Results of Merger Regulation Hearings

January 22, 2004 - Boulder County Commissioners

The Boulder County Commissioners  heard Docket #DC-03-07 on the proposed Text Amendments to the Land Use Code on Jan. 22. A roomful of people showed up and over 30 people told horror stories. 5 people showed up to support the existing automatic merger code. The Board approved Land Use Code changes in Section 18-121 to conform to the State law about mergers. 

The LUC and the Planning Commission recommended that an advisory committee be set up and the Board did not agree. The Commissioners supported looking at ways that owners of merged properties could be compensated by the county for excess property taxes paid on merged lots - however, State law allows refunding overpayment for only the past two years. The Land Use Department was instructed to return with suggestions on how to proceed with determining which lots could be unmerged. Approximately 500 lots have been combined into about 220 parcels since the provision began in 1993. The Land Use Department is now in the process of preparing a list of those people who own merged lots. 

 An LUC committee met with the Land Use Department to discuss ways the merger situation could be resolved. The discussion highlights: 

• Effort would be made to identify certain properties that would be automatically "unmerged". 

• Owners would have a chance to voluntarily merge their properties and be offered incentives such as lower taxes, the possibility of transferring development rights, and conservation easement consideration.

• Create a reasonable process to notify owners that their properties are subject to merger and ask their consent.

Things to note:

• The Commissioners offered no plan for compensating owners of forcibly merged property for their loss in property value.
• The Land Use Department is talking to groups individually, but the Commissioners do not support a public forum on the issue.
• It has been 10 years since the "merger rule" went into effect and many property owners have never been notified that their properties are affected.
• You can have separately deeded properties and pay taxes separately, but even so the properties have been automatically merged according to the regulation.
• It is possible that some properties - but not all - may be unmerged.  
• Even if your property is in the class of being automatically unmerged, you may still have to go through a process to unmerge.
• When properties are on a single deed, the Land Use Department tries to determine the "intent" - i.e. whether an owner intended the properties to be one property. The determination should be based on law, not an unquantifiable intent. E.G. Properties transferred as part of an estate might be put on one deed, but the intent is to still maintain the properties as separate properties.

The rules for merging properties are confusing, but here is a summary of when properties are considered merged. Adjacent properties owned by the same person or entity will be automatically merged (i.e. without the owner's consent) if:

• The properties were ever merged for tax purposes
• Properties are listed on the same deed
• Properties are in a subdivision where less than 25% of the lots are developed
• Properties contain shared improvements (e.g. house on one, garage or outbuildings on another)
• 'Significant' environmental damage would be caused by development
• Properties in the mountains are owned by the same person or entity. (Properties in the plains could also be merged, because the Code uses the term "contiguous subdivided lot".)

To read the section of the Land Use Code applying to mergers:

• Boulder County Land Use Code 18-121
• BC Land Use Dept Proposed Code 18-121 Amendment

The bottom-line position of the Land Use Coalition is that lots should not ever be merged without the owner's consent and the owner should not be required to merge lots in order to get a building permit. 

A simple process is needed for people who want to independently initiate a process of merging properties.

What's Next?

Wait for further determination from the County about what they are willing to do. 

For more information contact the Land Use Coalition at contactus@landusecoalition.org or call 303-666-7903.

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Last updated August 26, 2004.
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