San Miguel County adopts new excavation, grading and driveway standards

San Miguel County commissioners on Feb. 5 adopted an amendment to the county land use code that adds a new section regulating excavation and grading and updates countywide driveway standards. The board passed the resolution after a public hearing and a staff-led presentation of technical thresholds and review procedures.

County senior planner John Huebner told commissioners the new rules set a clear permit threshold and require engineering on larger or higher-risk projects. "The cutoff or the point at which a grading permit will be required is if a project has more than 50 cubic yards of excavation and fill not associated with the construction of a building or structure," Huebner said during the hearing. The amendment also treats ponds 24 inches or deeper as triggering the grading standard.

Why it matters: County staff and the planning commission said the code change is intended to prevent substantial, unpermitted site disturbance that has generated enforcement problems in the past, to protect neighboring properties from altered stormwater flows and to provide predictable engineering review when safety or erosion risk is higher.

Key features adopted - Permit threshold: grading permit required for projects moving more than 50 cubic yards of material (cut + fill), or for ponds 24 inches or deeper. Huebner explained staff will use a double-counting method to calculate total movement (cut plus fill). - Engineering thresholds: projects that exceed 1,000 cubic yards generally require plans by a Colorado-licensed professional engineer; engineering is also required for cuts greater than 3 feet, retaining walls over 4 feet, cut slopes steeper than 3:1 and other safety/geohazard conditions. - Driveway standards: updated countywide driveway rules now require engineering for steep or long driveways (for instance, 8% grade or longer than 500 feet triggers additional review) and require review by Road & Bridge if a driveway is adjacent to a county road. - Stormwater, revegetation and bonding: larger disturbances (one acre or more cumulative) will require revegetation plans, weed control and financial guarantees to ensure site stabilization. - West End exception: the board added an explicit exception so that in the West End Zone District the grading standards will not apply to "uses allowed by right" under section 5-3-20 (the county's existing list of allowed-by-right uses), while retaining review for higher-intensity or special-use proposals.

What staff said: Huebner and planning staff told the board they had surveyed other jurisdictions and consulted the county engineer in drafting the amendment. Huebner noted some driveways and grading that have historically escaped permitting created erosion and sediment issues and the new rules provide a clearer, administrable standard.

Public comment and commission discussion: Planning commissioners who reviewed the draft had split views about applying the new standards countywide; several participants at the hearing urged allowing discretion for certain West End projects because many West End uses are on very large parcels and are already subject to other review processes. The board settled on a specific carve-out for West End allowed-by-right uses while maintaining that special uses and data centers will still be fully reviewed.

Vote and next steps: The board moved and seconded the planning department recommendation with the added West End language and adopted Resolution No. 2025-03. The motion carried on a 3-0 voice vote. Staff will update the code text and record the resolution; applications filed after the effective date will be reviewed under the new standards.

Ending: The county planning department said it will publish guidance and checklists for applicants, including examples of how staff calculates cut-and-fill volumes and when applicants should expect to provide engineered plans.