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| 12/17/2009 | County calls truce on overheight residence |
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Former zoning directors may
have acted improperly, but permit was nonetheless approved Once again, the county commissioners chewed on the
matter of an overheight residence north of Westcliffe
only this time they put the matter to bed. Last week, the commissioners met with county attorney
John Naylor and attorney Donald Belveal of Construction of the Knoth
residence began in 2005. The residence the Knoth’s
built was an addition to an existing house. The couple moved into their home in
2006. In July 2008, the Therefore, zoning director Jackie Hobby began
investigating the complaint, as required by the county’s zoning resolution, and
discovered the new construction was six-feet eight inches over height. Also discovered by Hobby was that the overheight had been approved, in writing, by then zoning
director Linc Lippincott. Under the zoning resolution, said Hobby, Lippincott did
not have authority to approve such a matter, and instead, the Knoths should have been required to go before the board of
zoning adjustment to request a height variance. Hobby also discovered the Knoths’
zoning permit to build the home was not closed out and a compliance inspection
had not been completed. At the time, those tasks should have been completed by
interim zoning director Christy Kesselring, who was hired to replace Lippincott
who left in June 2005. Kesselring was acting director until Hobby was hired in
August 2006. Prior to being named director, Kesselring was in the zoning office
to handle septic inspections as well as other zoning compliance tasks. The county commissioners have apparently been meeting
with Naylor in executive session over the past 18-months in an effort to
rectify the problem. Despite Naylor advising the commissioners to drop the
matter and sign off on the permit and compliance inspection, a final decision
was not made during last week’s open meeting. Bill Knoth,
who was not in attendance last week, later asked to speak to the commissioners.
That meeting took place Tuesday, Dec. 15, during the commissioners’ regular
mid-month meeting. On Tuesday, Knoth gave a
timeline of events. Knoth also said he acted in good
faith by meeting with Lippincott and getting approval before construction. Lippincott signed
off on the architectural drawings citing the height of the new construction was
okay as long as it did not exceed the height of the existing structure. Hobby
stated the Knoths’ new addition to the existing house
complied with that requirement. Knoth also showed the
commissioners the original zoning permit dated February 2005 and signed by
Lippincott stating the height was okay. And, said Knoth, Kesselring
had contacted him regarding the final inspection prior to he
and his wife moving into the house in September 2006. Knoth said he gave Kesselring
permission to do the inspections, however, he was
going to be out of town when she was scheduled to complete the job. Knoth said he thought she had completed the inspection and
that all required paperwork had been signed off. Hobby said she could find no
record the inspections had been completed and finalized. Several Valley
residents also attended Tuesday’s meeting to speak on behalf of the Knoths. They included Paul Wenke,
John Watson, Kristina Geroux, Chris Derick, Paul
Snyder and Ron Thomason. Neighboring property owner Hal Julsen
was also in attendance and expressed concern the BZA and general public had not
been informed of the matter and given an opportunity to express their opinion. Julsen made the same comments last week. Following the lengthy discussion, the commissioners
decided to follow Naylor’s earlier advice. A motion was made and seconded, and unanimously approved
to close-out the Knoth zoning permit and compliance
inspection, which means the entire matter including the overheight
issue has been put to rest. – |
