Pitkin County hearing officer approves site plan and TDR special review for Castle Creek Valley property

A Pitkin County hearing officer approved a site-plan review and a special‑review request to use a Transferable Development Right (TDR) to increase habitable floor area at a Castle Creek Valley property known in the filings as "202 Midnight Mine." Hearing officer Avery Nelson said the approval is granted subject to several clarifying edits and conditions, including recording an occupancy covenant for proposed agricultural structures and abandoning any remaining TDR credit when it is extinguished.

Applicant representative Cody Horn told the hearing the project at 202 Ben A Minor Road sits on a 10.2‑acre AR‑10 lot with three existing dwelling units and is bisected by Castle Creek. Horn said the proposal replaces the existing primary residence and garage with a new principal residence of 6,766 square feet (an increase of 1,635 sq ft from the existing 5,131 sq ft), adds two agricultural structures and a 1,300‑sq‑ft greenhouse exempted from floor‑area calculations, realigns the driveway with pull‑offs and emergency turnarounds, expands the onsite septic system, and proposes a buried 20,000‑gallon water tank for fire suppression. Horn said no additional dwelling units would be created and that neighboring homes have floor areas up to about 12,000 sq ft.

Pitkin County planning staff (Tammy Cochin) summarized the property's history and regulatory constraints, noting two dwellings on the west side of the creek are nonconforming and portions of the site lie in the FEMA floodplain and within a 100‑foot creek setback. Staff said all proposed new development is sited outside the 100‑foot creek setback and the mapped floodplain, that referral agencies were consulted and no public objections were received, and that staff recommended approval. Staff reported current legally permitted floor area on the lot of roughly 7,607 sq ft; replacing the principal residence as proposed would bring gross floor area to about 9,242 sq ft, which staff said is allowed in the AR‑10 zoning district and the Castle Creek planning area when supplemented by an approved TDR.

Nelson said a site visit confirmed the property is largely concealed by forest and that visibility and neighborhood impacts would be minimal. He asked that the final written determination more clearly memorialize two distinct activity envelopes shown on the revised site plan—one that defines areas of preexisting development within the creek setback/floodplain and a separate envelope for the new development outside those constraints—so that any work within the preexisting envelope would trigger additional review. "I am in agreement in general on where we are and agree with the recommendation for approval," Nelson said, noting he would approve the draft hearing‑officer determination "subject to just some cleanup about the two different activity envelopes, the reference to the code section in finding 11, and the cleanup on and approving it up to the maximum allowable floor area of 9,250" and recording related conditions.

Nelson cited the county land‑use code provision used to authorize additional floor area via TDRs (6.30.050(b)) and said a small arithmetic discrepancy in the applicants’ floor‑area accounting was immaterial to the conclusion. He directed that the decision: (1) allow use of one TDR to reach the approved maximum (up to about 9,250 sq ft); (2) require that any remaining TDR credit be abandoned when extinguished; (3) include a condition requiring recording of an occupancy covenant for the greenhouse and barn; and (4) incorporate fire‑department recommendations into the conditions, specifically referencing the proposed 20,000‑gallon buried water tank and the hose connection to the creek as described in the application.

Staff and the applicant confirmed they would make the requested clarifying edits to the recitals and conditions before finalizing the written determination. The hearing officer closed the record and adjourned the hearing.