After a year of work by planning staff, county officials and consultants to complete Routt County’s draft updates for Zoning and Subdivision Regulations, one hot-button issue concerns the possibility of limiting the size of houses.

Thursday’s three-hour joint workshop with the Routt County Planning Commission drew the citizen interest and input planners had been wanting for months, as the workshop produced a standing-room only audience with dozens more attending via Zoom.

Many public comments focused on both yay or nay regarding a proposed 7,500-square-foot cap on the size of houses in rural Routt County.

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“This is a big turnout for a very important process,” Routt County Planning Director Kristy Winser said. “We appreciate the input we have received up until this point.”

After multiple public comments on house sizes and other topics, Winser provided further context that the house size consideration would be one way to embody the Routt County Master Plan goals to preserve the rural character of county lands.

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Citizen input was collected throughout the past year of planning department public outreach meetings, technical working groups, stakeholder workshops, online public surveys and submitted emails and letters. Some comments suggested that modest house sizes better represent the rural and agricultural character of Routt County outside of city limits.

Planners noted that considering housing size limitations is analogous to the county’s regulations that do not allow short-term vacation rentals. Capping the size of a house would also align with reducing energy use and carbon pollution emissions as outlined in the Routt County Climate Action Plan, which has been adopted by all municipalities across the county.

A 17-page code update summary memo from contractor DesignWorkshop explained, “The Master Plan process suggested strategies to explore limitations to home size based on preserving the open space and rural character that defines the county and the energy usage and climate impacts larger homes can have.”

“Typically, the number of systems and amenities increases the larger a home gets,” according to the memo. “Participants during the Master Plan engagement process identified an interest in exploring restrictions on residential structures to reduce the resources spent on construction, operation and upkeep. Based (on) community feedback through the outreach process there was an identified interest in capping house size in unincorporated portions of the county.”

Planners presented nine options on Thursday regarding house size limits.

1. Adopt as proposed a 7,500-square-feet house size limit not including basements and garages.

2. Adopt a 7,500-square-feet limit only for new development, exempting existing entitlements.

3. Adopt a 7,500-square-feet limit but exempt all current and future Land Preservation Subdivisions.

4. Adopt a 7,500-square-feet limit and a sliding scale of an additional 2,000 square feet for every additional 35 acres of land, meaning house sizes up to 7,500 square feet per 35-acre lot or up to 9,500 square feet for 70-acre lot.

5. No size limitations if the building meets energy efficiency requirements such as LEED or Net Zero.

6. No limitation on house size but limit square footage of accessory buildings.

7. No limitation on house size but require homes larger than 7,500 square feet to include an energy offset such as geothermal pumps or solar panels.

8. No limitation on house size but require homes larger than 7,500 square feet to provide funds for affordable housing mitigation or public infrastructure, noting this option would require an additional study.

9. Status quo, meaning no limitation on house sizes, which is the current situation in the county.

Two HOAs in Routt County limit house sizes including 12,500 square feet at Alpine Mountain Ranch and 12,000 square feet at Catamount Ranch. Planners said looking at mountain communities, Gunnison, Pitkin and San Miguel counties currently have some form of maximum house size.

In Boulder County since 2013, any home builder who wishes to build larger than a 6,000-square-foot house including the garage and basement must purchase transferrable development credits that are sold by homeowners who voluntarily limit the size of their home, according to Boulder County planning staff.

After the informational presentation and public comments, multiple planning commissioners and county commissioners said they would like to explore some combination of recommendations two through four, meaning a 7,500-square-foot limit within new developments but exempting existing entitlements and Land Preservation Subdivisions, as well as implementing a sliding scale size limit of 7,500 square feet on 35 acres and 9,500 square feet for 70 acres.

One point of agreement was that existing Land Preservation Subdivisions would continue to be honored and future preservation subdivisions should be encouraged. The county currently has a Land Preservation Subdivision process to encourage the clustering of development to preserve large tracts of land and provide an alternative option to 35-acre subdivisions.

Audience member comments about large houses ranged from the impact to property rights to large houses raising the home values countywide being detrimental to average homeowners.

While some public comments suggested owners of large homes could be more philanthropic in the community, others said that large homes need more services, from window washing to snowplowing, that must be provided by lower income residents who need affordable places to live in or near Steamboat Springs.

The process to update the county’s regulations began in February 2023 and is intended to ensure the new regulations accurately reflect the visions and goals outlined in the Routt County Master Plan adopted in August 2022.

Overall, the zoning and subdivision updates consolidate and clarify county planning regulations.

Some of the other topics being updated include structure setbacks from bodies of water and adjacent properties, various land uses allowed in each zone district, updates to historic preservation regulations and proposed increased regulations on oil and gas setbacks from residences as well as noise and environmental considerations.

A second planning commission and county commissioner joint workshop is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday at the Routt County Commissioners hearing room in the Historic County Courthouse at 522 Lincoln Ave. in Steamboat. Or participants can sign in via Zoom through the informational webpage at NavigateYourRoutt.com.

Citizens can read the draft code language, 63 pages of public comments and the code update summary memo through NavigateYourRoutt.com. Planners decided Thursday to try to stay on the same timeframe to move forward to adopt the zoning and subdivision updates in May.