Summit County Citizens Voice

The Breckenridge Town Council will discuss master plan designations for rural subdivisions, including the 39 Degrees North neighborhood, south of Blue River.

Development potential around Blue River at issue in work session discussion, as county updates Upper Blue master plan

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — A court decision that questioned Summit County’s authority to impose master plan policies that conflict with underlying zoning will percolate through to a Breckenridge Town Council work session this week.

As a result of the district court ruling, Summit County is revising the Upper Blue master plan, specifically to address development potential on 31 county subdivisions that were platted for development before the county adopted zoning regulations. The county has been working toward approval for new designations for those subdivisions with the ultimate goal of rezoning them. The agenda for the Feb. 9 work session shows an approximate time of 5:15 p.m. for discussion of the Upper Blue issues.

In general, Breckenridge planners agree with the county plan, but according to a memo prepared for the work session, they are concerned about development potential in the 39 Degrees North subdivision, south of Blue River.

A study by county planners showed that up to 133 new lots could be created based on the proposed new master plan designations — 88 of them in the 39 Degrees North subdivision, with a density of up to six units per acre under the master plan designation proposed by the county.

That level of potential development would be out of character with the surrounding area, with densities of one to two units per acre, town planners said, asking the county to consider a master plan designation with a lower density for the subdivision, which is full of wetlands and riparian areas.

Density and development potential on several other county subdivisions near Breckenridge are also discussed in the staff memo, beginning on page 25 of the town council packet visible in the Scribd.com window at the end of this story.

The town’s planning staff also supports the county’s aim of aggressively … initiating rezoning for a few subdivisions that have zoning that is out of character with surrounding properties and site constraints and suggests that the 39 Degrees North subdivision be added as a priority candidate for rezoning.

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