(1) It is the duty of the commission to
make and adopt a master plan for the physical development of the municipality,
including any areas outside its boundaries, subject to the approval of the
governmental body having jurisdiction thereof, that in the commission's judgment
bear relation to the planning of the municipality. The master plan of a municipality
is an advisory document to guide land development decisions; however, the master
plan or any part thereof may be made binding by inclusion in the municipality's
adopted subdivision, zoning, platting, planned unit development, or other similar
land development regulations after satisfying notice, due process, and hearing
requirements for legislative or quasi-judicial processes as appropriate. The master
plan, with the accompanying maps, plats, charts, and descriptive matter, must show
the commission's recommendations for the development of the municipality and
outlying areas.
(1.3) (a) When a commission decides to adopt a master plan, the commission
shall conduct public hearings, after notice of such public hearings has been
published in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality in a manner
sufficient to notify the public of the time, place, and nature of the public hearing,
prior to final adoption of a master plan in order to encourage public participation in
and awareness of the development of the master plan and shall accept and
consider oral and written public comments throughout the process of developing
the master plan.
(b) The commission shall follow the procedures in section 24-32-3209. For
purposes of this section, any special district that supplies water to the area covered
by the master plan is a neighboring jurisdiction as defined in section 24-32-3209
(1)(h).
(c) For any master plan adopted after January 1, 2026, the commission shall
consider the following, where applicable or appropriate, and any other information
deemed relevant by the commission:
(I) The applicable housing needs assessments published pursuant to section
24-32-3702 (1)(b), 24-32-3703, or 24-32-3704;
(II) The statewide strategic growth report created pursuant to section 24-32-3707;
(III) The natural land and agricultural opportunities report published
pursuant to section 24-32-3708; and
(IV) The Colorado water plan adopted pursuant to section 37-60-106.3.
(1.5) The master plan must include:
(a) A narrative description of the procedure used for the development and
adoption of the master plan, including a summary of any objections to the master
plan made by neighboring jurisdictions pursuant to section 24-32-3209 and a
description of the resolution or outcome of the objections;
(b) The most recent version of the master plan required by section 31-12-105
(1)(e) or a similar master plan for areas of potential growth within three miles of the
municipality's existing boundaries and a description of how the municipality intends
to integrate that plan into the master plan;
(c) (I) A water supply element developed in consultation with entities that
supply water for use within the municipality to ensure coordination on water supply
and facility planning. Nothing in this section requires the public disclosure of
confidential information related to water supply or facilities.
(II) The water supply element must:
(A) Estimate a range of water supplies and facilities needed to support the
potential public and private development described in the master plan; and
(B) Include water conservation policies, to be determined by the municipality,
which may include goals specified in the Colorado water plan adopted pursuant to
section 37-60-106.3 and policies to implement water conservation and other
Colorado water plan goals as a condition of development approval, including
subdivisions, planned unit developments, special use permits, and zoning changes.
(III) A municipality with a master plan that includes a water supply element
shall ensure that its master plan includes water conservation policies at the first
amending of the master plan, but not later than July 1, 2025;
(IV) Nothing in this subsection (1.5)(c) supersedes, abrogates, or otherwise
impairs the allocation of water pursuant to the state constitution or any other
provision of law, the right to beneficially use water pursuant to decrees, contracts,
or other water use agreements, or the operation, maintenance, repair, replacement,
or use of any water facility; and
(V) The department of local affairs may hire and employ one full-time
employee to provide educational resources and assistance to municipalities that
include water conservation policies in the water supply elements of master plans as
required by this subsection (1.5)(c).
(d) A strategic growth element that integrates elements of the master plan
to discourage sprawl and promote the development or redevelopment of vacant
and underutilized parcels in urban areas to address the municipality's
demonstrated housing needs and mitigate the need for extension of infrastructure
and public services to develop natural and agricultural lands for residential uses.
The strategic growth element must include:
(I) A description of existing and potential policies and tools to promote
strategic growth and prevent sprawl;
(II) An analysis of vacant and underutilized sites that:
(A) Identifies vacant, partially vacant, and underutilized land near existing or
planned transit or job centers that could be used for infill development,
redevelopment, and new development of housing;
(B) Assesses the general feasibility of the development or redevelopment of
such sites for residential use based on existing and needed infrastructure,
transportation capacity, access to public transit, and public facilities and services
to serve such sites;
(C) Describes the public benefits of the development or redevelopment of
such sites to the municipality as an alternative to the development of previously
undeveloped natural or agricultural land; and
(D) In a manner that is consistent with the master plan, designates such sites
for which development or redevelopment is deemed to be generally feasible for
future uses that include residential uses in a manner that addresses the
municipality's demonstrated housing needs at all income levels; and
(III) An analysis of undeveloped sites that:
(A) Identifies previously undeveloped parcels that are not adjacent to
developed land, including existing natural and agricultural land, under
consideration for future development, and, for a municipality in a metropolitan
planning organization established under the Federal Transit Act of 1998, 49 U.S.C.
