Larimer County officials told commissioners on Sept. 22 they broadly agree with Colorado Department of Local Affairs draft guidance meant to inform local comprehensive plan updates under SB 24-174 but urged clearer language and stronger attention to mountain communities and local authority limits. Rebecca Everett, the county's Community Development Director, reviewed the Strategic Growth Report, the Vital Landscapes and Resources Report and an accompanying Strategic Growth Policy Scan that DOLA is issuing ahead of 2026 deadlines.

The reports were created to inform local updates to comprehensive plans required by SB 24-174, a 2024 state law that seeks to encourage housing production and related planning. Everett said the Strategic Growth Report focuses on land-use strategies that "promote the development or redevelopment of vacant and underutilized infill parcels" and that the Vital Landscapes report is largely a best-practices resource on conserving habitat, agricultural lands and open space. "This is pretty directly aligned with Larimer County's policies and land use planning strategy over many decades," Everett said.

Why it matters: the DOLA reports will be a required input for comprehensive-plan changes beginning in January 2026, and local governments must incorporate consideration of the guidance when they update plans. County staff said they are reviewing draft chapters and the policy scan and are preparing comments to submit to DOLA on behalf of Larimer County, including feedback on chapters 3 and 4 (the transect and scenario analysis) that have a near-term comment deadline.

What the county flagged

- Local-authority concerns: Staff noted a specific passage in the state's policy scan that describes local "10 41" powers as possibly giving local governments an effective veto over regionally important infrastructure. Everett said Larimer County does not believe that characterization is fair based on the county's experience and flagged the language as a concern to raise in comments. Commissioner Jody Shattuck McNally said she has "very troubling concerns about any potential limitation on temporary 1 powers" and urged the county to push back.

- Mountain-community relevance: Commissioners and staff said portions of the transect and scenario analysis appear tailored to lower-elevation, Front Range contexts and do not clearly reflect constraints and travel/transportation realities in mountain towns such as Estes Park. Commissioner CFOLLIS asked for examples; Everett replied the analysis does not make clear which reference communities were used and that metrics such as walkability, transit access and housing price drivers operate differently in mountain terrain.

- Clarity and tone: Staff described the draft documents as "academic" and said the reports would benefit from clearer plain-language summaries, better organization and an explicit wrap-up that identifies the policy intent and recommended next steps for county planners.

Areas of alignment and tools: Everett told the board that many of the strategies in the policy scan already align with Larimer County practice. She noted the county's emerging transfer-of-development-rights (TDR) program is directly aligned with the state's strategic-growth goals and that Larimer County received a state grant to work on that program.

State process and outreach: Commissioners asked whether DOLA had engaged mountain communities directly. Everett said DOLA has held targeted focus groups but the statutory deadlines produced a fast drafting schedule and county staff have not seen statewide public outreach at the depth the county would typically expect for a county-level planning effort. Several commissioners said they have spoken informally with planners in other mountain counties and found similar concerns.

Next steps: County staff will consolidate comments and submit suggested edits to DOLA, stressing the need to clarify the treatment of local authority (the "10 41" language), to better represent mountain-community contexts and to improve plain-language summaries. The county will monitor final publication timing so staff can incorporate the reports into the county's required comprehensive-plan update ahead of 2026.