Frequently Asked Questions

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A way to determine if a property/parcel is in unincorporated El Paso County, use the El Paso County Assessor Property Search. to find property information either by parcel, address, or owner name.

Once the property/parcel is located, the “Public Record Property Information” page will be displayed. Scroll down the page and find the list of the parcel’s taxing entities. A parcel is under County jurisdiction if no taxing entities begin with the words “city of” or “town of” followed by name of an incorporated city/town.

There are two different application types to request relief from a dimensional standard. The first, and more streamlined process, is administrative relief. This application type generally allows for approval of a 20% reduction in the dimensional standards. The second is a dimensional variance before the Board of Adjustment. This application type allows for approval of any requested reduction in the dimensional standards but is unlikely to be approved without the applicant demonstrating that there is a hardship in place, or a reason why the land will not allow for the standard to be met.

• Administrative Relief

The application must qualify for and meet the criteria within the Section 5.5.1 of the Land Development Code. This is an administrative approval process which generally takes 1-2 months to approve, depending on the number of submittals required to resolve comments. The application fee for Administrative Relief is $587. The administrative relief application may not be submitted without initial discussions with planning staff to determine that your specific proposal qualifies for such an application. If you wish to learn more about the process or wish to move forward with making a submission please email us at dsd-pod@elpasoco.com and you will be connected to a member of our planning staff.

• Board of Adjustment

Alternatively, if more than 20% relief is required in order to make reasonable use of the property, then a Board of Adjustment application is required. Please note that it is required that a Board of Adjustment application meets all criteria outlined in Section 5.5.2 of the Code, which is more stringent than the administrative relief criteria (particularly demonstrating undue hardship, like topography). Please also note that as this is not an administrative process, approval by the Board of Adjustment is not guaranteed and that application fees are non-refundable. The application fee for Board of Adjustment is $1037.00. You must begin the Board of Adjustment process with an Early Assistance meeting (EA). The fee for an EA meeting is $437.00. If you wish to learn more about the process, please send us an email at dsd-pod@elpasoco.com and you will be connected to a member of our planning staff.

Yes. In the Sheetz case, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the principles of “essential nexus” and “rough proportionality” first established in their Nollan and Dolan cases apply to legislatively-adopted land use permit exactions, including traffic impact fees. The Nollan and Dolan principles have served as the foundation of the Road Impact Fee Program since its creation. The Program imposes a fee on land use approvals that have been determined to cause an increase in traffic. That fee is used to reimburse developers and the County when they build road improvements that increase the capacity for traffic on the regional roadway system. This is the “essential nexus” between the fee and the impacts it helps to mitigate. The amount of the fee is based on an analysis of the number of vehicle trips that different classes of land uses add to the road system, as determined primarily by relying on the data collected and published in the ITE Trip Generation Manual published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. This analysis supports the “rough proportionality” between the impact created and the fee charged.