sec. 5301 et seq., as amended, land outside of census urban areas as defined by the
United States bureau of the census;
(B) Assesses the general feasibility of the development of such sites for
residential use based on existing and needed infrastructure, transportation
capacity, access to public transit, and public facilities and services to serve such
sites; and
(C) Describes the long-term fiscal impact to the municipality of the
construction, ownership, maintenance, and replacement of infrastructure and
public facilities and the provision of public services to serve development of such
sites; and
(e) The most recent housing action plan adopted by the municipality
pursuant to section 24-32-3705.
(1.7) (a) A municipality with a master plan shall ensure that its master plan
includes a water supply element and strategic growth element as required by
subsection (1.5) of this section at the first amending of the master plan that occurs
on or after January 1, 2026, but not later than December 31, 2026. The master plan
of a municipality adopted or amended after December 31, 2026, must include a
water supply element and strategic growth element as required by subsection (1.5)
of this section. A municipality shall update the water supply element and strategic
growth element as required by subsection (1.5) of this section no less frequently
than every five years.
(b) A municipality with a master plan is not required to include a strategic
growth element if the municipality has not received funding to include the strategic
growth element pursuant to section 24-32-3710 and either:
(I) Has a population of twenty thousand or less and has experienced negative
population change in the most recent decennial census; or
(II) Has a population of two thousand or less.
(1.9) The master plan may include, where applicable or appropriate:
(a) The general location, character, and extent of existing, proposed, or
projected streets, roads, rights-of-way, bridges, waterways, waterfronts, parkways,
highways, mass transit routes and corridors, and any transportation plan prepared
by any metropolitan planning organization that covers all or a portion of the
municipality and that the municipality has received notification of or, if the
municipality is not located in an area covered by a metropolitan planning
organization, any transportation plan prepared by the department of transportation
that the municipality has received notification of and that covers all or a portion of
the municipality;
(b) The general location of public places or facilities, including public
schools, culturally, historically, or archaeologically significant buildings, sites, and
objects, playgrounds, squares, parks, airports, aviation fields, military installations,
and other public ways, grounds, open spaces, trails, and designated federal, state,
and local wildlife areas. For purposes of this section, military installation has the
same meaning as specified in section 29-20-105.6 (2)(b).
(c) The general location and extent of public utilities terminals, capital
facilities, and transfer facilities, whether publicly or privately owned or operated,
for water, light, sanitation, transportation, communication, power, and other
purposes and any proposed or projected needs for capital facilities and utilities,
including the priorities, anticipated costs, and funding proposals for such facilities
and utilities;
(d) The acceptance, removal, relocation, widening, narrowing, vacating,
abandonment, modification, change of use, or extension of any of the public ways,
rights-of-way, including the coordination of such rights-of-way with the rights-of-way of other municipalities, counties, or regions, grounds, open spaces, buildings,
property, utility, or terminals referred to in subsections (1.5)(c), (1.7)(a), and (1.7)(b) of
this section;
(e) A zoning plan for the control of the height, area, bulk, location, and use of
buildings and premises. Such a zoning plan may protect and assure access to
appropriate conditions for solar, wind, or other alternative energy sources, including
geothermal energy used for water heating or space heating or cooling in a single
building, for space heating for more than one building through a pipeline network,
or for electricity generation; however, regulations and restrictions of the height,
number of stories, size of buildings and other structures, and the height and
location of trees and other vegetation shall not apply to existing buildings,
structures, trees, or vegetation except for new growth on such vegetation;
(f) The general character, location, and extent of community centers,
housing developments, whether public or private; the existing, proposed, or
projected location of residential neighborhoods and sufficient land for future
housing development for the existing and projected economic and other needs of
all current and anticipated residents of the municipality; and redevelopment areas.
If a municipality has entered into a regional planning agreement, the agreement
may be incorporated by reference into the master plan.
