Planning Reports and Studies

Our team brings a broad depth of public and private experience to each of our clients.  Our work with suburban and rural communities in Colorado allows RGA to bring best-practices to our management and consultant roles.  We recognize that each community has a unique story and its citizens, municipal leaders and developers all add their own layers to the community’s history and its future.  Our team effectively communicates with a wide range of applicants, small property owners, and large developers.  We truly believe collaborative community-based planning is an essential component to creating a viable and thriving community.

Expertise Includes:
(see below for representative projects)

Comprehensive
​and
Master Plan
​Preparation

Land Use Code
Assessments,
Updates ​and
​Rewrites

Zoning
Code
Analysis/
​Audits

​Design
Guidelines
​
​

Housing
Needs
​Assessments
​

Economic
Development/
​Enterprise
​Zones

Contact:

Joy McGee, AICP

PLANNING PROJECT MANAGER
​
Direct Line: 303-468-8493
Cell: 303-961-2623
jmcgee@rgengineers.com
​​

Our Team / Contact Us

Representative Projects
​​(Click to Open)

Planning Reports and Studies

City of Leadville, Colorado
Municipal Code Amendments

RGA has served as the on-call planner and engineer for the city since 2017. As part of this work, our team has been tasked with addressing conflicts within their municipal code, including short-term rentals and accessory dwelling units. We have worked alongside the city administration, legal consultants, Planning Commission and City Council to produce clear and fair revisions.

City of Sheridan, Colorado
​Mixed-Use Zoning District Creation

Per guidelines established in the city’s 2015 Comprehensive Plan update, RGA assisted the city with establishing a Mixed-Use Commercial District. This addition to the zoning code encourages a mixed-use, walkable and design-oriented development. 

City of Sheridan, Colorado
Comprehensive Plan Update

RGA assisted the City of Sheridan’s Planning and Zoning Commission with its Comprehensive Plan Update. The RGA team analyzed the existing plan to determine what goals had been accomplished and created a new action matrix.  Having served the Sheridan community since 2009, we were able to use our relational and experiential knowledge of how the city operates to incorporate staff’s ideas that had been discussed for many years into the update. Extensive community involvement was facilitated by RGA, involving community workshops, surveys, walking tours, joint‐public meetings and a booth at Sheridan Celebrates, the community’s annual festival. A unique characteristic of this plan was the partnership with Tri‐County Health to evaluate the plan from a health perspective. RGA worked with Tri‐County to develop new goals and policies to address health in land use and transportation. The city was selected as a Public Health Hero of the Year for 2015 by the TriCounty Health Department (TCHD) for facilitating a “collaborative and inclusive approach to policy development, which helped to build a foundation of goals and policies for the comprehensive plan that will lead to lasting change and improved health outcomes for Sheridan residents”.

Rio Grande County, Colorado
​Land Use Development Code Update

Utilizing the completed Land Use Development Code Assessment, RGA assisted the county with a full update to their Land Use Development Code.  RGA completed all public engagement, including a project website, social media page setup and coordination, public meeting creation, and a booth at the Southern Rocky Mountain Agricultural Conference and Trade Fair. We also assisted with all policy updates, public meeting presentations  and joint planning commission and board of county commissioner workshops. This update was adopted in November of 2019.

Rio Grande County, Colorado
​Land Use Development Code Assessment

Since its last adoption in the mid‐1970s, Rio Grande County has amended sections of its Land Use Development Code (LUDC). After decades of these section‐by‐section updates, the County hired RGA to complete a full assessment of the Land Use Development Code and make recommendations to address inconsistencies, contradictions, and other organizational structure challenges in addition to making recommendations for policies which are not included in the current LUDC. Through these meetings it became evident that the structure and format of the LUDC did not allow for easy and consistent interpretation and enforceability of the regulations. Further, it became clear that there were a few unique land use patterns within the County which were not contemplated within the LUDC. After meeting with County staff, the Board of County Commissioners, and selected community stakeholders, the RGA Team conducted an in‐depth assessment of the LUDC which included a section by section review of the code, identification of inconsistencies, missing enabling legislature and references, and identified issues. For a final deliverable, RGA provided the County with an Assessment Report which identified other critical a recommended course of action for the County to take as well as a full, section by section analysis of the LUDC in table form for increased usability and readability.

Rio Grande County, Colorado
2016 Joint Master Plan

In response to a quick turnaround due to grant requirements, RGA was hired by Rio Grande County to facilitate an update of its 2004 Rio Grande County Joint Master Plan. The update included three different jurisdictions as well as the unincorporated areas of the County. RGA planners conducted a week‐long community outreach in Rio Grande County, meeting individually with the residents, business owners, and board members of the Town of South Fork, the Town of Del Norte, the City of Monte Vista, and Rio Grande County. We hosted a booth at the 2015 San Luis Valley Potato Festival where we interacted with festival goers, asking them to comment on maps, past Plan goals and what they love about Rio Grande County. During the nine‐month update process, we hosted a website with a monthly blog, provided space for comments and included community specific surveys for enhanced feedback. The second round of community outreach included two days of open house style meetings to discuss the draft plan and receive feedback from each community and the county. The Plan was adopted in March of 2016, by the county as well as all three municipalities.

