Land Use Development Code (LUDC) Update

LUDC Update Project "Pagosa Springs Plans Forward"

The Land Use Development Code (LUDC) is a planning tool used to implement the goals of the Town’s adopted 2018 Comprehensive Plan by regulating current and future development within the Town. The purpose of the LUDC Update project is to:

• Clarify existing standards to better set expectations for elected and appointed decision makers, applicants, property owners, staff, and the public.
• Update regulations to best practices for things like drainage, floodplain management, and constitutional sign code.
• Align standards to implement the community vision as outlined in the Pagosa Springs Forward Comprehensive Plan.

Project status:

The LUDC update was initiated in 2021. The project was supported by a steering committee of appointed public representatives and subject matter experts along with a professional consulting team. Initial public input from survey responses and open-house attendance provided direction to the steering committee, consultant and staff to begin revising the LUDC draft. Draft regulations were published for public comment. The project, however, was put on hold due to staff capacity.

In February 2023, re-started the project by receiving the redlined draft with all steering committee comments. Since then, town staff has been working diligently to synthesize the comments, accept changes, and make further revisions to meet the project goals.

Staff received additional direction from a joint work session in May with Town Council and Planning Commission on: residential standards, requirements for the sustainability menu, the proposed East End Overlay, the proposed Put Hill Overlay, and revisions to the sign code.

Your feedback is essential to ensure the code revisions align with the community's needs and vision. A summary of survey responses can be found here: LUDC Topic Survey Summary

The next iteration of the draft code is ready for public comment. The draft chapters are considered the 90% draft which include staff's recommended substantial changes and additions. Staff will receive additional direction on the drafts at the July 25 Planning Commission work-session meeting and July 27 Town Council work-session meeting. With adequate public response and Town Council support, staff anticipates bringing the code to a public hearing for Planning Commission's recommendation on September 12, 2023. The Town Council first reading for adoption is expected October 3, 2023 and the second reading on October 19 or November 7 depending on feedback from the first reading.

Note: The Flood Damage Prevention Section 6.2 is the model flood plane ordinance for Colorado and needs to be adopted prior to the rest of the LUDC.

The draft sign code (Section 6.13) is ready for public review. You can also review the redlined changes and change log specific to the sign code.

Staff is continuing to work on recommendations Article 5 for Historic Preservation and will publish this section at a later date.

Review the Change Log for the 90% draft. Additional changes from public comment and Town Council direction will be logged in a separate document.

Please note, some people had issues accessing the documents from the LUDC Topic Survey. If you experience a bad link or trouble loading the PDF, please email konsager@pagosasprings.co.gov and we will send the PDF's to you.