The Chaffee County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a package of "glitch-bill" amendments to the countys land use code, addressing implementation problems that surfaced after the code went into effect Jan. 1.

The board approved changes that add a Wildlands Resource Preservation (WRP) zoning district intended to cover publicly owned lands, rename the countys existing Public Conservation Recreation (PCR) zone to "backcountry" for clarity, remove maximum building-coverage percentages in favor of landscape-surface-ratio standards, and make a handful of targeted map corrections.

Planning staff presented the package after a multi-month review. "One of the changes we're proposing is to add the Wildlands Resource Preservation Zone to cover all the public lands and change the name of the PCR, Public Conservation Recreation Zone, to backcountry," the planning staff presenter said. The renaming is intended to reduce public confusion about whether large tracts of federal public land had been given county-level conservation designations.

The board took public testimony for more than two hours. Speakers included property owners who asked for parcel-level corrections in the zoning map; residents who said recent habitat mapping and increased stream setbacks have made remodels or new construction impractical for longtime homeowners; and owners/operators of long-standing rural-resort properties who asked to be rezoned to mixed-use rural so their existing and planned operations could continue without conditional-use barriers.

Key public concerns included:
- New wildlife-habitat map designations that increased stream setbacks from 100 to 300 feet on some parcels, effectively shrinking buildable envelopes for homeowners and making some remodels impractical; public commenters asked for a site-specific, professional mitigation-review pathway. (Commenters asked staff to allow case-by-case setbacks when supported by Colorado Parks & Wildlife or a qualified ecological professional.)
- Requests for parcel-level zoning corrections in areas where the updated zoning map did not align with long-standing uses, including commercial operations along state highways and historic rural resorts that operated for decades.
- Calls for an overlay for the Smeltertown area that would tailor standards to a unique mixed industrial-residential neighborhood.

Commissioners expressed support for a two-track response: adopt the technical amendments now and direct planning staff to continue follow-up with commenters to resolve parcel-specific or site-specific issues. "I do believe there's ways that we can, hopefully, remedy these situations because it does feel a little bit restrictive in certain cases," Commissioner Gina said after public comment.

The board voted to approve the glitch bill package with several manager-level directions: rename PCR to backcountry; adopt the WRP zone for public lands; remove maximum building-coverage provisions in the zoning tables; include a proposed change to the landscape-surface-ratio minimums for the WRP zone (planning staff proposed 99.9% LSR in the discussion); and add selected map corrections, including rezoning a cluster of parcels near Highway 50 to mixed-use corridor and adjusting specific lots near Johnson Village and Buena Vista.

Motion and vote: A motion to adopt the planning commissions recommendation as amended passed unanimously (commission vote recorded as "Aye" by the board); staff were directed to prepare a final resolution reflecting the boards amendments and to return draft language.

Discussion vs. decisions: The meeting combined legislative adoption (the glitch-bill package) with directions for staff to follow up on individual public comments. Commissioners instructed planning staff to contact commenters and prepare potential site-specific solutions, and to propose an internal, clearer process for alternative compliance and habitat-map corrections.

Why this matters: The adopted changes are designed to reduce implementation confusion from the new county land use code while allowing staff to address property owners legitimate site-specific concerns. Some homeowners and long-standing businesses asked for additional changes; commissioners directed staff to continue work and return with refined options.

What to watch for next: A draft resolution capturing the boards amendments, follow-up memos to commenters, and future agenda items for any parcel-specific legislative rezones or administrative alternatives for habitat setbacks and alternative compliance.