Land Use Committee

Committee Chair: Mike DeGrant mdegrant@lowellneighborhood.com

Vice Chair: Tim Seibert tseibert@nescolorado.com

Water Quantity and Quality Issues in El Paso County – The County staff and the committee have received approval of the MOU’s with the various organizations and final funding commitments to begin going forward with the study. The field study and literature review will begin soon with the hope that the County will have some data by the end of the year. Jerry Novak and Randy Case are serving as the HBA representatives – this committee meets the second Monday of every month at 1:30. Contact John Kisiel at HBA if you are interested in participating.

County Road Impact Fee – An interim fee of $1500 will be imposed at the time of building permit on all lots in plats in unincorporated El Paso County approved on or after February 11th. Developers will still be responsible for any infrastructure improvements that are required due to the development so this and any future permanent impact fees will be assessed on new development. HBA will continue working with the County in developing the district and the impact fee for all new development in unincorporated El Paso County. The committee is hoping to have most of the critical questions resolved within the next 30 days so please contact John if you would like to get involved. The steering committee meets the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month at 2 PM at DSD.

Drainage Basin Fee Proposal – The current version of the proposed program will be presented to the Drainage Board at an upcoming meeting. HBA cited a number of concerns at the last meeting of the Working Group including the economy, the need to complete the Drainage Criteria Manual update scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, potential impact of Amendments 60 and 61 if they pass, and the need for a clearer plan from the City on what it will do to fund its projects after the demise of the Stormwater Enterprise. The purpose is to allow the Board to see what had been proposed and to have the HBA and others speak about their concerns about the proposal. There will be no recommendation made by the Board to City Council. The City staff will prepare a memo to Council and if a majority wants an oral report at Council then the City will provide it.

FINANCIAL ASSURANCES – HBA has begun to have discussions with the City about changes to the assurance requirements in a number of areas. HBA is talking with the City Engineering Stormwater section about the development of a system of transitioning assurance requirements from the developer to the builder following the sale of a lot. The broader discussion concerns changes the City is proposing to the bond form and moving toward a performance bond system tied to a short form development Agreement. The Agreement will set benchmarks when activities are to be completed with failure to complete either based on phase or time requirements set as grounds for the City making a demand on the bond company. These discussions are expected to continue over the next several months with the erosion control assurance set to come back to the Board in the next few months as this moves forward.

THERE WILL BE NO MEETING IN AUGUST - The next HBA Land Use Committee meeting will be September 23, 2010 at the HBA.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SPONSORING BREAKFAST THEN PLEASE CONTACT John Kisiel at HBA. Breakfast begins at 7:00 AM and the meeting commences promptly at 7:30 AM.