Zoning reverted on 3 parcels; deadlines missed

The Yuma County Board of Supervisors voted to revert the zoning Monday on three properties whose owner had missed longpassed deadlines to develop their lands before risking the loss of approved zoning changes.

The three parcels are at the northwest corner of Avenue 36E and County 11th Street in Wellton (40 acres), the northwest corner of Interstate 8 and Avenue 16E near Yuma (45 acres), and on the southeast corner of Avenue D and County 11 1/2 Street, also near Yuma (45 acres).

Zoning for all three will switch back to their prior zoning of Rural Area40-acre lot minimum or, in the case of the property on I-8 and 16E, to Rural Area10 acre minimum. The owners missed deadlines that were set two years after their rezoning cases were approved, in 2007 or 2008.

Principal Planner Juan Leal-Rubio said the county had not heard from any of the three property owners on whether the zoning should be extended, so staff was recommending reversion for all three.

For the past few months the county planning and zoning department has been working through a backlog of these types of cases, where deadlines for development had passed, but the county never took any action to revert the zoning. Leal-Rubio said there are approximately 10 more cases to be brought before the board.

In a few cases, land has been sold to owners who weren’t told about needing to meet development requirements, such as building access roads, before legally being able to do anything with their property, which is why the rest of the properties are being taken care of now.

The county began requiring developers to meet these requirements before being able to subdivide and sell their property to others in 2006, as a safeguard against this happening, but Board of Supervisors chairman Tony Reyes pointed out that resolving these last few cases now doesn’t mean that some of them won’t come back later, after missing another deadline.

“These situations are going to happen as people don’t do their thing, so you may have 10, but then all of a sudden you may have three which have gotten past the point where their development schedules haven’t been met. So this is an ongoing thing,” he said.

In other action, the board:

• Heard an update on improvements at 197 S. Main St. Steve Mendoza of the General Services department said the unfinished areas of the partially-renovated building used as office space by the county have been sealed off, a new sidewalk on one side of the building should be done by May 19, and final air quality testing results have come back from a consultant, and a meeting with county staff is scheduled for today.

Some employees working in the building reported having respiratory issues and other health issues potentially related to conditions in the centuryold building, and the board approved a series of improvements to address the problem in December.

• Approved revisions to fees for rabies licensing, boarding and impound fees charged by the county Public Health Department. Changes include lowering the age at which dog owners must obtain a rabies certificate for their dogs, from four to three months, and eliminating a schedule of prorated fees for first-time licenses. No fees were changed.

• Took no action on the final plat for Estrella at Mesa Del Sol Unit 4 subdivision, consisting of 143 medium-density residential lots on 41.5 acres at the southwest corner of Camino del Sol and County 10th Street. The request for a delay came from developer Elliott Homes.

• Held a closed executive session with County Administrator Susan Thorpe regarding her annual performance review.