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Castle Pines council directs staff to draft prohibitions for eight "moratorium" uses in west-side business area
Summary
After a staff review of a temporary moratorium on eight business types, council members signaled support to direct staff to draft code language to prohibit those uses in the West Side business district and to return with specific standards.
Community Development Director Donna Farkinson told the council the point of the temporary moratorium (Ordinance 25-05) was to pause approvals while the Planning Commission and staff studied eight uses — body-art services (tattoo parlors), car washes, junkyards, pawn shops, payday loan services, major and minor vehicle services, and vape shops. "The moratorium was put in place to allow time for the planning commission and staff to work through our unified land development code process and to study these uses and their potential fit within our community," Farkinson said.
The Planning Commission evaluated each use against Castle Pines Citys comprehensive-plan goals for land use, economic development and public health, Farkinson said, and recommended use-specific approaches. For body-art services the commission recommended allowing the use but adding an extra layer of standards—distance from schools or residences, site-design and architectural standards—to limit density and mitigate perceived impacts.
Council members debated process and policy. Several members said they were uncomfortable making final decisions without seeing the exact proposed standards; others said they would prefer to disallow a number of the listed uses in the West Side business district. "I don't want body art services, pawn shops, payday loan services, vape shops or junkyards in this area," one council member said during the discussion, emphasizing fit with the city's vision.
The city attorney and staff cautioned that outright prohibitions can present legal risk unless tied to objective comp-plan criteria and defensible policy reasons. Staff told the council it could draft either ordinances that prohibit specific uses in the West Side geography or code amendments that allow certain uses only under additional, reviewable standards.
By the end of the study session the mayor and enough council members indicated support for asking staff to move forward with drafting prohibitions and the corresponding code language for those moratoriumed uses in the West Side area; staff said it would return with proposed standards and ordinance text for council consideration. The matter will return to a future meeting for formal action.
