Jacobs Conservation Development - Larimer County Planning File # 21-LAND4170
Sandra Biedron
10 June 2025
Commissioner John Kefalas
Larimer County Board of County Commissioners
Via email to: jkef...@larimer.org
Commissioner Kristin Stephens
Larimer County Board of County Commissioners
Via email to: kste...@larimer.org
Commissioner Jody Shadduck-McNally
Larimer County Board of County Commissioners
Via email to: JShadduc...@larimer.org
RE: Jacobs Conservation Development
Larimer County Planning File # 21-LAND4170
Dear Board of County Commissioners:
My name is Sandra Biedron, and I reside at 5005 Westridge Drive. I am writing to express my opposition to the Jacobs Conservation Development application. This application would subdivide a 35-acre lot in the Hidden Springs Subdivision. I am opposed to the application for the reasons stated below:
A. Lack of Notice to All Necessary Persons:
1. To approve the subdivision, the county must waive the requirement for public road access under Larimer County Code section 5.3.1.A. By doing so, this would change the volume of traffic on Hidden Springs Road and Living Springs Lane.
2. The only road connecting County Road 38E to Hidden Springs Road and Living Springs Lane is Westridge Drive.
3. We were not provided notice of this subdivision application, and the proposed waiver of the public road requirement under section 5.3.1.A., even though our home is located within 500 feet of the private roads in question (Hidden Springs Road and Living Springs Road) which would be utilized to serve the subdivided parcel.
4. The additional traffic will also impact Westridge Road.
B. Lack of a record showing a legally established right to utilize private roads for a subdivided parcel.
1. Larimer County Code section 5.3.1.A. requires that all roads in land divisions must be public rights of way, unless among other things, there is an easement that grants access.
2. The declaration of covenants attached to the application shows that there is an easement for a single lot, but not for two lots. The declaration further shows that the architectural control committee must approve a lot subdivision. (See Article VII section 7).
3. There is nothing in the materials submitted in the application showing that the homeowners association or its architectural control committee has approved the subdivision, or the additional impact on the private road which it maintains. While the applicant stated in the hearing before the planning commission that a court has overruled the declaration of covenant’s restriction on subdivision, no such orders were attached to the materials before the planning commission.
4. In addition, Larimer County Code section 5.3.1.C.1 requires the applicant to set up a public improvement district to fund road maintenance. The declaration of covenants attached in the materials before the planning commission does not create a public improvements district with taxing authority to fund road improvements. Instead, it is a private homeowners association which may or may not fund road improvements based on the terms of a private declaration of covenants. The planning commission appears to assume that the HOA will fund additional road maintenance, but this is not the requirement of section 5.3.1.C.1. A public improvement district is required, and the applicant has not shown the willingness or ability to create such a district to fund road improvements.
5. Section 5.3.1.B.1 only allows a waiver of the public road requirement if there is no foreseeable purpose for a public right of way. Here, Hidden Springs road has a history of use as an emergency public access. Under those circumstances, there is a foreseeable purpose for a public right of way in the future. This issue should be evaluated by the board of county commissioners.
6. The board must make its decision based on the evidence submitted to it because the board is acting a quasi-judicial capacity. If it does so, it cannot approve the waiver of the public road requirement under Larimer County Code section 5.3.1.A.
C. Subdivision of one 35-acre lot will result in a precedent that will probably result in many future lot subdivisions, but there has been no evaluation of cumulative impacts as required by Larimer County Land Use Code section 5.8.6.B.
1. Because the subdivision will set a precedent allowing division of 35-acre parcels in the area, this could ultimately result in a substantial increase in traffic volumes on Westridge Drive, which is the only means of access from Hidden Springs Road to CR 38E.
2. This could result in substantial traffic impacts on Westridge Drive, which have not been evaluated.
3. Larimer County Land Use Code section 5.8.6.B states that “…where the potential exists for multiple conservation developments within one-quarter mile of any boundary of a proposed conservation development to reach a combined total of more than 250 dwelling units, the County Commissioners shall review the cumulative effect of such developments.” Under Land Use Code section 5.8.3.C.1, the total developable number of lots is equal to the number of acres effected, divided by the minimum lot size. As noted in the application materials, public sewer is available, so the minimum lot size is 21,780 square feet (0.5 acres). (See Land Use Code section 2.2.3.B and Zone RR2). Even assuming that only parcels within 1,320 feet of the boundaries of applicant’s property are counted (and not every parcel within 1,320 feet of Hidden Springs Road), the total acreage affected appears to be at least 175 acres. Based on a minimum lot size in Zone RR2 and the calculation mandated by section 5.8.3.C.1, there are well over 250 potential lots required for a requirement that the Board of County Commissioners evaluate the cumulative effect of potential future development.
4. A cumulative effect evaluation is especially important since the proposed development’s cumulative effects could substantially increase housing density in an area which is an urban-wildland interface area, creating potentially severe problems for emergency access in a wildfire because the roads in the area were designed for the current density.
D. The application does not comply with the requirements of Larimer County Land Use Code sections 5.8.1.C, 5.8.3.A, and 5.8.5, which require an enforceable residual land use restriction. Section 5.8.1.C states that “Residual land is held in open space with limited uses, which may include conservation, agricultural production, and general open space. Most residual parcels are placed in conservation easement for perpetuity.”
1. Residual land is depicted for one of the applicant’s lots but not both.
2. There is nothing in the application that shows that the applicant has agreed to place residual land into a conservation easement for any of the purposes permitted under section 5.8.5 of the code. Nor is there a development agreement that would impose a similar restriction. This violates sections 5.8.1C., 5.8.3.A, and 5.8.5.
Your decision to approve or deny the application is a quasi-judicial review, and we respectfully request that you deny the application based on the factual matter contained in the record before you.
Sincerely,
Sandra Biedron
5005 Westridge Drive
Fort Collins, Colorado 80526
Rebecca Everette
Rebecca Everette, AICP (she/her) Community Development Director | |
Community Development Department 200 W Oak St, Fort Collins, CO 80521 Phone: (970) 498-7690 |
FYI and for the public record.
John Kefalas (he/him)
County Commissioner, District 1
Commissioners' Office
PO Box 1190, Fort Collins, CO 80522-1190
Cell: (720) 254-7598