Town board approves new architectural guidelines
At Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the Berthoud Board of Trustees, a low-key agenda for the evening saw the board unanimously approve a small zoning change on the east side of town and approve new architecture design guidelines.
To begin the evening, the board heard a presentation from Economic Development Director Walt Elish regarding Berthoud’s support for and participation in the Northern Colorado Regional Economic Development Initiative (REDI), which works to pool resources in Larimer and Weld counties to attract and grow business and economic development. Elish was enthusiastic about the town’s partnership with REDI and encouraged about prospects for economic development in Berthoud in the short and long terms.
Elish said, “Economic development in Northern Colorado is alive and well,” and beginning to rebound following the recession brought about by the government-led restrictions, regulations and controls put on businesses in response to COVID-19 pandemic. Jacob Castillo, board member of REDI and Director, Larimer Economic and Workforce Development, stated, the northern Colorado, “labor force is returning to pre-pandemic levels.”
More than an hour was spent discussing what initially appeared to be a simple rezoning request by a property owner on the eastern side of town. Applicant Larry Bebo has requested to rezone a 6.78-acre parcel of land in the area on and directly east of the Brookside Garden Event Center on Hwy 56. The request, approved unanimously by the planning commission on Oct. 14, called for three parcels had been zoned C-2 (general commercial), PUD (Planned Unit Development) and R-1 (single-family residential) to a rezoned to single C-1 (neighborhood commercial) lot.
According to Berthoud Community Development Director, Curt Freese, the request was made to correct “a collection of mistakes over the years that we not all caught,” until a sale of the land commenced earlier this year. For background, the properties in question were originally platted in Larimer County in 1999 but annexed into Berthoud in 2007 and 2008, during which, “the Town split the property into one C-2 property in 2008 with the event center and split off the remainder of the properties and zoned them PUD in 2007,” according to the information provided.
The properties in question are on the northern border of the Farmstead Development and lie within the area of the Mountain Avenue Overlay plan area. The crux of the proposal was to bring the area into C-1 zoning designation would bring the existing event center into compliance with the municipal code and would set a stronger zoning designation to the property with the house and the vacant lot.
The trustees had a long list of questions and repeatedly requested clarification from town staff with Mayor Pro Tem Maureen Dower and Trustees Tim Hardy and Lonnie Stevens engaging in multiple back-and-forths with Freese. Dower stated, “This is our biggest chance to make a difference … we have to accept everything that comes with C-1,” and floated the idea of requesting the applicant to come back with a specific plan. Freese explained the applicant does not have any plans for the area and the request is simply to bring the parcels into the proper zone code.
Trustee May Soricelli endorsed the suggestion of the planning commission to approve the zoning change, saying there was not much need for discussion while Trustee Jeff Hindman stated bluntly, “this whole purpose is just housekeeping,” and the board moved to approve the applicant’s request with a 7-0 vote.
Finally, the board approved a pair of motions regarding updating the town’s architectural design guidelines. As the town continues to grow at a fast rate, one of the most frequent complaints levied is the “cookie-cutter” design of new commercial and residential developments. The new code, which Town Administrator Chris Kirk described as “a series of guidelines, not laws,” will help developers and the town work together to design and build structures that add diverse character to the town.
According to the information provided, “the proposed Design Guidelines were developed with an idea to strengthen our community identity through new construction that is consistent with the newly approved Comprehensive Plan. The guidelines will provide builders and developers with better clarity regarding the type of design the town desires, while also sharing the same recipe with Staff to follow when reviewing submittals. Moreover, the guidelines do not replace the existing commercial or residential design and block diversity standards, but as aforementioned add context and guidance to flesh out better design in conjunction with the existing requirements.”
Trustee Mike Grace suggested town staff work to add some more detailed definitions to the guidelines, a suggestion that was welcomed by the rest of the trustees and town staff. Following the discussion, trustees praised the guidelines proposal and voted unanimously to approve.
The next meeting of the town board takes place on Nov. 9.
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