Routt County planning commissioners recommend easement vacation for Ski View Estates Lot 2

Routt County Planning Commission members unanimously recommended that the Board of County Commissioners approve an easement vacation and rededication for Ski View Estates Lot 2, an applicant request to replace an existing loop turnaround with a T-shaped turnaround.

The action stems from a regrading plan for a new driveway that will render the recorded loop easement impractical. Planning staff presented the request as a minimal change that maintains a required turnaround while reducing the easement area encumbering Lot 2. Michael (planning staff) told the commission the Oak Creek Fire Protection District supports the new turnaround because the old loop “is not ideal for their needs.”

Walter McGill of Four Points, who presented the applicant’s site plan remotely, said the existing loop “encumbers a very significant portion of the lot” and that the proposed regrading will prevent use of the earlier easement. McGill added that the new turnaround would still meet service and emergency access needs.

Commission staff explained the procedural reason the item was heard in a public hearing rather than on consent: the Unified Development Code (UDC) permits many easement vacations to be handled on consent when they accompany a reduction in density, but this request does not reduce density and therefore required a public hearing. Staff recommended approval.

After no public comment, a motion to recommend approval carried unanimously. The commission approved the recommendation with the findings and conditions listed in the staff packet.

The Planning Commission’s action is a recommendation to the Routt County Board of County Commissioners, which will have final authority on the easement vacation and rededication.