Cortez planning board delays historic-designation change to December

The Cortez Planning and Zoning Commission put off a decision on speeding up historic designations on Tuesday night, at its own staff’s request, and will take the item up again on December 1.

Graphic: Cortez Current. Source: Cortez Planning and Zoning Commission meeting recording and agenda packet, November 3, 2026

The commission had been set to hold a public hearing on Resolution No. 9, Series 2026, which would change the Land Use Code so City Council could designate a property historic by resolution — one reading — instead of by ordinance, which takes two readings at two separate meetings. Council asked for the change at its October 13 meeting, and the Cortez Current set out what was on Tuesday’s agenda last week.

Instead of presenting it, Deputy Community and Economic Development Director Jason Armstrong asked the commission to move the item to its next agenda. He said staff wanted to do more research into the Colorado Revised Statutes on state tax credits, and what the code change would mean for them, before the commission acted.

A commissioner then moved to direct staff to make the revision and continue the hearing to the December 1 meeting for further discussion. It carried; the four commissioners present all voted yes. That was one of the two options staff had offered the commission in its agenda packet.

Nothing about the proposed code change itself has altered — the public hearing stays in the process either way, and the three edits to the Land Use Code are the same ones the packet described. What has changed is the date, and the reason given for waiting.

Commissioners by video: approved and sent to council

The commission did decide the second item. It voted to adopt Resolution No. 7, Series 2026, recommending that City Council amend the Cortez City Code so commissioners can take part in meetings by videoconference. The vote was again 4-0, with one of the five commissioners absent. No one spoke for or against at the public hearing.

Armstrong told the commission the resolution carries the two limits the commissioners themselves had asked for when they reviewed a draft at their August 4 meeting: no more than two members may take part electronically at any one meeting, and a member may do so at no more than three meetings a calendar year. Three sections of the city code would be amended — Section 2-6, so that electronic participation counts as attendance and not as an absence toward the rule that vacates a seat after three consecutive unexcused absences; Section 2-8, which carries most of the new language authorizing electronic participation at regular and special meetings; and Section 2-9, letting the commission adopt its own internal procedural rules for how electronic participation is conducted.

The resolution does not change the code. A commissioner asked whether council has to approve it for the commission to be able to do this, and Armstrong said yes — the changes are made in the city code by ordinance, and only council can do that.

The comprehensive plan contract is still not signed

Armstrong also gave the commission an update on the two new comprehensive plan chapters the state requires the city to finish by December 31. Council awarded that $44,050 contract on October 13 to Sno-Engineering Inc., doing business as SE Group, and authorized the city manager to negotiate and sign it.

Three weeks later, Armstrong said, the contracting process is “not quite done,” and staff hope to finish it in the next couple of weeks. He said he had hoped to bring the consultant to Tuesday’s meeting but could not because the contract is unsigned, and that he expects to bring her to the commission next month to set out the project in detail and a proposed calendar of activities.

The commission’s own representative on that project has left the commission, Armstrong said; the former commissioner had sat on the review committee that scored the bids. Armstrong asked whether the commission wanted to name a replacement liaison. One commissioner volunteered. Staff cautioned that because the item was not on the agenda the commission should not vote on it, but said it could note that one member had volunteered, let that member begin taking part, and put the formal appointment on the December agenda. The commission agreed to do that.

A newly appointed member was seated at Tuesday’s meeting, filling the vacancy and bringing the commission back to five. The chair said City Council made the appointment at its last meeting and that the new member had served on the commission once before. The Cortez Current is not printing the name, which it has only from the meeting’s automatic captions and not from any written city record.

A shorter permit report

The commission reviews a report of the building permits the city has issued. One commissioner asked whether staff could produce a summary rather than the itemized list, saying full building permits — an accessory dwelling unit, a single-family home, commercial construction — mattered more to him than fences. “Not all building permits were created equal,” he said.

Armstrong said he and the permit technician would put something together for the commission to look at and go from there. He also explained why the report in front of them was so long: it covered July 16 to October 15, because two meetings in that stretch had not been held, where the report normally covers a month. He added that this is the slow season and the list will stay short until spring.

The whole meeting ran 23 minutes. The city streams its Planning and Zoning meetings on its council meetings channel; the agenda and packet are on the city’s public portal. The commission meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 123 Roger Smith Avenue, which puts its next meeting on December 1.

Sources: Cortez Planning and Zoning Commission meeting recording, November 3, 2026 · Cortez Planning and Zoning Commission agenda packet, November 3, 2026 · Cortez Current, October 29 and October 14, 2026