Board approves Cliffside open‑space purchase; upholds and denies two rural land‑use applications

Boulder County commissioners on July 8 approved several land use and land acquisition actions, moving forward a parks acquisition and resolving two contested site plan matters.

Cliffside open‑space acquisition approved

Tina Burkhart, Land Officer Supervisor for Parks & Open Space, presented a proposed fee‑title acquisition of roughly 53 acres at 1810 Stone Canyon Road northeast of Lyons. The property, owned by Cindy and David Johnson, is adjacent to county open space and federal BLM land. Burkhart said the county will use conservation trust/state lottery dollars to purchase the parcel at an appraised value of $1,160,000 and will complete a Phase I environmental assessment prior to closing. "The purchase price is $1,160,000," Burkhart said in the staff presentation. Commissioners moved and approved the acquisition.

Jogus Garage (SPR‑24‑0098) — board denies application

Community planning staff summarized the record for a garage/site plan review previously called up by the board. The focus of deliberation was whether the application overcame the presumptive size maximum via subterranean construction. Assistant county attorney Erica Rogers told the board they could uphold, not uphold, or approve with conditions. After discussion, a commissioner moved to deny SPR‑24‑0098 and not uphold the director’s determination, finding that the application did not overcome the presumptive size maximum; the motion passed.

Barrows Trust storage barn appeal (SPR‑24‑0087) — director’s determination upheld

In a separate appeal, staff recommended upholding the director’s determination limiting a proposed detached residential storage barn because the applicant had not demonstrated minimal visibility or sufficient subterranean mitigation to overcome the size presumption. Applicant Melanie Albert described property constraints and neighborhood rebuilding and asked the board to account for recent permits in the neighborhood. After questions and review of site photos, commissioners agreed with staff that the basement and walkout features were sufficiently visible to count toward total residential floor area and voted to uphold the director’s determination, limiting the detached structure accordingly.

What this means

The Cliffside purchase will be finalized after environmental review. The Jogus Garage denial prevents the applicant from proceeding under the current submission; staff provided options (deny, approve with conditions, or require resubmittal). The Barrows appeal result constrains the size of the detached structure to the director‑approved limit rather than the larger barn the applicant had proposed.