Planning commission shortens public-comment rules, hears concerns about Xcel Energy Power Pathway

The Elbert County Planning Commission on May 20 voted to amend its public-comment practice so the chair may extend an individual speaker’s time up to five minutes, citing an inadvertent change in the published time limit.

During the meeting’s public-comment period, Carrie Giblets of the Elbert County Environmental Alliance thanked county staff for information resources and called attention to Xcel Energy’s Colorado Power Pathway. She said the transmission project could increase interest in wind and solar development along routes and warned landowners to anticipate related land-use applications. “Colorado's power pathway will carry the approximately 5,500 megawatts of new wind, solar, and other resources Xcel Energy plans to add through 2030,” Giblets said, adding that she had been told engineers said facilities could be placed “anywhere within 35 miles of the transmission line.”

Following public comment, the commission considered an internal rules change after staff noted an inadvertent change had allowed five-minute public comments rather than the three minutes in the bylaws. Commissioners moved to amend the bylaw so the chair may grant speaking time at the chair’s discretion up to five minutes; the motion carried.

The commission also discussed staff-proposed “redlines” to the rules and regulations, including removing the county’s economic development zone (EDZ) language and deleting a duplicative “concept brief.” Staff said the full set of redlines is under review by the county attorney and will be provided to the commission before a final vote. The commission asked CDS to provide the redlines in advance of the next planning commission meeting; staff said the remaining items would be prepared for the June 17 meeting and later forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners.

Why it matters: Speakers cautioned that new transmission enables developers to interconnect generation projects, which can lead to more land-use applications in rural counties. Commissioners asked for clarity from the county attorney about how removing an EDZ would affect pending applications.

Commissioners asked CDS to secure the county attorney’s presence or response before the June 17 meeting because legal clarification will be needed on how any change could affect EDC (economic development) applications already in process. CDS staff said changes to regulations do not go into effect until the BOCC approves and the recordation process completes; staff also said they would gather the specific legal timing and present it at the June 17 meeting or by email ahead of the BOCC hearing.