2023 Comprehensive Plan Update

Executive Summary

Overview

In 2018 the Board of Trustees adopted “Plan Bayfield 2018” the Bayfield Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) and Future Land Use Map.  Colorado Revised Statutes (C.R.S) 31-23-206 requires municipalities with populations of 2,000 people or more to adopt a master plan, often referred to as a Comp Plan.  The Comp Plan is an advisory document to help guide future land use decisions by answering the following questions for the community:

• Where are we now?
• Where are we headed?
• Where do we want to go?
• How do we get there? 

Comprehensive Plans should go through substantial updates or rewrites every 10 years. However, it is important to keep a Comprehensive Plan current and relevant through necessary amendments and ongoing implementation monitoring.  After five years, the Town of Bayfield determined that an update to the 2018 Comprehensive Plan was necessary in order to keep it relevant and consistent with community values and goals that have changed and evolved, especially after the COVID-19 Pandemic impacts to Colorado, La Plata County, and specifically Bayfield. 

Plan Changes

The main changes to the Plan include:

• Overall reorganization of the Plan to create a chapter for each element;
• Updates to the Community Profile and Demographic information from the 2020 Census and State Demographer;
• Refined and expanded affordable and workforce Housing goals;
• Refined and expanded Economic Development goals concentrating on the local economy, small business and tourism;
• The creation of an Agriculture chapter promoting the Town’s ag heritage, preserving prime farmland, and encouraging ag businesses and tourism;
• Refined and expanded Stormwater goals after experiencing some major flood events in 2022;
• Refined and expanded Water Efficiency and Conservation goals recognizing current and future drought conditions; and
• Refined and expanded Risk Assessment and Resiliency goals recognizing potential hazards and risks to the Town.

Public Process

The 2023 Comprehensive Plan update process included public outreach to seek input from community members at key points throughout the process.  At the 2022 Town of Bayfield Block Parties on June 16, 2022; July 21, 2022; August 18, 2022; and at the Bayfield 4th of July celebration on July 4, 2022; Town staff asked the community to weigh in on the following:

• The Town’s current Mission, Vision and Values;
• The Town’s Strengths;
• The Town’s Challenges;
• The Town’s Opportunities;
• What they love about Bayfield; and
• What they wish was different about Bayfield.

One part of the public outreach process was the creation of the Comprehensive Plan Working Group.  The Town solicited letters of interest from residents (both inside and outside Town limits) and business owners to be a part of the Working Group and the Board of Trustees approved the members on July 19, 2022.  The Working Group's role included: monthly meetings from August, 2022 until June, 2023; collaboration among group members; supplementation of other public input received; researched relevant mandates and initiatives and collected data sources; provided guidance, reviewed and provided feedback to Town staff on the mission, vision, values, policies, objectives and implementation measures; and made recommendations to the Planning Commission and Board of Trustees on the updated 2023 Comprehensive Plan.

Adoption 

The Planning Commission approved the Plan on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. The Board of Trustees ratified the Planning Commissions approval on Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Attached documents BELOW include:

1. Approved 2023 Comprehensive Plan Update
2. Approved Mission, Vision and Values for Bayfield