Council adopts land-use code changes after trimming proposed color rule; PDO, parking and process updates approved

The Timnath Town Council on Oct. 28 adopted amendments to the town land-use code addressing parking-dimension standards and the Planned Development Overlay (PDO) process, but removed a proposed subsection that would have regulated building color.

Town planners told council the three-part package was intended to provide clearer design guidance: (1) a new, enforceable rule on building color; (2) dimensional standards for parking spaces borrowed from Larimer County urban-area street standards (including a provision allowing the town planner to vary dimensions up to 10%); and (3) tightened PDO review criteria to ensure flexibility delivers measurable public benefit. Staff said PDO language has sometimes been used to create wide deviations from zoning standards — reduced open space, diluted façade articulation, overparking and tree monocultures — and proposed new performance criteria tied to innovation/economic benefit, environmental performance, transportation/connectivity and community amenities.

Logan Graves (planning staff) summarized the PDO revisions and said staff wants to maintain flexibility while tightening the nexus between deviations and public benefit. Planning commission had recommended the package with discussion about exceptions and thresholds; staff recommended a 5-acre minimum threshold for PDOs with case-by-case consideration for smaller projects and a required neighborhood meeting for all new PDO applications.

Public commenters included William Welch (Ladera infrastructure) and Grant Nelson (Ladera/Connell Resources). Welch told council Ladera already provides many of the community and transportation amenities listed in the proposed PDO criteria and warned against duplicative requirements. Nelson urged that established PDOs and existing negotiated standards not be unfairly constrained by new rules and asked for clarity about how the revisions would affect ongoing projects.

Council debated the building-color subsection extensively. Several members raised implementation and enforcement concerns — particularly how a color rule would operate for existing single-family homes and repainting — and noted many single-family neighborhoods already regulate color through homeowners associations or metro-district architectural controls. Mayor Robert Oxmacher proposed either adopting the color rule across all zoning districts or dropping it from the current package. Councilmembers agreed to strike the building-color subsection from the ordinance and adopt the rest of the amendments.

The council approved the ordinance as amended by voice vote. The adopted changes standardize parking dimensions, preserve a limited ability for staff to vary dimensions by up to 10%, require neighborhood meetings for new PDOs, and add performance criteria to ensure PDO deviations demonstrably serve public objectives. Staff will return with additional guidance and implementation details as needed.