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Larimer County community development staff outline 2025 work plan; department flags capacity limits and state deadlines
Summary
Community Development Director Rebecca Everett presented the department's 2025 work plan to the Larimer County Board of County Commissioners, outlining major projects, statutory deadlines, funded programs and limited staff capacity. Commissioners discussed priorities, potential grants and the timing of several code and plan updates.
Rebecca Everett, Larimer County community development director, presented the department's proposed work plan for 2025 during a Jan. 27, 2025, work session, describing active projects, funded deadlines and a list of potential policy priorities that the department said it may not have capacity to complete this year.
The department emphasized operational demands—building permits, plan review and development review—alongside several multi‑year projects. Everett said the department has "about 50 staff within community development" and described 2025 as a heavy year for internal software implementations and process reconfiguration that will consume significant staff time.
Key active and near‑term items: Everett identified the inter‑governmental reimplementation and the electronic plan review (EnerGov) implementation as two of the heaviest current workloads. She said those software and process changes are expected to wrap up this quarter but will require significant staff engagement in 2025. The department also has multiple major 1041 permit applications under review that limit planning capacity.
Projects with funding or statutory deadlines include the transfer of density units program (DOLA grant funds must be used by September 2026) and several state law–driven updates to building and land‑use codes with staggered deadlines through 2026. The department listed Proposition 123 implementation tasks that require action to access associated affordable housing funding in the coming year.
Potential policy priorities: Everett presented a list of possible projects that could be prioritized if capacity is freed: lighting code education or amendments (a budget line exists from last year), manufactured housing zone district implementation (application of the adopted zone to existing manufactured home communities), cottage cluster housing code, Special Events code updates, and water master plan implementation as it relates to land use. She noted the comprehensive plan update will be required by state law but that state guidance is not expected until late 2025, so the county would not begin that work until 2026.
Commissioner discussion and next steps: Commissioners asked for more detail on staff time and costs for specific items and suggested scheduling additional time for a deeper prioritization conversation. Leslie Ellis (from county staff) clarified that some Water Master Plan actions are being pursued across other departments and that the community development department's role is principally the land‑use pieces. Everett said staff will continue to prioritize current mandated and funded work and return with more refined sequencing and cost estimates when capacity allows.
No formal votes were taken. Commissioners asked staff to follow up with additional information on estimated consultant costs for priority items (lighting code, flood/water master plan actions) and to propose timing for a future continued discussion on prioritization when workload permits.
