Notice is hereby given that Huerfano County has opened a thirty (30) day period beginning May 15, 2026 to accept written comment from the public on draft housing-related changes to the County Land Use Code. The County is proposing these changes to the land use code as part of an effort to address certain barriers to housing, revise camping regulations, and to more adequately ensure that new development does not jeopardize the County’s scarce water resources.
View the proposed changes:
Written comments will be accepted immediately through June 15, 2026 through this form: https://forms.gle/1aizqWRgBqNsyLHx5
Comments can also be mailed or hand-delivered to:
Huerfano County Land Use and Building Department
401 Main Street, Suite 304
Walsenburg, CO 81089
The proposed changes are summarized as follows:
- Homestead Zone: Creating a new zone, the Homestead Zone, in Section 11-15. This zone is being added to differentiate between open agricultural lands and large-lot residential subdivisions. Adjust Rural Residential and Agricultural zones to distinguish the character of these zones from the Homesteading Zone.
- Zoning Districts: Changes to zone district descriptions and parameters in Section 11-15, for the Agricultural Zoning District, Rural Residential Zoning District, Urbanizing Residential Zoning District, and Commercial Service Zoning District. Removed minimum dwelling size.
- Use Table: Multiple adjustments to uses in each zone and to descriptions of certain uses in Section 11-17. Inclusion of Homestead Zone in the Use Table. Adjustments to use table outside the Homestead Zone for the following items:
- 0.07 Boarding and rooming houses and bed & breakfast establishments
- 0.09 Rest, nursing, convalescent, retirement and assisted living facilities
- 0.11 Hospitals
- 0.13 Restaurants and eating places
- 0.14 Public and private schools serving over 50 students
- 0.15 Educational institutes, boarding schools and vocational training centers serving fewer than 50 students
- 0.16 Day care, child care and nursery schools, and nursing homes
- 0.17 Churches and religious institutes
- 0.20 Parks, playgrounds, or playing fields
- 0.40 Professional service and business offices for the delivery of health, legal, accounting, travel agencies, real estate, technology, office service and similar services
- 0.41 Personal service outlets such as beauty and barber shops, laundromats, etc.
- 0.42 Small-scale or neighborhood-oriented retail except convenience outlets serving a neighborhood or local resident clientele, including repair and rental outlets
- 0.46 Gasoline service stations
- 0.47 Vehicle repair or storage facilities (not including garages accessory to a residential use)
- 0.53 Junk, wrecking or vehicle storage yards, which shall be surrounded by an eight-foot-high solid fence or not visible from any public road (excluding agricultural equipment storage)
- 0.69 Veterinary Clinics
- Water Availability: Building permits and conditional use permits to require proof of water availability. For neighborhoods served with a communal water supply, this means a letter of approval from the water utility, for other properties, this may include a letter from DWR or other documentation of sufficient existing water rights. (Sections 11-17, 11-18, 11-28, 11-49, 11-50, 11-54, 11-430, 11-436)
- Accessory Uses: Section 11-23. Allowing for additional housing as an accessory to agriculture, inclusion of shipping containers (previously required a CUP), and clarification on recreational vehicle storage.
- Camping Regulations: To increase clarity around conditions for camping permits and campgrounds in Section 11-28. Enable a streamlined process for small-scale commercial campgrounds.
- Non-conforming Parcels: Section 11-29. Address non-conforming parcels by establishing a new date by which lot-size conformity shall be determined.
- Planned Unit Developments: Section 11-61 and 11-89. Create sunset clause for PUD zone districts allowing the application of special conditions to a PUD for up to ten years, after which the PUD will revert to the base zone district.
- Development Rights: Section 11-436. The County’s intent is to separate the creation of new parcels from the creation of new development rights. In the Agricultural zone, new development rights are not conferred upon newly created parcels. The minimum lot size to build a residence is increased to 160 acres, and on agriculturally zoned parcels less than 170 acres, a residence is made a use accessory to agriculture. This will have no impact on existing parcels. Currently existing development rights will not be affected or reduced; these changes will only impact newly created parcels. See also other sections stating applicability and cross-references.