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State bill adds county-commission approval step to Pitkin County comprehensive-plan process, staff say
Summary
Pitkin County planning staff told the Board of County Commissioners that a recently adopted state law required county commissions to review and approve comprehensive plans; staff said they plan a joint review with the Planning & Zoning Commission and target a final draft for mid-2025.
Pitkin County planning staff told the Board of County Commissioners at a joint work session that recent state legislation modified the county's master-planning statute to add a formal county-commission review step to the comprehensive-plan process.
"The county planning commission will continue to make and adopt the comprehensive plans, but now there's an additional review by the Board of County Commissioners," staff member Ellen Susano said, summarizing the statutory change noted in county materials. Susano told commissioners the change appeared in state legislation included in meeting packets as "Senate Bill 24174," described there as part of a broader housing bill that also amended master-planning language.
Susano and an online colleague, Cara Silbernagle, said the practical effect is a new joint review step: planning staff and the Planning & Zoning Commission will continue to draft and refine the countywide comprehensive plan, but the Board of County Commissioners must now review and approve the final plan. Staff said the Planning & Zoning Commission would likely adopt by resolution and the county commission would approve by ordinance.
Pitkin County staff said they plan to continue working with the Vision 2050 work group and the Planning & Zoning Commission, bring critical policy issues to the commissioners as they arise, and target a joint P&Z/commission review of a final draft in mid-2025 (staff used "June 2025" as a planning target).
Cara Silbernagle said the new step is similar to procedures used by some municipalities and that the change will align county practice with municipal processes in some respects. Staff did not propose an immediate amendment to county code; rather, they described the change as an additional review step laid out by state law and incorporated into the county's timeline for its comprehensive-plan update.
No formal action was taken at the work session. Staff said they would return with draft plan language and bring the final draft forward for joint consideration by the Planning & Zoning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners when ready.
