HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES Town Board Joint Study Session 2018-06-14
Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado June 14, 2018
Minutes of a Joint Study Session meeting of the ESTES PARK TOWN
BOARD, LARIMER COUNTY COMMISSION, AND ESTES VALLEY
PLANNING COMMISSION of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County,
Colorado. Meeting held at Town Hall in the Board Room in said Town
of Estes Park on the 14th day of June, 2018.
Town Board: Mayor Jirsa, Mayor Pro Tem Walker, Trustees Bangs,
Cenac, Martchink, Norris and Zornes
County Commission: Chair Johnson and Commissioners Donnelly and Gaiter
Planning Commission: Commissioners Doyle, Foster, Hull, Leavitt, Murphree,
Schneider, and White
Also Attending: Town Administrator Lancaster, County Manager
Hoffman, Attorney White, Larimer County Attorney
Haag, Community Development Director Hunt, County
Planner Whitley and Town Clerk Williamson
Absent: County Commissioner Gaiter, Mayor Pro Tem Walker and
Estes Valley Planning Commissioner Murphree
Meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Jirsa and co-chaired by Larimer
County Commissioner Johnson.
Mayor Jirsa and Commissioner Johnson provided opening remarks and stated the joint
meeting would be a collaborative effort to discuss the development of a new
Comprehensive Plan for the Estes Valley. Commissioner Johnson stated Larimer
County has been developing a new Comprehensive Plan for the County minus the
Estes Valley. The process provides the community with the opportunity to be involved
in the future planning of the area and to address the concerns, wishes and desires of
the community. He further discussed the use of Systematic Development of Informed
Consent (SDIC), the need to identify the stakeholders including those with dissenting
viewpoints, utilize a fair process, and the process would require significant staff
involvement.
EVPC Chair Leavitt commented a new Comprehensive Plan would provide a vision for
the community 20 years from now, identify the key issues impacting the community, a
framework for future planning and zoning, the need for full and active support
throughout the development of the new plan, broad engagement by the community, and
the need for guidance on planning and zoning issues before the new Comprehensive
Plan has been completed and adopted.
Timeframes
The initial timeframe outlines advance work to be completed in 2018, core task list to be
completed in 2019-2020, and final adoption in early 2021. The advance work would
identify roles and responsibilities, identify the entities and stakeholders to be involved in
the process, and defining working groups.
Trustee Cenac stated the Comprehensive Plan should be a living document reviewed
and updated on a regular basis. She stated funds should not be allocated to the project
unless the document would be updated after formal adoption. She recommended an
update every 3 to 5 years.
Joint Town Board Study Session – June 14, 2018 – Page 2
Discussion ensued on the timeframe and when a consultant could be hired to begin
work on the development of the planning process and when could community meetings
be held. It was noted by staff, the 2021 adoption would be the worst-case scenario and
the timeline could be accelerated. The group discussed the need to adopt the Plan
prior to the next election, with some members stating the new Board would need to
have buy in because they would be implementing the Plan and corresponding code
amendments. The general consensus was to complete the Plan as soon as possible to
move the community forward.
EVPC Commissioner Doyle stated the development of a grant application and securing
funding for a consultant would take time and may not be identified until later in 2018.
The EVPC, staff and stakeholders can develop a proposal prior to identifying a
consultant. This would allow the Town and County to drive the direction of the process
rather than the consultant and complete work in advance.
Commissioner Johnson stated a combined grant application with the Town and County
would be seen by DOLA as a stronger application. County staff could assist the Town
in developing the grant application because they recently completed a successful
application for the County’s Comprehensive Plan.
Suggested Budget
EVPC Chair Leavitt stated the Planning Commission would request additional funding
for 2018 to complete initial work and hire an additional administrative assistant for the
project.
Trustee Martchink requested information on the process used by the County to begin
the Comprehensive Planning process and questioned if staff completed tasks prior to
identifying the consultant. He stated concern with completing work that would need to
be redone by a consultant. Prior to issuing an RFP/RFQ the County identified the work
to be completed, frame work for what is comprehensive, topics of concern, and identify
key elements such as identifying areas (neighborhoods). The use of local citizen
boards provided extensive knowledge on key areas of concern for the community.
Trustee Norris stated consensus was reached on identifying key stakeholder groups,
start discussions with stakeholders, begin grant application, and develop descriptive
RFP. Trustee Cenac stated the Board has not agreed to move forward with the project
and funding, which should be addressed at an upcoming meeting before moving
forward.
Director Hunt stated staff would request additional funding, $5,000 in funding from both
the Town and County, and $10,000 from the current Community Development fund
would be used to complete advance work in 2018. He stated an RFP/RFQ would be
ready in September.
Other Resources:
Director Hunt stated the staff would be busy with this project and would require
additional resources to ensure normal work load and project work load are completed
on time.
Consultant Selection
Director Hunt reconfirmed the RFP/RFQ would be completed in September 2018 and
released in late November/December once the 2019 budgets have been approved.
Trustee Cenac questioned the procedure used to select the consultant. Director Hunt
stated the selection would be made by the Town and County through an interview
process. The RFP/RFQ would be reviewed by all three bodies prior to release.
Content
EVPC Commissioner Doyle reviewed plans from Fort Collins, Fruita, Salida,
Silverthorne, Parker, Ault, Lakewood and Summit and Garfield County plans to identify
Joint Town Board Study Session – June 14, 2018 – Page 3
the specific content of Comprehensive Plans, including introduction and background,
vision, guising principles and future directions, issues and elements, implementation,
action plan and monitoring, and appendices. Overall Comprehensive Plans tend to be
very similar in content and the items addressed.
EVPC Chair Leavitt stated Resolution #08-17 outlined the key elements to be
addressed through an update of the Comprehensive Plan.
Director Hunt stated reviewing well structured Plans developed for Colorado
communities would aid in the development of a structure for the Estes Valley
Comprehensive Plan. He also stated the process utilized by Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
a successful community driven process, would be appropriate.
Stakeholder Involvement
EVPC Chair Leavitt stated the stakeholders should be identified and engaged at the
beginning of the process. County Manager Hoffman stated the County had success at
engaging the community by attending events already established such as a pancake
breakfast. The County utilized a stakeholder group with a representative from each
neighborhood and large groups. This group would provide feedback and report back to
the main stakeholder group.
Trustee Norris stated the community can be divided into retirees, working families with
and without childcare needs, and Hispanic community as stakeholder groups.
Administrator Lancaster would recommend the Board and Planning Commission attend
SDIC training. The training addresses the process for identifying the affected interest
parties in order to address each groups different interests through a process of Citizen
Participation by Objective (CPO).
Consensus
Trustee Norris would provide a list of items in which consensus was reached including
items related to the content of the RFP/RFQ proposal, stakeholder identification, SDIC
training and use of the CPO process, timeline, communication plan, grant application,
and identifying a steering committee. Both the Town and County would schedule the
item for an upcoming meeting to take action on supporting the Comprehensive Plan
project. The DOLA grant application would be prepared and submitted in December.
Miscellaneous
The group discussed concerns regarding the process and comments have been
summarized: concerned with the scope and the amount of work to be completed,
direction of the process continues to be unclear, how to get public engagement, the
process should be comprehensive and involve all sectors of the community, identifying
a creative consultant, utilizing an effective community engagement process similar to
the process used by Jackson Hole, develop and interim plan to move applications
through the process during the development of the new Plan, and develop a plan to
regularly update the new Plan once it has been adopted.
There being no further business, Mayor Jirsa adjourned the meeting at 7:38 p.m.
Jackie Williamson, Town Clerk