(g) A plan for the extraction of commercial mineral deposits pursuant to
section 34-1-304;
(h) A plan for the location and placement of public utilities that facilitates
the provision of such utilities to all existing, proposed, or projected developments in
the municipality;
(i) Projections of population change and housing needs to accommodate the
projected population for specified increments of time. The municipality may base
these projections upon data from the department of local affairs and upon the
municipality's local objectives;
(j) The areas containing steep slopes, geological hazards, endangered or
threatened species, wetlands, floodplains, floodways, and flood risk zones, highly
erodible land or unstable soils, and wildfire hazards. For purposes of determining
the location of such areas, the commission should consider the following sources
for guidance:
(I) The Colorado geological survey for defining and mapping geological
hazards;
(II) The United States fish and wildlife service of the United States
department of the interior and the parks and wildlife commission created in section
33-9-101 for locating areas inhabited by endangered or threatened species;
(III) The Unites States army corps of engineers and the United States fish
and wildlife service national wetlands inventory for defining and mapping wetlands;
(IV) The federal emergency management agency for defining and mapping
floodplains, floodways, and flood risk zones;
(V) The natural resources conservation service of the United States
department of agriculture for defining and mapping unstable soils and highly
erodible land; and
(VI) The Colorado state forest service for locating wildfire hazard areas.
(2) As the work of making the whole master plan progresses, the commission
may from time to time adopt and publish a part thereof. Any such part shall cover
one or more major sections or divisions of the municipality or one or more of the
foregoing or other functional matters to be included in the plan. The commission
may amend, extend, or add to the plan from time to time.
(3) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 613, � 2, effective August 3, 2007.)
(4) (a) Each municipality that has a population of two thousand persons or
more and that is wholly or partially located in a county that is subject to the
requirements of section 30-28-106 (4), C.R.S., shall adopt a master plan within two
years after January 8, 2002.
(b) The department of local affairs shall annually determine, based on the
population statistics maintained by said department, whether a municipality is
subject to the requirements of this subsection (4), and shall notify any municipality
that is newly identified as being subject to said requirements. Any such municipality
shall have two years following receipt of notification from the department to adopt
a master plan.
(c) Once a municipality is identified as being subject to the requirements of
this subsection (4), the municipality shall at all times thereafter remain subject to
the requirements of this subsection (4), regardless of whether it continues to meet
the criteria specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection (4).
(5) A master plan adopted in accordance with the requirements of
subsection (4) of this section shall contain a recreational and tourism uses element
pursuant to which the municipality shall indicate how it intends to provide for the
recreational and tourism needs of residents of the municipality and visitors to the
municipality through delineated areas dedicated to, without limitation, hiking,
mountain biking, rock climbing, skiing, cross country skiing, rafting, fishing, boating,
hunting, and shooting, or any other form of sports or other recreational activity, as
applicable, and commercial facilities supporting such uses.
(6) The master plan of any municipality adopted or amended in accordance
with the requirements of this section on and after August 8, 2005, shall satisfy the
requirements of section 29-20-105.6, C.R.S., as applicable.
(7) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no master plan
originally adopted or amended in accordance with the requirements of this section
shall conflict with a master plan for the extraction of commercial mineral deposits
adopted by the municipality pursuant to section 34-1-304, C.R.S.
(8) The commission shall submit the master plan and any separately
approved water supply element and strategic growth element to the division of
local government in the department of local affairs. The division of local
government shall review master plans and may provide comments to the
commission.
(9) (a) As used in this subsection (9):
(I) (A) Equestrian means an individual who is riding a horse, leading a horse,
or riding in a vehicle drawn by a horse.
(B) Equestrian includes the horse being ridden, being led, or drawing a
vehicle, as each are described in subsection (9)(a)(I)(A) of this section.
(II) Equestrian zone means an area that a municipality determines is
suburban or urban and contains:
(A) An equestrian fairground, public equestrian riding arena, public
equestrian center, or public riding trail;
(B) An equestrian-centric residential neighborhood where equestrians
regularly ride and that was zoned in such a manner as to allow housing privately
owned equines but is now being developed for primarily residential use or that is
zoned in such a manner as to allow housing privately owned equines;
(C) A keystone property; or
(D) Roads or trails that equestrians use and that are related to an area
described in subsections (9)(a)(II)(A) to (9)(a)(II)(C) of this section.
(III) Keystone property means a property that has at least one of the
following equestrian facilities:
(A) Boarding facilities that provide housing for equines, training for
equestrians, or equine service and education programs;
(B) Equine stables that facilitate animal welfare rescue programs or equine
therapy programs;
(C) Breeding facilities for equines; or
(D) Nonpublic equestrian venues that provide services to the equestrian
community.
(IV) Suburban or urban means the population and traffic density are
sufficient to cause significant and regular interactions between equestrians and
motor vehicles or other residents.
(b) A municipality with a master plan may identify and show on the master
plan the location of and character of existing or proposed equestrian infrastructure,
venues, and equestrian zones.
(c) A municipality may organize public events to educate the public about
equestrian use of recreational trails and roads and the duties of users of trails and
roads with regard to equestrian users. A municipality may partner with local horse
advocacy groups to educate the public about these matters or to hold the public
events.