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• Most people are unfamiliar with applications (“dockets”) and the County’s processes for dealing with dockets of various types.  We at the Pro-RURAL Alliance are mainly concerned with dockets that have broad implications for rural areas (not homeowner applications to build a porch or a barn, for example). The dockets of interest to us include Subdivisions (SD), Special Use Reviews (SU), and Limited Impact Special Use Reviews (LU). These applications are designated with names that give the type of application, year, and number.  For example, SD-23-0003 is subdivision application #0003, proposed in 2023.

• Here's our handy how-to guide to navigating the dockets website.

• To find a docket, go to the County’s website linked here and access the search section. Enter any information you know about it to try to find it.

• At the bottom of a docket’s page is a link to submit a comment or question.  This is where the public’s written comments are accepted.  In the form that pops up, enter the Boulder County address you are commenting on (not your address).  Then proceed to fill out the rest of the form and enter your comment plus “submit” when you are ready.  Comments become a part of the public record for the docket and can be seen by any member of the public.

• On the docket’s page, click “application materials” to see what the applicants have submitted.

• On the docket’s page, click “Link to planning application submittals” to pull up a page that allows you to access the many documents related to the docket, including all the public comments that have been received.  There is a “Record Info” pulldown menu near the top of this page, under the Record Status line.  Note that the bottom selection in this pulldown menu is “Documents”.  Go there to see public comments, Boulder County department referral comments (for example, what Parks and Open Space had to say about the application), and the many components and technical documents of the application itself.

• It is useful to access the “Documents” to watch for department referral comments.  

• The schedule for various events related to the application’s processing can be found as a tab under the Record Info menu.  In general, there is a cycle of a public comment period, followed by the Planning Commission hearing, then another cycle of public comment, followed by the Board of County Commissioners hearing.  Verbal comments from the public are accepted at each of the hearings.  Signup occurs in advance of the hearing or can also occur the day of the hearing.

• The Planning staff make a recommendation to the Planning Commission (in writing, and posted in the docket’s documents).  Likewise, the Planning Commission makes its recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).  The BOCC is the “decider” on whether the docket is approved, approved with conditions, or denied.  Subdivision applications go through several cycles as they advance through conceptual, preliminary, and final plat stages.

• Applicants can decide to “table” their application (pause it) indefinitely. They might revise the application and continue the process, but major revisions require a whole new application.  An application is only “over” if the BOCC denies it, or the applicant withdraws it.

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