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Montezuma County approves amended high-impact permit for storage and sales yard at 7500 Highway 160-491
Summary
The Board approved an amended high-impact permit for Country Style Investments LLC (agent Kevin Rice), recording past approvals and allowing reduced setbacks on the east and south to encompass a southeast storage/shop on the 9.6-acre property at 7500 Highway 160-491 in Cortez.
On Jan. 27 the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners voted to approve an amended high-impact permit for Country Style Investments LLC, agent Kevin Rice, covering property at 7500 Highway 160-491 in Cortez and allowing reductions to the minimum setbacks on the east and south sides of the parcel to encompass an existing southeast storage/shop.
Planning staff told the board the property carried an unrecorded letter permit from about 2000 for a storage operation and that subsequent approvals in 2018 authorized additional storage buildings and the sale of used vehicles and equipment but were not formally recorded as a high-impact permit. The applicant submitted an application to formally record a high-impact permit that includes the 2023 southeast building and requests reduced setbacks; staff said the City of Cortez and a neighboring business to the south provided letters of non‑opposition to the reduced setbacks.
Commissioners and staff discussed zoning and setback standards: staff noted commercial/industrial side setbacks generally measure 25 feet while commercial/industrial to residential setbacks are 50 feet. Planning staff explained that the high-impact permit process can authorize exceedances of threshold standards without a variance when impacts are not significant, which is why the amendment was processed in that form.
A commissioner moved to approve the amended high-impact permit as presented; the motion was seconded and the board recorded unanimous support (ayes). The board directed staff to record the new high-impact permit and the associated maps so the property’s approvals are documented in the county record.
The decision formalizes prior approvals that had existed primarily in meeting minutes and internal files and brings the southeast building and historical uses under a single recorded permit. The county noted that any future expansions would be reviewed through the same high-impact process.