Town of Bayfield, Colorado
​2018 Comprehensive Plan​

 The Town of Bayfield completed numerous plans and studies within the last 10 years ranging from simple economic studies to an extensive water master plan to a parks, open space, trails, and recreation master plan. The RGA team evaluated over 30 plans and combined these goals and objectives and input received from 14 community stakeholders into an easy to read, comprehensive executive summary of previous planning efforts in Bayfield. With a solid understanding of these previous planning efforts and the community’s existing vision of the future, our team began projecting future growth, and the impact the future population would have on the town’s infrastructure, resources, land uses, and quality of life. These impacts culminated with a Future Needs Assessment Report which identified future needs of the growing community. To further gauge community interests, RGA deployed a large public meetings effort. For over three weeks, graphically rich boards were placed at four locations around town where community members could rank their most desirable to least desirable design elements in the four categories displayed. Our team saw excellent community interest through these surveys and received over 100 survey responses through that three‐week period!

Town of Buena Vista, Colorado
Development Handbook Preparation

The RGA team has provided the Town of Buena Vista with on-call engineering and planning services since 2013. On the planning side, our team has assisted with all aspects of the development review process, GIS mapping and zoning code and land use interpretations. During this time, our team has noted and acted upon several opportunities for code revisions and development process improvement. We are currently assisting the town with the creation of a Development Handbook, which lays out the planning and engineering standards for development within the town. As part of this process, we are assisting the town with revisions to its code for clarity on process items and the removal of unnecessary development standards. We are working closely with the town’s administration, planning and zoning department, public works department, legal consultants, Planning Commission, Board of Trustees, local surveyors and local engineers. This project is expected to be completed early next year.

Town of Dillon, Colorado
Development Regulations Assessment Report

The Town of Dillon is a vibrant community with a proud history and an exciting future that optimizes its unique recreational, economic, educational and environmental characteristics. The scenic landscape and small‐town atmosphere make the Town of Dillon a great place to live, work, recreate, and vacation. Over the past decade, the Town has completed a number of land planning and community development focused efforts. Similar to other Summit County towns, Dillon is seeking ways to create financially attainable workforce housing for local employees while simultaneously addressing the tourist related market demands such as second homes, short‐term rentals and increased commercial development. The Dillon Town Council has identified workforce housing as a priority and has made progress in understanding the issue and identifying possible solutions. These patterns, when combined with land development regulations and standards which have not been comprehensively evaluated in close to a decade, create a regulatory framework that does not adequately meet the current realities. RGA was brought on board to complete an assessment of the Dillon Development Regulations (DDR) to understand the level of this disconnect.

Town of Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado
Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan

The RGA team provided a parks and open space master plan for the town. We facilitated several meetings with the town to understand the important issues to the community, and a tour with stakeholders to see the issues. The plan looks at opportunities the town has, given its location in Grand County adjacent to the Colorado River, as well as a variety of public lands. Throughout the process, there was an emphasis on stakeholder input which resulted in a practical and implementable plan, and positions the Town to apply for future grants.

Town of Kersey, Colorado
​2016 Comprehensive Plan Update

The RGA team partnered with the planning department of the Town of Kersey, managed by Resource Conservation Partners, LLC, to provide a high‐quality, yet cost‐effective Comprehensive Plan to the Town. The RGA planning team led a robust community engagement process with citizens, stakeholders, business owners, Town Council and Planning Commission. This process included several innovative public outreach techniques, including: joint work sessions, community workshops, design charrettes, open houses and website/social media use. After public input, the plan included focused directives towards a resilient community with economic viability, new housing opportunities and open space planning. Per grant requirements, the Plan was completed in three months. 

Town of Kremmling, Colorado
​Comprehensive Plan Update

The Town of Kremmling Comprehensive Plan is a revision to the original 1983 Comprehensive Plan and the 1992 Comprehensive Plan Update. Kremmling is a mountain community in Grand County with a population of approximately 1,400 people. Located less than one hour from Silverthorne, Steamboat Springs, and Winter Park, Kremmling is a hotspot for outdoor activities, and is working to capitalize on tourism opportunities to strengthen its economic base. RGA conducted the public outreach meetings and generated the plan, which addresses land use, economic development, environment, urban design, capital improvements, housing, and transportation.

Town of Milliken, Colorado
Housing Needs Assessment

The Milliken Housing Needs Assessment was done in an expedited fashion to help support Milliken’s application for CDBG‐DR funds to address the community’s impacts from the September 2013 floods.  The assessment was much broader in scope than just flood impacts.  It examined the changing demographics, the rapid growth experienced by Milliken in the past 15 years, the existing supply of lots and changing economic needs, as well as the lack of affordable housing opportunities at a variety of income ranges.  A series of recommendations were generated which addressed what the Town could do, what partnerships could be formed, and what different development options could be encouraged.  

Town of Parachute, Colorado
Design Guidelines

RGA assisted the town with creation of a Design Guidelines Manual, which identified key visual concepts related to Site Design, Public Realm, Streetscapes, and Regional Architectural Enhancements as they apply to the redevelopment and new infill projects. This manual also included general review and approval procedures for design concept compliance. RGA also conducted a public open house and presented the guidelines at public hearings.