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Commissioners approve new driveway standards Intent is to improve emergency access

The La Plata County Commissioners approved new standards for rural driveways Tuesday.

The standards will take effect on April 1 and will apply to new driveways to new homes. It won't apply to driveways permitted before April 1, to existing driveways, or existing homes, even if they are rebuilt.

Safe access for emergency responders and large heavy vehicles is a major consideration.

Concern about this started with the Missionary Ridge fire in 2002, county attorney Paul Kosnik said. Driveway standards were included with a new land use code that was adopted in 2007, but the code never took effect and was rescinded by the commissioners.

"In 2010, there was a desire (by fire departments) to have the fire code address driveway standards. The county felt the implications were much broader than fire access, to defer it to adoption of the (new) land use code," Kosnik said. "The fire districts agreed. The county made a commitment in 2010 to continue looking at driveway standards to be part of the land use code."

Work started in 2012, with close involvement by Durango Fire District Chief Dan Noonan and Fire Marshal Karola Hanks. "They were leading the charge, providing comments to the county on what would work and what wouldn't work for emergency response," Kosnik said.

The first draft was presented at a community meeting on Sept. 17. A revised draft, based on comments from the first meeting, was presented at another public meeting on Oct. 29. The revised draft from that meeting was approved by county planning commissioners on Nov. 20, with recommended changes for county commissioner approval.

Currently, driveway permits are only required for access onto county roads, and the standards only apply to the first 15 feet from the county road.

The new standards will apply to the entire length of new driveways longer than 125 feet, including those that access onto private subdivision roads.

County Commissioner Julie Westendorff commented on the exemption for existing homes, even with total reconstruction. "It seems that if someone is going to re-develop their house, it seems that if we're going to exclude this, existing structures or driveways, to notify them with the building permit that your driveway may not be adequate (for emergency response). If we're going to give this big of an exemption, I think it's incumbent on us to notify the property owners."

County Manager Joe Kerby said that can be done.

Driveway permits are issued through the County Public Works Department. Kosnik said that with very limited exceptions, someone building a house must get a driveway permit before a Certificate of Occupancy will be issued.

Waivers to any of the driveway standards will be by administrative review, with comments from the affected fire district, rather than the much more stringent waiver or variance process through the Board of Adjustment, Kosnik said.

"It's not a bunch of set criteria that people have to meet for a waiver," he said. "They have to show that it would be very difficult to comply based on site-specific conditions or topography." Expense alone wouldn't qualify a driveway for a waiver.

Kerby relayed comments from Building Department Director Butch Knowlton, who wanted more consideration of how much this will cost people, for instance if someone wants to put a mobile home on the back of their property.

Public Works Director Jim Davis said, "We'd look at what they are requesting the waiver for and how it would affect emergency services." He noted there are more expenses for utilities, as well as the driveway, the farther back from the road someone chooses to locate a house.

He showed a front outline of a passenger car with the much bigger outline of a fire truck looming behind it to show that a driveway wide enough for the car could be hazardous for the fire truck - especially if the call is at night with six inches of snow on the driveway.

Chief Noonan showed pictures of a fire truck that rolled onto its top in 2007 while trying to navigate a narrow driveway at night.

"Most of the county doesn't have a water supply," Noonan said. "We have to bring water. All the departments have spent millions of dollars on tankers."

He continued, "I got to be the incident commander standing on Highway 550 when the Valley fire broke out" in the midst of the Missionary Ridge fire. He cited the steep narrow road to get to homes threatened by the fast-moving Valley fire. "We didn't go up there. Twelve homes burned. We'll make the same decision tomorrow."

The new standards require a driving surface 12 feet wide on straight sections and 16 feet on curves, with 2 foot clear zones on either side and vertical clearance of 13.5 feet. They require a 4-inch road base of class 6 gravel. The maximum grade is 12 percent on straight sections and 10 percent on curves.

Turnarounds to accommodate a 35-foot-long vehicle are required on driveways longer than 400 feet. Pull-outs are required on driveways longer than 800 feet, with an exception for driveways shorter than 1,000 feet with clear line of sight from the main road to the structure.

Kosnik said of the cost concerns, "Expense has been the over-riding theme since 2002. We had insurance company representatives explain how failure to meet driveway standards could affect insurance. ... There are people who have difficulty getting insurance because of the driveway, people trying to sell the property."

Hanks commented: "Each fire department receives phone calls every day regarding peoples' property. Does it have defensible space? Is there a water supply if there isn't a hydrant within 1,000 feet? Do you have access? How we answer those questions has all the impact on whether they get insurance. In that sense, this driveway standard is huge."