Opinion ID: 2636718
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Planning and PUD Acts and Other Political Subdivisions

Text: Enacted in 1939, section 30-28-106 of the Planning Act places a duty upon county planning commissions to adopt master plans to direct the development of unincorporated lands. A 2007 amendment to the Act provides that master plans are advisory until the county makes them binding by inclusion in its subdivision, zoning, platting, planned unit development, or other similar land development regulations.... Ch. 165, sec. 1, § 30-28-106(3)(a), 2007 Colo. Sess. Laws 612. Provisions of section 30-28-110(1) specifically govern the interrelationship between county zoning authority and the statutory authorities of other political subdivisions such as the fire protection district in this case. Where a county has adopted a master plan, another political subdivision proposing to construct a public building or structure in an unincorporated portion of the county must submit to the county an application for location and extent review: [N]o road, park, or other public way, ground, or space, no public building or structure, or no public utility, whether publicly or privately owned, shall be constructed or authorized in the unincorporated territory of the county until and unless the proposed location and extent thereof has been submitted to and approved by such county or regional planning commission. § 30-28-110(1)(a) (emphasis added). This location and extent review procedure provides the county an opportunity to review and approve or disapprove a proposed public project in relation to the county's master plan. The Boulder County Land Use Code specifically provides that the purpose of the location and extent review is to determine whether public or quasi-public utilities or uses proposed to be located in the unincorporated area of the County are in conformance with the Comprehensive Plan. Boulder, Colo., Land Use Code, § 8-100(A) (2009). In Boulder County, public and private proposals for roads, parks, public ways, grounds, and spaces, public buildings and structures, and public utilities are subject to location and extent review, which may be conducted concurrently with other discretionary county review processes. Id. § 8-100(B)(1)-(2). This review must be conducted in conformance with the following procedures, applicable to a variety of actions requiring approval by the Boulder County Board of Adjustment, Planning Commission, and/or Board of County Commissioners: pre-application conference, application, referral to interested landowners and affected agencies, staff review, public review, and post-approval requirements. Id. §§ 3-100 to -206. [7] If the planning commission disapproves an application for location and extent review, the board of county commissioners may overrule the disapproval: [T]he [planning] commission shall communicate its reasons to the board of county commissioners of the county in which the public way, ground, space, building, structure, or utility is proposed to be located. Such board has the power to overrule such disapproval by a vote of not less than a majority of its entire membership. Upon such overruling, said board or other official in charge of the proposed construction or authorization may proceed therewith. § 30-28-110(1)(b) (emphasis added). Location and extent review is basically a courtesy review with respect to the public projects of other political subdivisions because the governing body of the political subdivision may overrule the county's disapproval: If the public way, ground, space, building, structure, or utility is one the authorization or financing of which does not, under the law governing the same, fall within the province of the board of county commissioners or other county officials or board, the submission to the [planning] commission shall be by the body or official having such jurisdiction, and the commission's disapproval may be overruled by said body by a vote of not less than a majority of its entire membership or by said official. § 30-28-110(1)(c) (emphasis added). This provision codifies the long-standing rule that other political subdivisions may override the restrictions of county or municipal zoning regulations. Reber v. S. Lakewood Sanitation Dist., 147 Colo. 70, 75, 362 P.2d 877, 879-80 (1961) (interpreting section 30-28-110(1)(c)'s predecessor, section 106-2-9(1)(c), C.R.S. (1953)); see also Cottonwood Farms v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 725 P.2d 57, 59 (Colo.App.1986); Patricia E. Salkin, American Law of Zoning §§ 18:37, 18:44 (5th ed.2009). In Cottonwood Farms, the court of appeals characterized section 30-28-110(1)(c) as an exemption for public facilities from zoning regulations. 725 P.2d at 59. The parties to this action, the court of appeals' opinion below, and the issue presented on certiorari likewise characterize the provision as an exemption. We think the better interpretation of section 30-28-110(1)(c) is that it functions as part of a legislative design to coordinate the zoning authority of counties and the authority of other political subdivisions to carry out public projects. The practical effect of section 30-28-110(1) is that a public entity, such as a special district, must apply for location and extent review of a proposed project to accommodate, where feasible, the zoning interests of the county, but the governing body of that entity ultimately has authority to override county disapproval of the project. See Blue River Defense Comm. v. Town of Silverthorne, 33 Colo.App. 10, 14, 516 P.2d 452, 454 (Colo. App.1973) (also interpreting section 30-28-110(1)(c)'s predecessor).
In 1972, the General Assembly enacted the PUD Act, §§ 24-67-101 to -108, for the purpose of supplementing the provisions of [the Planning Act] ..., as the same relate to and authorize planned unit developments, § 24-67-107(6). The PUD Act grants counties and municipalities the power to authorize PUDs [i]n order that the public health, safety, integrity, and general welfare may be furthered in an era of increasing urbanization and of growing demand for housing of all types and design, among other purposes. § 24-67-102(1); see generally §§ 24-67-102, -104. As defined by the General Assembly, a PUD is an area of land, controlled by one or more landowners, to be developed under unified control or unified plan of development for a number of dwelling units, commercial, educational, recreational, or industrial uses, or any combination of the foregoing, the plan for which does not correspond in lot size, bulk, or type of use, density, lot coverage, open space, or other restriction to the existing land use regulations. § 24-67-103(3). We have described the PUD as a flexible zoning mechanism, not a zoning substitute. The rigidity inherent in traditional Euclidian zoning has led to its increasing supplementation with more flexible zoning devices such as the PUD.... Tri-State Generation & Transmission Co. v. City of Thornton, 647 P.2d 670, 677 (Colo.1982). In effect, the PUD Act allows for a unified plan of development as an alternative to traditional zoning requirements. Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Bainbridge, Inc., 929 P.2d 691, 708 (Colo.1996); see also Edward H. Ziegler, Rathkopf's The Law of Zoning and Planning § 88:1 (2009) (defining a PUD as a type of zoning that allows for more flexibility than traditional zoning). Accordingly, the PUD Act functions as a type of zoning regulation.
Both counties and other public entities with special statutory purposes are political subdivisions of the state existing only for the convenient administration of the state government and created to carry out the will of the state. Bainbridge, 929 P.2d at 699; Romer v. Fountain Sanitation Dist., 898 P.2d 37, 41 (Colo.1995). The express or implied powers of such political subdivisions are limited to those conferred by the General Assembly. Bainbridge, 929 P.2d at 699; Romer, 898 P.2d at 41. Although statutory counties have broad authority to control land use through zoning, subdivision, and PUD approval or denial, they are not superior to other political subdivisions created by the General Assembly for special purposes. See, e.g., Bainbridge, 929 P.2d at 698.