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Residents press San Juan County over land-use ordinance process; commission directs planning, administrators to coordinate
Summary
Dozens of residents told the San Juan County Commission they lack notice and meaningful opportunity to comment on a proposed 2025 land‑use ordinance; commissioners asked staff and the planning and zoning commission to coordinate a general‑plan update and report back by the next meeting.
Dozens of residents told the San Juan County Commission on Aug. 5 that they are frustrated with how the county is handling a proposed update to the 2025 land‑use ordinance and with notices for planning events.
The public comments included multiple complaints that changes submitted months ago have not appeared in the publicly posted draft and that notices of planning staff outreach were not widely distributed. “We are not happy with how this is going,” said Shannon Brooks of the Monticello area, citing petitions and hundreds of signatures she said demonstrate public concern.
Why it matters: The commission and planning and zoning commission are working on related items — a narrow revision to the land‑use section of the county general plan and a broader ordinance rewrite. Several speakers told the commission that process confusion and uneven public notice have eroded trust and made it harder for property owners to plan for rezonings, nightly‑rental permits and other approvals.
Speakers asked for clearer timelines and more public outreach. Marjorie Hans Torland of Old LaSal said she was “frustrated with the apparent incompetence, dishonesty, and lack of accountability” around how a July 31 planning‑staff office hours session at the La Sal Community Center was announced. Connor Simmons, a property owner on Tara Drive, described a protracted dispute over a business license and rezone that he said has left him in legal proceedings and without a hearing. “My livelihoods are on the line,” Simmons told commissioners.
Commission response and next steps: Commissioners directed county administration and the planning and zoning commission to coordinate a path forward rather than pause the work. The commission asked county administration to convene planning staff, the planning and zoning commission and state agency partners to identify which parts of the general plan the state can assist with and to bring an updated timeline and a recommended scope of work to the commissioners for the Aug. 19 meeting.
Commissioners said they expect planning and zoning to remain central to drafting ordinance changes, and they asked staff to develop a public‑notice and outreach plan — including how planning staff will post redlined changes online — before further drafts are finalized.
What remains unsettled: Speakers asked for a longer public‑comment window and for the county to publish all redline changes promptly. Commissioners accepted those concerns as process issues to be addressed in the two‑week follow up; no ordinance text or legal changes were approved at the Aug. 5 meeting.
Ending note: The commission told residents it would return with a coordinated timeline and options at the Aug. 19 meeting so citizens can review proposed outreach and the scope of any consultant work before the county moves ahead.
