Schedule
The study process has been extended to accommodate input from County staff, the Planning Commission and the public. Additional Working Group meetings and work sessions with the Planning Commission will be scheduled.
Issues
Larimer County's regulations regarding horse business facilities may be outdated. As a result they are difficult to apply and enforce. Based on the preliminary data available, it appears that there may be more than 70 horse business facilities operating in the County without proper permits. The public would benefit from updated and consistently applied regulations because they would reduce the nuisances of dust, odor, noise and traffic, protect air and water quality and improve soil and weed management. Horse facility operators would benefit from updated and consistently applied regulations because they would reduce conflicts with neighboring properties, provide an additional source of management best-practices ideas, level the competitive playing field between operations, and ensure facilities are properly permitted when marketed for sale.
Therefore, the County will study existing horse business facility regulations and involve potentially affected interests in evaluating existing standards and determining if revisions are appropriate. Revised regulations will be presented to the Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners in public hearings for consideration and adoption prior to the end of calendar year 2009.
Conceptual Alternatives
Build and Protect Larimer County's Horse Industry--The Working Group is developing a definition for an equestrian center to describe horse businesses. Activities where a fee is collected for services such as horse boarding, training, hosting equestrian events and competitions and giving riding lessons will be included in the definition. The current regulations treat all businesses that are boarding 5 or more horses the same; they are all required to secure a Special Review approval from the County Commissioners to operate legally. The Working Group is considering a “scalable system” that would match the required County review to the scale of the business. Small businesses would be allowed without County review as a use by right. Medium sized businesses would complete a Minor Special Review process. Only the largest businesses would require Special Review. The Working Group is still considering which characteristics of the business to measure to classify its size. The thresholds used to separate businesses into small, medium or large categories will also need to be determined.
- Second public meetings presentation
- Equestrian Center Definition Summary
- Scalable System Approach Summary
- Transition Program Summary
Recommended Alternative
Recommendations for changes to the existing code provisions are being developed by the citizens committee, called the Working Group. These recommendations include four types of changes as described below.
Definitions -- The existing code language for horse businesses was adopted around 1988. It is based on two definitions: boarding stables and riding academies. The two definitions are ambiguous and include some overlap, which creates confusion. To address these issues, the Working Group is recommending a new primary use definition be added to the Zoning section of the Land Use Code to replace the existing definitions. The new use would be called an "equestrian operation." Activities characterizing an equestrian center are horse boarding, horse training, riding lessons, and hosting equestrian events. Activities excluded from the definition are horse breeding farms, veterinary hospitals, and equestrian research facilities.
Scalable System -- Under the existing regulations, all horse businesses that board 5 or more horses or offer riding lessons or training are required to complete a Special Review process and secure County approval. A Special Review approval can cost the applicant $1,000's in County fees and consultant services, and require six months to more than a year to complete. The Working Group is recommending that the required review process should be related to the size of the business and its potential for nuisance impacts to neighboring properties.
Using to the recommended scalable system, the size of the business would be categorized based on five characteristics: the number of horses boarded or kept for training; the number of horse owned by the business and used for lesson purposes; the number of equestrian trainee visits on a weekly basis; the number of equestrian events hosted annually; and the size of the property occupied by the business. The cumulative total of these factors would direct the business into one of four review processes: use by right, administrative review, minor special review, and special review. Smaller businesses would require simpler and less costly reviews than would larger businesses.
Standards -- Under the existing regulations, horse businesses completing a Special Review process are subject to the provision of Section 8 of the Land Use Code. Section 8 includes standards for mitigating potential impacts to public roads, wetlands, drainage corridors, air quality, and the like. In addition, Section 8 includes standards for off-road parking, lighting, landscaping and other features of the business. The Working Group is recommending that only selected sub-sections of these standards should be applied to horse businesses. Fewer sub-sections would apply to smaller businesses than to larger businesses in recognition of the decreased potential for impact to public facilities and natural resources.
Transition Program -- It is recognized that many horse businesses are operating in Larimer County that have not received formal approval. The County allows businesses to continue operations that existed prior to applicable standards being adopted. Since the County's existing regulations were adopted about 20 years ago, it can be difficult for a business to prove that they have existed and remained in continuous operation over that long a period of time. In recognition of the challenges of demonstrating legal, non-conforming status (or grandfathering), the Working Group is recommending that the County provide a transition program to assist existing businesses in securing approvals. Incentives to complete the appropriate review process could include reduced fees and other special considerations.
The Working Group is still fine-tuning their recommendations. Refer to the minutes of their most recent meetings under the Working Group tab of this web page.
