The process to create a new master plan to direct development in Jefferson County has begun.
A new plan, which will be approved by the Jefferson County Council, will replace the current document, which was adopted by the old three-member Jefferson County Commission in August 2003 and was amended in 2013 and 2018.
County Executive Dennis Gannon said the old plan has served its purpose.
“It’s obsolete,” he said. “Things change, people change and the way people think changes. Certainly the dynamics of the county have changed since 2003.”
The plan is intended to be a guideline for development in the county for the next two decades, Gannon said.
“It’s intended to be a plan, a guideline,” he said. “It’s not a set of laws. And what people should know is that we can’t infringe on anyone’s property rights with this or any other plan.”
County Services Director Eric Larson agreed.
“It’s a framework, a guide on how to grow,” he said.
Among other things, the 2003 plan, a 116-page document, designates areas for primary, secondary and reserve growth. The primary growth areas are where development would be focused and generally are around municipalities and along major highways.
“Since the last (master plan) was drawn up, many things have changed around the county. There are plenty of new housing developments, a few commercial developments,” he said. “The question now is how did all that turn out, did those things go in the right spots, but more to the positive, where do we want those things to go in the future? How do we move ahead?”
Gannon said the administration wanted to start developing a new master plan earlier, but the COVID-19 pandemic diverted their focus.
He said the process to get a master plan to the County Council likely will take “12, 13 maybe 14 months. I can tell you when we did this at Jefferson College (when he was a member of the Board of Trustees), it took quite a while.”
The County Council agreed in March to award a one-year contract to Housel Lavigne Associates LLC of Chicago, Ill., to serve as the planning consultant for the master plan process. The council agreed to pay the firm up to $300,000 for its services.
An 11-member advisory committee of county government officials and others met for the first time on Sept. 8 to discuss the development of the master plan. Larson said Sept. 16 that the next meeting had not yet been scheduled.
County Councilman Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart), who has pushed for a new master plan, is a member of that group and he said the first meeting was productive.
“It was a good meeting, but I’m a little disappointed that this group seems to be top-loaded with people from the county administration,” Groeteke said.
Gannon said that’s by design.
“There are a lot of (county) staff members on the committee to coordinate the activities of the process, to keep it moving. There will be plenty of opportunity for public engagement,” he said.
Gannon said over the next few months, there will be community meetings and focus groups to collect input about how the new master plan should be written.
In addition, the county’s website, jeffcomo.org, has a link at the bottom of the home page for the master plan called “Visualize Jefferson County” that allows residents to provide information.
The site includes a questionnaire about residential and commercial development, community services, transportation, parks and recreation and the strengths and weaknesses of the county.
It also includes an interactive map.
“You can put in on the map where there are problems with traffic jams, for instance, or a place you might think would make a good park,” Gannon said.
Other subjects the public may pinpoint on the map include community assets, areas that should be preserved, public safety concerns, existing uses that are undesirable and areas that should be developed.
“The map went active this morning and some people already have used it,” Gannon said Sept. 16.
Providing information on the map requires users to create an account.
The site also will include information about public meetings concerning the master plan.
“We’re hoping that as many people participate in this process as want to, either by participating in meetings or just going to the website and filling out the questionnaire. Everyone’s thoughts are important,” Gannon said.
He cautioned that while the plan is intended to direct growth, it will not be a document designed to restrict development.
“We all know Jefferson County has a lot of green space and that there are people here who don’t want anything else to come in to the county,” he said. “But people are going to move to a place that they find desirable, and we’re not going to be able to prevent that. It’s a supply-and-demand thing. But we can, with a new master plan, provide a guideline to where and how that happens.”
Groeteke said he hopes the new master plan will be developed with plenty of public input, which should make the planning and zoning process less combative.
“This plan isn’t about what I might want,” he said. “I want it to be what our citizens want for their county.”