How Big is Too Big? The new Pitkin County Land Use Code - Resort Properties,07/06
With
significant changes o the Pitkin County land-use code that will put a
standard cap on home sizes countywide as well as alter the process for
exceeding those limitations, county commissioners hope to preserve the
valley’s rural character.
But, first, a bit of background. Previously,
house sizes in Pitkin County’s urban growth were limited mainly by
permissible floor-area-to-lot ratios, though projects with more than
15,000 square feet of livable space had to undergo a special review.
In addition, exemptions were given for most houses so that up to 4,000
square feet of subgrade space and 750 feet of garage space were not
counted in the floor area total. If you wanted to build a new house in
a rural-designed area, on the other hand, Pitkin County restricted the
size to 5.750 square feet of habitable space, under revision made to
the code in 2000. If you needed a larger place you could purchase one
or more transferable development rights (TDRs) from property owners who
gave up their entitlement to develop part of their land in exchange for
selling that right to someone else to use elsewhere in the county. Or
you could apply for additional space, competing for it with other
ambitious builders, through the county’s growth-management quota
system, which puts a ceiling on annual total square footage of new
construction in a given neighborhood.
Now,
according to the revision – the first complete rewrite of the code
since 1994 – the 5,750 square-foot limit will be enacted countywide.
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