Pueblo County officials outline faster enforcement steps for long-term camping, illegal structures and dumping

County officials and local partners detailed plans on Sept. 24 to accelerate enforcement against long-term camping, unauthorized short-term rentals in sheds and illegal dumping across Pueblo County.

Commissioners and county staff focused on land-use limits, the civil-infraction process and ways to give deputies and inspectors faster tools to address campsites that remain on private property for weeks or months. Unidentified county staff explained the baseline land-use rule as "14 days within a 30-day period," and said county enforcement must currently follow notice requirements that delay immediate action.

"Under the land use code . . . we can write a civil infraction ticket, which is a $100 ticket," an enforcement official said during the meeting. Staff said a ticket can be issued for each day a violation continues, and that the county is working to streamline issuing civil infractions with deputy cooperation in court.

Commissioners described a staged notification process: an initial notice, a second-letter follow-up and a third notice that triggers fines. One commissioner noted that monetary penalties, introduced in June, have not yet fully deterred long-term camping.

Officials outlined several alternative enforcement avenues depending on on-site conduct: trespass laws, fire-code violations and solid-waste citations. But staff warned those tools have separate procedural requirements, including the possible need for warrants or additional court testimony, and therefore may not enable instant removals.

Participants also raised new enforcement problems discovered recently: county staff said they had issued a notice of violation after finding a roughly 5-by-10-foot shed without utilities being rented as a campsite for about $10 a day. Building-division staff emphasized that while structures under 200 square feet generally fall under different permitting rules, they can still violate zoning and occupancy restrictions; the county can post structures as unsafe to occupy or disconnect utilities when appropriate.

Health-department representatives said they can require proof of proper gray- and black-water disposal when hoses or discharges are visible and can issue notices. They typically aim to respond within three days for non-emergent complaints and will act immediately for active discharges.

To reduce duplication and delay, county staff proposed a centralized complaint hub and improved information-sharing across sheriff, health, planning and building divisions and metro districts. The idea would create a county position or shared routing mechanism—using OpenGov or a similar service—to triage complaints and direct them to the correct office or partner municipality, staff said.

Staff also reported ongoing code updates: an update to the solid-waste code and a broader, multi-month revision of the Pueblo County building-division regulations intended to increase enforcement efficiency.

What happens next: staff said they will return with formal code-change requests and procedural proposals to the board for approval and to coordinate with deputies to ensure civil-infraction tickets can be issued and supported at hearing if necessary.