Commissioners debate Resolution 2015 wording, special‑use permits and whether to include nuclear energy

Montezuma County commissioners spent substantial discussion time on Jan. 6 reviewing the wording and implications of Resolution 2015, a board statement encouraging and promoting renewable energy development within the county. Commissioners and staff disagreed over whether the resolution’s language could be read to preclude or bypass land‑use special‑use permit requirements, and one commissioner argued that the resolution omits nuclear energy despite that commissioner’s view that nuclear should be considered a form of clean energy.

One commissioner said language in the resolution “sort of narrows our our options,” and argued that the resolution as written excludes nuclear energy from the county’s encouragement of clean energy. That commissioner added, “I think we need to remove it and get it out of the way,” referring to the exclusion.

Another commissioner, Jerome, raised a land‑use concern: he said the way the resolution reads could be interpreted as allowing renewable facilities on agricultural land without requiring a special‑use permit. Jerome said, “If you have that resolution and you're letting them put that on the ag land … that bypasses your special use permit.” A county legal advisor countered that the resolution is a board statement and does not bind future land‑use decisions. The advisor told the board the resolution “was just a statement at that point in time” and that the board could rescind or amend it if it wished; the advisor said the resolution did not remove the board’s obligation to follow the land‑use code.

Commissioners did not vote to rescind or amend Resolution 2015 at the workshop; staff said the board has options to rescind, amend, or pass a different resolution and that the resolution, as a previous statement of the board, did not legally remove land‑use procedures. The issue was left for further consideration at the next meeting.