Pitkin County staff release draft Vision 2050 comprehensive plan and outline public review process

Pitkin County planning staff told a joint meeting of the Planning & Zoning Board and the Vision 2050 work group that they have released a draft Vision 2050 comprehensive plan and will begin a months-long public review and adoption process.

The draft plan “is a draft plan that is many years in the making,” Miles Graham, facilitator for the Vision 2050 work group, told the assembled commissioners, caucus representatives and community members. Staff said the review will include public open houses, an online story map and a community survey, a series of Planning & Zoning work sessions in September and October, and subsequent public hearings before the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) ahead of final adoption.

The draft plan updates the county’s long-range guidance and will be followed by code changes, staff said. Suzanne Wolf, Pitkin County community development director, told the group the plan’s adoption will be followed by amendments to the land use code and to building and energy codes as part of an implementation package.

Staff emphasized the plan is advisory: Ellen Susano, long-range planning manager, said the document draws in more topics than earlier master plans, such as transportation, water and community health, and will inform—but not automatically change—zoning. “The focus of development, first and foremost, remains within the urban growth boundary,” Susano said.

Several caucus representatives asked for clearer mapping in the draft. Marcela (last name not specified), a caucus representative who spoke repeatedly during the meeting, and Melanie Buckholtz, Frying Pan caucus area representative, both pressed staff to confirm whether the plan will include a parcel-by-parcel future land-use map. Staff responded that they do not intend to produce a traditional parcel-by-parcel future land-use map for the entire county because of scale and workload, but that they will produce a mapping product to illustrate character zones and will carry forward existing caucus-area maps where they already exist.

Buckholtz said she had located what she believes are errors in the land use code and in the caucus overlay mapping for the Frying Pan Valley and asked staff to review chapter 3 of the land use code and the overlay maps. “I believe that I have identified an error in both the land use code and on the mapping of our caucus area,” Buckholtz said, asking staff to follow up and clarify whether an intended cap on maximum allowable floor area had been removed in error.

Staff repeatedly told the group there is no current staff proposal to change the county’s urban growth boundary. County staff also said they plan a mapping exercise as part of the upcoming community outreach and that they will share materials in advance with the work group. The team encouraged caucus representatives to help direct constituents to the story map and survey and said in-person pop-ups and other outreach would begin as materials go live.

The presentation also described the plan’s history, noting the BOCC declared a climate emergency in 2019 and that a community growth advisory committee (CGAC) produced recommendations that informed the draft. Staff said the draft ties those values to technical analyses and that these analyses will help guide the code updates that follow adoption.

The county asked stakeholders and caucus representatives to review the draft and engage in the scheduled outreach events; staff said additional work sessions with Planning & Zoning will flesh out chapters and the implementation plan before the plan returns to the BOCC for adoption consideration.