Pitkin County planning commission recommends adoption of Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code text amendments

ASPEN — The Pitkin County Planning and Zoning Commission voted Jan. 20 to recommend that the Board of County Commissioners adopt land-use text amendments to align county regulations with the Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code (CWRC).

Planning staff presented the package of edits — which modify chapters 6, 7, 9 and 11 of the county land-use code — and outlined a schedule for the Board of County Commissioners: first reading Feb. 25, second reading March 25 and the code becoming effective roughly 30 days after public notice, likely in late April or early May. "Today, we are talking about the Colorado wildfire resiliency code land use text amendments," staff said while walking the commission through the proposed changes and the state mapping that assigns much of the county to medium and high wildfire-intensity zones.

Why it matters: the state’s model code standardizes wildfire mitigation measures such as defensible space, roof and window requirements, and structure-hardening measures. Staff told the commission that many technical rules (for example, building materials and structure-hardening details) will move into the building code, while the land-use code will reference those building-code requirements so the county does not duplicate regulatory language.

Key points and clarifications

• Hazard mapping: Staff showed the CWRC…