El Paso County is starting a yearslong process to update its land-use development code, a document that will shape where and how new homes and businesses are built. 

The county’s development code was last updated 17 years ago, when about 588,000 people lived in the community. Since then about 151,000 new residents have moved in, according to the Colorado Demographer’s Office. 

The commissioners agreed during an informal meeting Tuesday it was time to reexamine the document and made high-level suggestions to their consultant, Clarion, about what they would like to see from the powerful code.  

“This is an opportunity to make sure its consistent with the values of the community and where we want to be heading in the future,” Commission Chairwoman Cami Bremer said. 

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In recent years, neighborhoods built as densely as a city, with sidewalks and streetlamps, have gone into unincorporated parts of the county, a trend that will factor into the update, Commissioner Stan VanderWerf said. But that trend is not unique to El Paso County.  

“We are moving now nationwide into counties that are having large swaths of urbanization,” he said.

The fast-growing Falcon and Peyton area, are standout examples of this trend. The area is densely built but not incorporated to provide localized municipal administration, maintenance or police protection.

A representative with Clarion, Elizabeth Garvin, said the code update could help get the right infrastructure in the right place to serve urbanizing portions of the county. 

Bremer also asked for the consultants to look for appropriate areas for heavy industry to locate in the county, because the options for those companies is limited. 

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At times, companies buy agricultural land and then ask for the county to rezone it, but that can carry risk. 

In 2020, Pete Lien & Sons proposed a concrete batch plant on agriculturally zoned land near Stapleton and Judge Orr roads near Falcon, The Gazette previously reported. The county commissioners denied the project after hearing hours of testimony from concerned residents. 

VanderWerf asked consultants to ensure the local military installations are consulted. In particular, Schriever Space Force Base needs a large buffer from large-scale electric transmission lines to protect its ground control of satellites. Schriever operates the satellites that provide GPS services around the world. 

The commissioner also asked the consultants to make sure the code is flexible and allows for creativity and changing building materials. 

The county expects to examine the flexible zoning that Colorado Springs adopted for its greenfield areas, said Meggan Herington, the county’s director of planning and community development. The city decided against adopting them for existing neighborhoods after facing intense opposition from homeowners. 

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The flexible zoning adopted by the city was a move away from traditional single-family zoning and will allow for much smaller lots. The city also adopted a rule limiting the amount of high-water use lawns around homes in its new code.

The county’s code update is expected to take about two years and the consultants expect to invite community input on an iterative basis. 

The consultants have yet to set up a website for the project, but their presentation said the site will get set up this month. 

The El Paso County Planning Commission will hear its first presentation on the land-use code June 6.