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Pueblo County planning staff seek broad updates to Unified Development Code, including PUD vesting and larger ADUs
Summary
Planning staff presented a package of Unified Development Code amendments proposing PUD vesting rules, relaxed ADU size limits on large lots, wireless facility clarifications, agricultural sign standards, and administratively approved subdivision exemptions; staff recommended approval and will return with formal action items.
Pueblo County planning staff on Tuesday presented a set of proposed amendments to the county’s Unified Development Code intended to clarify standards and ease known implementation problems, including new vesting language for Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), relaxed accessory-dwelling-unit (ADU) size caps for large lots, and updated rules for wireless facilities and agricultural signs.
Joe Peoria, Planner II with Pueblo County Planning and Development, told the Board that staff focused this round on structural changes rather than typographical fixes. On PUDs, staff proposed adding vesting capabilities to provide predictability for large, multi‑year projects and removing granular requirements — such as building‑to‑building setback specifics — that are better handled at the site‑plan stage. "We've added some vesting capabilities," Peoria said, describing the intent to let approved PUD entitlements run with the land through a long build‑out while allowing flexibility for later site‑level design changes.
Peoria said staff will include mechanics in the draft (for example, transferability of densities and a percentage‑based vesting benchmark has been discussed) but that a precise percent for automatic vesting is not yet finalized. Commissioners raised typical tradeoffs: some urged tighter identification of intended uses to avoid locking in obsolete program elements, while staff said the approach allows transfers of uses and densities within a PUD over time.
On ADUs, staff proposed loosening the existing 40% cap tied to principal‑dwelling size for large lots, citing an example of a 40‑acre parcel with a 1,500‑square‑foot principal home that under current rules would be limited to a 600‑square‑foot ADU — a size customers report cannot be purchased off the shelf. Peoria said the allowance would remain tied to lot and house size but be relaxed on large parcels to enable practical secondary dwellings for family or caretaker needs.
Other proposed changes include explicit authorization for wireless communications facilities in the PL (public lands) and CF (community facilities) zones to avoid creating unintended nonconformities; new sign‑size tables for agricultural zones and reduced residential sign allowances where current limits have proved too large; a response to Colorado Senate Bill 245 that adds landscaping standards addressing artificial turf and invasive plants; and a recommendation to move many subdivision‑exemption approvals from Board action to administrative director approval to streamline routine two‑lot divisions and similar filings.
Peoria recommended approval of the package of technical and substantive edits and said staff will return the draft amendments as formal action items at a future Board meeting. No final votes on the code package were taken at the work session.
