Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Landscape Buffer topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning commission directs Capek Properties to submit revised landscape plan after buffer debate
Summary
After a public hearing on SCE‑26‑1, the Denver County Planning Commission voted 5–0 to require Capek Properties to have its engineer submit a revised site/landscape plan showing the county's required 10% vegetative cover for administrative approval rather than approving a 25‑ft buffer tonight.
Planning staff presented SCE‑26‑1 on Jan. 14: Capek Properties and its authorized agents sought to reduce a 50‑foot side‑yard landscape buffer shown on approved plans to 25 feet for a truck‑repair site along Simpson Road. Staff told commissioners the landscape plan had been approved with 50‑ft buffer areas to meet the county's 10% tree‑cover requirement in the M‑1 zoning district.
"The applicant is Capek Properties, and they're authorized agents, Lisa Capek and Ramon Esparza," planning staff Mark Bassett said as he described the site and the ordinance requirement that landscaping on site meet 10% tree cover. The applicant said the site was previously vacant and argued that shifting plantings or reducing the shown side buffers to 25 feet would still meet the 10% requirement while improving truck maneuverability. "So, even if we do reduce it to 25 feet, we meet the requirements that, the 10%," an applicant representative said.
Commissioners asked whether the existing approved plans or an engineer's calculations legally bound the applicant to the shown 50‑ft buffers. Bassett responded that, because the approved plan shows the buffer, the commission is the authority to modify an approved plan, but the underlying requirement remains: the site must demonstrate 10% vegetative cover either through existing vegetation or plantings. Bassett told the commission that moving plantings to the rear property line or other on‑site locations could still satisfy the ordinance.
After debate about whether to approve a buffer reduction tonight or require the applicant to obtain a re‑engineered plan, a commissioner moved to require the applicant to return with a new site/landscape plan from their engineer that demonstrates 10% vegetative cover and to submit that plan to staff (Mark Bassett) for administrative approval. The motion was seconded and passed by a 5–0 roll call vote.
The commission's action does not adopt a permanent alteration of the zoning ordinance; it directs the applicant to secure an engineer‑stamped plan showing how the property will meet the 10% threshold and gives staff authority to administratively approve that plan if it satisfies the ordinance. The motion was recorded as five ayes and no nays.
The public hearing was opened and closed the same evening; no additional public commenters unrelated to the case were signed up. The matter will proceed administratively once the applicant submits the revised plan.
