Commissioners approve Goldenfield preliminary plat for six lots with private road waiver

Adams County commissioners on March 25 approved the preliminary plat for Goldenfield Subdivision filing 1 (PRC 2024-13), a proposal to create six lots on a 38-acre property in the Agricultural 1 (A‑1) zone and to waive the subdivision design standard that normally requires public roads within subdivisions.

Planner Leah Campbell presented the application and staff recommendation. Campbell said the applicant is requesting a waiver to allow a private roadway because of the rural nature of the property and the distance from county maintenance facilities; staff concluded that a homeowners’ management arrangement to maintain the road would better serve the purpose of the standards in this case. All proposed lots meet the A‑1 minimum lot-size and width requirements and the site is designated “agricultural small scale” on the county’s future land use map.

Campbell also described an on-site plugged and abandoned oil and gas well. Staff required that wells, associated equipment, pipelines and flow lines be shown on the final plat and that the well status be confirmed through reports from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission; the well area must include the recorded buffer (mapped on the plat as 100 by 50 feet) and is within a drainage easement that also precludes building in that zone.

Fifty‑one to 56 nearby property owners were notified, Campbell said (presentation records show 45 notifications sent for this case with no comments received), and the planning commission recommended approval 7–0. The board moved and approved the preliminary plat with the recommended findings, three conditions of approval and three applicant notes; the motion passed 5–0.