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Council upholds planning commission on gravel-pit power line: poles not "structures," CUP and conditions sustained
Summary
After extended testimony from neighboring landowners, Reese's representatives and Rocky Mountain Power, Summit County Council found that the wooden utility poles installed to serve a gravel pit are excluded from the county's definition of "structure," upheld the planning commission's retroactive conditional use permit and sustained the condition requiring the line be placed in the center of the recorded easement or be buried.
Summit County Council resolved a multi-issue appeal July 26 over a power-line extension installed to serve a gravel pit operated by Reese's. The dispute involved three linked questions: whether utility poles and distribution lines are "structures" subject to setback rules; whether a conditional use permit (CUP) approving the extension was valid; and whether the Planning Commission reasonably conditioned the CUP to require the line be located in the center of the 50-foot recorded easement or be buried.
Neighbors (the Vernon family) appealed the community development director's interpretation that poles and lines are excluded from the county definition of "structure." Bradley Vernon and other neighbors argued the wooden poles function as "utility towers" and should be treated as structures subject to setback and height limits. The county's planning staff and commission pointed to code language that includes "utility towers and…
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