On May 23, the Pagosa Springs Town Council approved the second reading of Ordinance 1005, which rezones certain properties along the western portion of Goldmine Drive, amending the official zoning map for the area.
The change shifts the properties within a section known as Block C of Rock Ridge Estates from mixed-use corridor (MU-C) to commercial zoning.
An agenda document on the matter explains that the eastern properties along Goldmine Drive have been zoned commercial since 2009, when the town’s current zoning map was adopted, with the western properties being zoned MU-C.
Most of the businesses on the road “currently contain business operations much more aligned with uses allowed in a ‘Commercial’ zoned district,” the document states.
Community Development Director James Dickhoff explained, at a previous meeting, that the change was consistent with the town’s adopted comprehensive plan from 2018, which envisioned the entirety of Goldmine Drive as a commercially zoned area.
The proposed change was prompted by a property owner along the street contacting the town regarding the rezoning of the remaining properties, Dickhoff explained.
Staff then recommended that the town “process the rezoning of the remaining properties … as one Quasi-Judicial process consideration, versus each property owner submitting separate rezoning applications,” the agenda document states.
“Any owner of property affected by a proposed amendment to the Official Zoning Map may protest the amendment pursuant to the statutory requirements of C.R.S. Section 31-23-305,” explains the document.
However, town staff determined “that all of the property owners within this section of Goldmine Drive are supportive of this rezoning,” Dickhoff said.
Twelve properties in total will be impacted by the zoning change.
Dickhoff explained Tuesday that “nothing has really changed” since the first reading of the ordinance at a previous meeting.
When council member Mat deGraaf made a motion to approve the second reading of Ordinance 1005, amending the official zoning map, it was seconded and approved unanimously by the council.
In effect, this change simply makes both the eastern and western ends consistent with each other, with all being zoned as commercial, explained Dickhoff.
The official change comes after the Pagosa Springs Planning Commission recommended the change at an April 23 meeting and the council passed the first reading of Ordinance 1005 at its May 7 meeting, respectively.
At the planning commission meeting, planning commissioner Chad Hodges expressed that changing the area to commercial zoning would better match the types of activities “that are down there already, as far as I’m concerned,” and “the change would “allow more opportunities for light manufacturing.”
Light manufacturing would “not be a use by right,” but a business could apply for a conditional use permit to engage in light manufacturing, Dickhoff explained.
“I think the pros would be exactly that — opening up the opportunity for the types of businesses that are actually already established there,” he said.
derek@pagosasun.com
