Town of Wellington Planning Commission 11/6/23

See the full notes document here.*

View the meeting agenda and packet.

From the Wellington Planning Commission website: “The Town of Wellington Planning Commission is responsible for developing, adopting, and implementing the Comprehensive Plan to address community development and growth. This includes creating zoning regulations, land use policies, and other guidelines that help shape the community's physical and economic landscape.”

Summary

The Wellington Community Church requested an extension of their 2020 approved site plan – Outlet C, The Knolls at Wellington South.

The winter season is a slow time for the Planning Department according to Planning Director Bird, who suggested 3 topics to fill in the slow winter months.

Notes

Wellington Community Church receives a 3-year extension.

In 2020, the Wellington Community Church presented a site plan to build a church on the west side of the I-25 Frontage Road south of town. The site plan was approved with a tentative start date in 2023. The church does not have the capital to get the project started and requested a 3-year extension. According to Planning Director Bird the site plan is a good one with no conditions and the 3-year extension meets the requirements under the assigned land use code. The extension was approved unanimously by the Commission.

Commissioners agree to widen the scope of winter discussions.

Planning Director Bird brought 3 topics before the commissioners for approval to fill in the slow winter months. Everyone agreed the topics below would be proactive and provide a vision for the future of Wellington.

1. Consider home occupation standards passed to the commissioners from the Board of Trustees (The Trustees heard a case on Sept. 12^th from a resident who wants to have a small auto detailing shop from his garage). The Covid19 epidemic created a large work-from-home workforce. The trustees would like the town to consider land use codes more friendly to business. They intend to create a town policy with guidelines to address what kind of home businesses would be acceptable.
2. Several residents have talked about having a recreational vehicle park somewhere in town. Wellington has been an I-25 stop-over town for traffic enroute to another destination for such things as gas, food, and auto repairs. This could be a good opportunity to keep those enroute overnight or possibly an extended stay with their RV’s bringing additional revenue to the town.
3. The Planning Department could create a Development 101 training course for the commissioners, trustees, and the public if they are interested. The training would explain the behind-the-scenes process of developers and applicants applying for permits and site plans.

Commissioner Comments

Commissioner Whitehouse suggested Civics 101 for the community. This would help the community understand the roles and responsibilities of each board and committee member.

Commissioner Chollet would like to work on a short-term rental policy. Are there any investors buying up property in Wellington to use as rentals and how does this affect the current land use codes? Chollet suggested that even if there isn’t a lot of activity now, getting a good policy in place could get the town ahead of any potential problems in the future.

All the commissioners agreed with Planning Director Bird’s ideas along with their own (shown above). The preference of the commissioners is one of 2 things:

1. If there are no items on the agenda, have a work session instead.
2. If the agenda is light, then have a work session at 5:30 p.m. until the regular Planning Commission meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. This way the meetings don’t go late into the evening.

The meeting adjourned at 7:18 p.m.

Next Meeting: Monday, Dec. 4, 2023 @ 6:30 p.m., Leeper Center, 3800 Wilson Avenue, Wellington, CO

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