PC Bylaws Being Altered After Violations Brought to Light
April 10, 2023
Written by A4LL volunteers
The Delta County Planning Commission (PC) came into scrutiny after Tom Kay was elected for the third consecutive term as a chairman of the PC in violation of the bylaws and a newly appointed member of the PC, Victoria Turner raised questions about the legality of this quasi-judicial body composed of appointed volunteers (see previous blog posts for more details). Another violation raised by Ms. Turner was the residency of three members that goes against the existing bylaws. While Mr. Kay step down as a chairman, the members residing in the incorporated area of the county remain on the commission.
In light of this breach of the PC bylaws, the rules are being changed now by Carl Holm, the director of the Planning Department and a redline version of the edited document will be presented to the members of the PC on Wednesday, April 12, at 5:30pm at 560 Dodge Street, Delta. The proposed revisions can be viewed in the Agenda Packet for the upcoming meeting.
There are several concerns about the changes being made to the rules of this regulating body which is making the decisions on development applications in the unincorporated areas of Delta County. One concern is the complete removal of the unincorporated residency requirement. The County Attorney, John Baier stated that PC has no authority to limit its membership to those people who live in unincorporated areas of Delta County and that the PC bylaws Section 5.1 is void since it conflicts with the Colorado Revised Statute § 30-28-103 C.R.S. This statute states that “[e]ach of such members of the commission shall be a resident of the county.” It is general knowledge that a State statute usually “preempts” Counties from enacting legislation that is in direct contradiction to the State law and the County rules are subject to the constitution and general laws of the State. However, County laws may be more restrictive than State statutes. This means that the laws can differ between the County and the State as long as the county has at least met the State standard.
We believe that this is being done twice in Section 5.1 of the current PC Bylaws which states that “[i]n accordance with C.R.S. 30-28-103(1), the Board have established that the Commission will be comprised of 9 regular members who reside in unincorporated areas of Delta County, 3 from each Board District.” Firstly, PC members have to live outside of townships to make certain that the recommendations they are making will apply to them equally. Secondly, a designated number of members have to come from each County District to assure equal representation from each political area. If the first requirement is removed could it be that all PC members are residents of townships? Considering that the decisions are on a rural and not municipal level would that be a fair structure for this local governmental body? What would happen if a planning commissioner moved from one district to another? It seems that both requirements are equally important.
Other Colorado Counties appear to agree and they apply additional guidelines when selecting their Planning Commission members. For example, Mesa County spells out that in an attempt to achieve a balanced background within the PC, the following areas of expertise are to be considered: agricultural, energy, land development, real estate, planning, general community experience, architecture, engineering, environmental science, or similar backgrounds. Weld County structures its PC to consist of one member from six geographic areas and three “at-large” members. Summit County also has at-large members (five) in addition to regular members (nine), one representative from each of their county’s four Basin Planning Commissions. “At-large” members, as defined by Summit County’s PC Bylaws, can live within a town within the basins or within the unincorporated area of the basin. The same bylaws also indicate that any town located within each basin, which is a party to the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) shall appoint one member. Finally, Arapahoe County’s Land Development Codes state that each Planning Commission member shall be a resident within the unincorporated areas of the County. Clearly, restrictions on PC membership beyond the State statute are common.
If we were going to make substantial changes to the PC bylaws we would try to address the true issues being exposed now, such as the lack of training for this quasi-judicial body. Many Colorado Counties invest in annual training. Arapahoe County, for example, has work/study sessions held to study various planning matters in depth, conduct internal business, and provide training for Commission members. Training and continuing education are encouraged by Mesa County. The lack of investment in this basic education of our own community members is like setting ourselves up for failure.
This leads us to a question: why are the rules of the PC residency being altered now? Historically the planning in Delta County included Area Planning Committees (APCs) whose volunteers came from seven distinct areas of the county based on the natural geographic features of seven watersheds described in the 1996 Delta County Master Plan. The APCs were disbanded in 2018 and the PC whose members were selected from artificially drawn political districts took over fully. We believe that this is one of many efforts to erode the empowerment and identity of naturally distinctive communities. The power to make our own determinations but also to gain and maintain the skills of decision-making as a cohesive community is being taken away by consolidating the authority in a few selected or appointed individuals. Similarly, State mandates and preemption bills are accomplishing this from a higher level on the control hierarchy. The resistance to the de-legitimization of local governance and self-responsibility is needed now more than ever. Our county’s PC bylaws are being altered to remove accountability checks and to allow impunity for possible corruption.
According to the agenda for Wednesday’s PC meeting: “[s]taff recommends that the Commission members receive, and discuss, draft language at this meeting and then schedule a time for formal action. Amendment of the By-laws shall require an affirmative majority of the regular members (5 total votes needed) of the Commission.” It also states that the amendments can be done at any meeting of the Commission by an official action, provided that notice of proposed amendments is given to each member in writing at least two (2) weeks prior to said meeting and they do not require a public notice and/or hearing. The PC may receive comments via the Planning Department at planning@deltacountyco.gov. Anybody can attend the April 12th meeting at 5:30 pm in person (560 Dodge St, Delta) or online (register here).