HOW TO USE THIS PLANHOW TO USE THIS PLANMembers of the Community Advisory Group, appointed by the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners, expended thousands of unpaid volunteer hours in the process of developing the policies in the North Mountains Community Plan. To ensure that no single viewpoint dominated the recommendations, decisions were made by consensus. Meetings were held in the community to solicit citizen ideas at the beginning of the planning process and prior to finalizing the Plan. The Community Advisory Group formulated recommendations in response to concerns and suggestions expressed by citizens in the North Mountains area. The Jefferson County Planning Commission held public hearings on the adoption of the Interim North Mountains Community Plan on January 22 and 29, 1992. After carefully studying and weighing the concerns expressed during the public hearings, the Commission unanimously adopted the Interim North Mountains Community Plan on February 5, 1992. The text and maps were then prepared for publication and presented to the Planning Commission for adoption as the final Plan. (See resolution.)
The North Mountains Community Plan policies and maps are an addition to the Jefferson County General Land Use Plan and special plans which apply to the entire County.
The special plans are:
The Mineral Extraction Policy Plan which identifies mineral deposits by quality and type and provides guidelines for mineral extraction operations. These deposits are not shown on the maps that accompany this Plan. Only those areas where zoning for mineral extraction exists are identified.
The Sanitary Landfill Plan which provides guidelines for the location and operation of sanitary landfills within the County.
The Telecommunications Plan which identifies the locations and conditions for siting telecommunications facilities within the County.
The Major Thoroughfare Plan which was drafted by the County's Highways & Transportation Department and shows existing and proposed roadways and improvements.
The Jefferson County Open Space Master Plan which was developed by the Open Space Department and shows the locations of existing parks and open space and some of the areas targeted for future open space acquisition.
Development proposed in the North Mountains area should conform to the maps and policies in this Plan. To determine which of the policies apply to an area where development is proposed, all sections and maps of this Plan should be reviewed.
This Community Plan contains two types of recommendations:
Red text identifies policies which can be applied in the land use review processes; and
Other recommendations address concerns which cannot be resolved through the land use review process and require implementation by the Planning Department, other governmental entities, and/or the community.
Please see the Mountain Site Design Criteria section of this document for related policies in addition to those identified for each issue. The maps which have been adopted as integral to the Plan should be used during land development review processes.
The Community Plan contains policies which have been deemed appropriate at a point in time; it cannot provide for all future changes in economic conditions and development demands. For this reason, Community Plans should be updated periodically to consider unforeseen circumstances.
Departmental procedures provide that exceptions or amendments to Community Plan recommendations may be made at three levels.
1. Exceptions to the Plan may be approved if the original objectives of the Plan are met, impacts are comparable to the recommendations of the Plan, the proposal is a unique situation, and has been evaluated by the community.
This review provides the opportunity to identify changes which have occurred in the community, and revisions which should be made to the Plan.
The research and writing of these historical sketches was done by Jan Brescia, Coal Creek Canyon and Mary Ramstetter, Golden Gate Canyon.