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| On the morning of Tues., July 1, the new Land Use and Development Code for Durango went into effect. Residents lined up outside River City Hall to be the first to either apply for a vacation rental or accessory dwelling unit, or to begin the process for opening a retail marijuana business./Photo courtesy City of Durango |
Brand new day
New land-use code ushers in new era for the City and its enforcers
by Tracy Chamberlin
As the sun came up July 1, residents were already lined up outside River City Hall. Some were there to open retail marijuana businesses. A handful wanted to apply for vacation rentals, and one was hoping to get a permit for an accessory dwelling unit, or grandmother apartment.
All were ready to take advantage of the city’s new Land Use and Development Code.
“It’s like the birth of our new code,” explained City Planning Manager Nicol Killian.
It’s not just the laundry list of new subjects it addresses, like retail marijuana or even chicken permits, that modernize the code and make it about a third longer than the previous version from 1989.
JusttheFactsWhat: Informational meeting on application process for existing accessory dwelling units |
Killian said it’s the detailed code language that allows city staff to be more involved. It’s the new online version with user-friendly tools like calculators that can help a resident decipher exactly how many parking spaces she is required to provide for a three-bedroom vacation rental downtown. Killian called it a progressive code and, more importantly, a living document.
In the past, the Land Use and Development Code, or LUDC, was discretionary. Most decisions were left to whomever was on City Council at the time, often leaving residents in the dark about what was required of them when applying for permits.
The new code takes a performance-based approach, Killian said, which allows for more staff review, less public hearings and more certainty for residents.
However, the updated language and conveniences of the new code are not the only things changing; so is the City’s approach to enforcing it. What was once reactive is now proactive.
A big part of putting the code together was asking residents what they thought. During those public hearings, city staff said they heard a lot about enforcement. How can they ensure that compliance and the code go hand-in-hand?
“We’ll approach it a little different than we’ve approached it in the past,” said City Manager Ron LeBlanc.
Instead of relying on a complaint-driven system, where Code Enforcement officers respond to grievances from the community, the City plans to take a proactive approach to potential code violations.
One way to do that is with the new CORE Team, which pulls people from different city departments to create a team that consists of managers and specialists in certain fields.
Enforcement of retail marijuana, for example, is assigned to the Police Department. “They have the background,” LeBlanc said. “(They are) familiar with how these places operate.”
Vacation rentals and accessory dwelling units fall under the purview of the Planning Department.
Because vacation rentals are typically advertised on websites like VRBO and Craigslist, those can be more easily verified, and the City plans to hire a company to assist with the process. LeBlanc said they’ve chosen a company, but have yet to sign the contract.
The most complicated piece of the enforcement puzzle is the accessory dwelling unit, commonly referred to as 4 an ADU, which City staff plans to bring to City Council at its July 8 study session.
When it comes to ADUs, the first step is to inspect the unit and determine if it meets safety code. “We can’t allow someone to stay in a place that’s not safe,” LeBlanc said.
The second step is to ascertain the circumstances under which the unit came into being.
In 1940, there was no zoning. No mixed use, no light commercial, no residential. It wasn’t until 1941 when the first zoning maps sectioned off the city. And, the first Land Use and Development Code didn’t come into existence until 1989.
City staff would need to find out when the accessory dwelling unit was built, and whether or not taxes and fees were paid. Those units constructed between 1941-89 will be given some leeway concerning variances, but fees will have to be paid. The units built after 1989 are considered illegal and will be required to go through a more rigorous process.
“We’re going to deploy every possible option that we have,” LeBlanc said. “Our first is to work with the owner, work with the tenant. But we can’t do that if there’s a life safety issue. We can’t allow it to continue.”
Residents are asked to come to the city starting Aug. 1 and voluntarily register the unit.
City officials said they are willing to work with those who do come in voluntarily. For example, creating incentives that could include variances or asking local banks to create payment plans to cover past taxes and fees.
This voluntary registration process will continue until the end of the year. After that point, city officials will be going out full force.
“If someone is not forthcoming, then they have to pay extra,” LeBlanc said.
First class: City considers taking proactive approach with college rentalsVacation rentals and ADUs weren’t the only buzz words coming out of conversations about the City’s new Land Use and Development Code. According to Greg Hoch, director of planning and community development, the City heard a lot about college rentals during public hearings on the LUDC. And, not all of the feedback was positive. The City is not looking to create a habitability code or a property maintenance code, Hoch explained. What it is looking for is a way to take a proactive, hand-in-glove approach to college rentals by engaging both landlords and students, and offering incentives for working with the City. “I think the City could take initiative,” Hoch said, “… (to) try and rectify the problems that college rentals have on a neighborhood.” Since students at Fort Lewis College are required to live on campus during their freshman year, Hoch said, it would be best to initiate the program at the end of a student’s freshman year. That would be the time when they would be looking for their first rental unit. The program, essentially an orientation on how to rent in a community, would address questions like “What does it take to be a good neighbor?” Hoch said it would be ideal if the college would institutionalize the program, making it a part of the system, running year after year. On the landlord side, Hoch mentioned a landlord/tenant initiative in Salt Lake City, also called the Good Landlord Program, where landlords recover up to 95 percent of the expenses of managing rental units, like fees and permitting costs, in exchange for completing an educational program. City staff plan to mention these ideas to City Council during a July 8 study session, but at this point it’s just a concept that they’ll explore over the next few years. - Tracy Chamberlin |