The Commerce City Community Development Department, Parks and Recreation Department, and Public Works Department have recognized the challenges with the current weed ordinance in the aspects of enforcement, consistency, and maintaining the same standards for both City and privately-owned properties.The existing weed ordinance Section 6-2012(1) states it shall be unlawful for the owner or occupant of any property one (1) acre or less in any size to permit weeds or grass to grow to a height of more than six (6) inches anywhere on the property.
It further states it shall be unlawful for the owner or occupant of a property of any property larger than one (1) acre in size to permit weeds or grass to grow to a height of more than six (6) inches on any portion on the property that is within twenty (20) feet of any development lot, tract or parcel within forty (40) feet of any adjacent roadway.
The City recognizes that there have been challenges enforcing this current weed ordinance. The proposed changes will hopefully allow more effective, efficient and consistent enforcement. More specifically, the proposed changes will further refine the different types of conditions that exist and provide different standards for each type of condition in different parts of the city. The proposed changes are as follows:
• All developed properties would be required to cut the entire property to less than 8 inches maximum in height.
• Vacant properties less than one (1) acre would be required to cut the entire property to less than 8 inches maximum in height.
• On vacant property one (1) to five (5) acres in size, the entire property must be cut to a maximum of sixteen (16) inches in height.
• Properties over five (5) acres are required to cut a twenty (20) foot perimeter to a maximum height of 16 inches, and the interior will not have a maximum height limitation.
Properties that are classified as “agricultural” are exempt from these requirements, except for areas within 20 feet from adjacent arterial roadway, which must not exceed sixteen (16) inches.
The changes will help provide a better balance between providing appropriate standards within existing and neighborhoods, which have more impact on existing residents, and those large parcels located further out that don’t have as much impact on existing residents. These areas further afield are often held by developers, and they have provided a great deal of feedback that the standards are too strict on these larger, out-of-the-way parcels and have requested changes to the standards to help ease the maintenance burden. Conversely, staff has also received feedback from residents near unfinished lots in partially completed subdivisions that sometimes have become overgrown with weeds. These residents have requested more enforcement on these nearby lots due to the impacts on their properties. Additionally, these proposed changes will also allow the more consistency between city owned properties and private property standards.
Proposed Changes CLICK HERE...
No comments:
Post a Comment