San Juan County planning officials held a special public hearing Dec. 31 on proposed updates to Chapter 6 (subdivisions) of the county's Land Use and Development Management Ordinance and approved the chapter as amended by staff.

The Planning Commission opened the hearing to comply with a state mandate that the county adopt an updated subdivision ordinance by the end of the year. Kristen Stellar, the county planning administrator, said the single-chapter hearing focused on meeting the legislature's deadline so the county would not risk losing road funding tied to compliance.

The move shifts review for many smaller subdivisions from a two-step public process'planning commission review followed by county commission review'to an administrative approval process managed by the planning administrator and a multi-disciplinary review team. "We actually have a full review team," Stellar said. "That includes the health department looking at engineered septic. That includes roads, our surveyor, our attorney. I manage all those people and then kind of combine it all together." She said reviewers sign the approval block when their pieces are complete.

Public commenters raised concerns about whether the new requirements would be overly burdensome, and whether administrative review removed a public forum for neighbors. "It appears that this is going right into final documentation in order to get administrative review, which is going to be hugely expensive and prohibitive for a lot of developers," said George Matoka, a resident of Montezuma Canyon. Matoka asked whether consultants would be hired to review engineering documents and urged clearer numerical triggers for when additional infrastructure requirements apply.

Online commenter Steven urged the commission to clarify certain land-use tables and usage categories in the broader ordinance, including allowed uses for residential and community commercial lots. Another commenter identified only as T. asked who would perform administrative reviews; Stellar responded the administrator oversees a team of specialists and that each reviewer signs off on the Mylar when requirements are met.

Commissioners and commission members discussed key features and safeguards in the draft chapter: a definition of "simple subdivision" limited to 10 or fewer lots, a requirement that plats be recorded within 30 days of approval, a 20-business-day timeline for each county review cycle, and a 25-foot frontage/access requirement intended to limit the creation of multiple small lots off a single county road. Janice (staff member, legal) noted that the county relied on state code (referred to in the meeting as CLEDMA/KLEGMA in the transcript) for some appeal and notification provisions and said adverse parties retain rights under that statute: "Under CLEDMA, any adverse party can, they have rights to object, and their timing for doing so is the 10-day period," Janice said.

Several commissioners said they were comfortable delegating routine, small-lot subdivisions to administrative review but asked staff to notify commissioners as new subdivision applications arrive and to flag cases where adjacent owners are adversely affected. "If there's an adversely affected party, bring us into the loop," one member said. Staff agreed to add commissioners to a live, updated list of incoming applications so the commission can request a hearing where warranted.

After the hearing and subsequent discussion, the commission voted to approve the Chapter 6 subdivision ordinance updates with the redline changes highlighted by staff. The motion carried; commissioners directed staff to retain notification and appeal safeguards drawn from state law and to clarify language about review timelines and documentation requirements.

The approved Chapter 6 will be included in the broader Land Use and Development Management Ordinance package to be considered by planning commission and then the San Juan County Commission at subsequent hearings in January.