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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDow Rippy Update Memo - 11.23.20221 MEMORANDUM TO: Fred Jarman, County Manager FROM: Sheryl Bower, Director Community Development John Plano, Chief Building Official Glenn Hartmann, Principal Planner DATE: 11/23/22 SUBJECT: Update on Dow Rippy Grading Activity Adjacent to County Road 335 BACKGROUND • In early 2021 we received a complaint from the City of New Castle on the work that Mr. Rippy was doing on his property on the South Side of County Road 335. (The Town complained that Mr. Rippy was dragging a lot of dirt on to the road). • Wade Patton went out to investigate and Mr. Rippy indicated that he was doing authorized work for the State on the coal seam fire remediation. (Mr. Rippy provided Wade with a copy of the permit). • Later in the year staff was alerted that Mr. Rippy had divided the large parcel into eighteen 35+ acre parcels and was marketing these properties through https://grandhogbackranches.com/ • It was at this point that staff reached out to the State and inquired into whether the road Mr. Rippy was building was consistent with what the State had hired him to do and the State responded that no, they only needed a two-track primitive road for their work. • Staff determined that the work Mr. Rippy was doing was to provide access to a portion of the newly created parcels (the remainder taking access directly off of City/County Road). And because this new road served a number of parcels and was Community Development Department 2 not an “agricultural road” (as Mr. Rippy insisted) we advised him in January 2022, that a grading permit would be required. • Excerpts from Building Code The Building Code: J103.1 Permits required. Except as exempted in Section J103.2, no grading shall be performed without first having obtained a permit from the Garfield County Community Development Department. A grading permit does not include the construction of retaining walls or other structures. Security deposits in a form and amount approved by the Building Official or designee, based upon recommendations from the County Vegetation management Office and the county’s designated engineer shall be established prior to issuance of a major grading permit. Section J103.2 Exemption 1. Grading, excavation and earthwork construction, including fills and embankments that are constructed solely for agricultural purposes on lands that are farms or ranches. • Staff also advised Mr. Rippy that we would not be able to issue permits to any of the new owners of the parcels that he had created until permitted work was completed and inspected. The LUDC Article 7-107 Access and Roadways contains a requirement that all parcels have legal and physical access to a public right of way and that the roadway meet applicable County Codes. • Typically, when a property owner is creating a subdivision, staff has the opportunity to review access and determine if the lots have code compliant access. Because these lots are all 35+ acres the division of land is exempt from subdivision. However, they are not exempt from meeting other standards, in this case access. The grading permit provides the avenue for staff to make the determination that not only has the grading been completed per code, but also that the resulting road is adequate for emergency service and fire protection. • Fast forward to May. We still did not have a completed application from Mr. Rippy. Matt Provost drove by the site on about May 3, 2022, and observed work continuing. A Stop Work Order is issued to Mr. Rippy, and we advise him that he shouldn’t be doing anything up there until a permit is issued (he asks if he can complete a minimal amount of stormwater/erosion control and we advise him that he can but that is all until he gets the permit). 3 • In the meantime, illegal work had to be stopped on one of the lots Mr. Rippy had sold, as the new owner was grading and building a wall without permit. • On May 24, 2022, the County received a call from Greg McKennis. Mr. McKennis informed that Mr. Rippy had just reached out to him to advise that his new road crossed McKennis’ property. Staff checked with the Accessor’s office and discovered that there was an error on the County maps and that Mr. McKennis’ property did cross the County Road and that Mr. Rippy had graded McKennis property without authorization (according to Mr. McKennis, Mr. Rippy would have known this back in September as that is when the survey showing the McKennis property was completed.) • Mr. Rippy was advised that he would need to deal with this ownership issue prior to submitting the grading permit application (the County can’t issue permits for work on other’s property without authorization.) SUMMARY OF CURRENT STATUS • Dow Rippy has submitted additional information for his grading permit application as directed in numerous meetings over the past year with Community Development Staff. • The updated Application was reviewed by the Chris Hale, Mountain Cross Engineering, the County Consulting Engineer and determined to be incomplete. Completeness issues were provided to the Applicant. • The Applicant has brought High Country Engineering, Roger Neal on board to address completeness issues and provide stamped engineered plans for the grading permit and access configurations. • A meeting between Chris Hale and Roger Neal was conducted on November 10th, with an excellent exchange of information and ongoing engineering issues between Chris and Roger. • Next steps were mapped out at the meeting including additional coordination with Orin Moon, Colorado River Fire & Rescue and Wyatt Keesbery, County Road and Bridge. Steve Anthony, County Vegetation Manager was also to be consulted on re-vegetation security. • Based on communication from Roger Neal, he has made the required contacts and will complete an updated Stamped Engineered Grading Permit Application pending receiving written direction from his follow-up meeting contacts. The Town of New Castle Engineering Department, was also contacted by Roger as some sections of Dow’s roadway access onto a portion of the public road that has been annexed into and taken over by the Town. Key issues being addressed are summarized below: 4 o Fire Protection District Access and turnarounds. o Road cross section details. o Drainage and culvert sizing. o Surfacing requirements at the County Road access points. o Access permits from the Town of New Castle. o Re-Vegetation Security. o Stormwater Management. o Revisions to the grading plans to eliminate encroachment onto the McKennis property. • Input from Steve Anthony, County Vegetation Manager was obtained by Community Development Staff regarding calculation of required re-vegetation security and relayed to the Applicant’s Engineer. • In addition, confirmation of Dow’s authorization to complete the grading/roadway work (including on properties that have been sold) has been reviewed by the County Attorney’s Office with the Applicant’s Legal Representatives. IMPOUND YARD – STORAGE USE • On October 26th, a complaint was received that a Impound Yard was operating just outside New Castle town limits. • After some research it was found to be Dad’s Towing off The Colorado River Road (County Road 335), on property sold by Dow Rippy and accessed off his proposed roadway (the subject of the above grading permit). • John Plano, Chief Building Official contacted the local manager, Garth, and met on site November 1st, 2022. We discussed that an impound yard operation requires Land Use Approval with the County. • A notice of Violation was issued on November 3rd using certified mail to the owner of the property and e-mailed to Dad’s Towing.