special variances. At present, Schmitt said, all businesses in Red Feather
Lakes are classified by the planning department as preexisting nonconforming.
Bennett said the timeline for the proposed business zoning section calls
for review by the county planning commission in June with final wording
going to the county commissioners in July.
She said the actual rezoning process will be initiated at the August PAC
meeting. Once the zone is created, Bennett said, existing business property
owners will be able to apply without cost for the new zoning designation.
The new zoning will then be reviewed by the planning commission in September
and finalized by the county commissioners in October, she said.
The full text of the business zone proposal is available on the county
web site at www.larimer.org/redfeather/business_zone.htm.
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