{"id":53863,"date":"2026-03-26T23:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-adopts-required-wildfire-mitigation-codes-with-additional-cost-tracking-provisions\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T18:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:44:18","slug":"cortez-adopts-required-wildfire-mitigation-codes-with-additional-cost-tracking-provisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-adopts-required-wildfire-mitigation-codes-with-additional-cost-tracking-provisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez adopts required wildfire mitigation codes with additional cost-tracking provisions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wildlands
Wildlands behind North Market Street and Ridge Drive put properties in that area in a moderate intensity fire risk zone. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Cortez City Council on Tuesday adopted a state-authored building code intended to reduce wildfire spread in areas bordering or intermingling with wildlands. The code will take effect April 1. The state requires local governments to enforce it by July 1.<\/p>\n

The wildfire resiliency code will apply to new developments on the outskirts of the city, where brush and forests meet human settlements. Requirements vary based on fire risk, but the code primarily mandates the use of fire-resistant materials and wildfire-conscious landscaping.<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado wildfires have grown in intensity and frequency and devastation since the year 2000,\u201d said Jason Armstrong, city planner and interim director of community and economic development. \u201cA combined approach of structure hardening and reducing fire risk and defensible space surrounding structures is necessary to reduce the risk of damage to Colorado communities from the effects of wildfires.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"New
New construction projects in the orange and yellow areas within Cortez city limits will need to comply with the wildfire resiliency code. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Armstrong cited the Marshall Fire\u2019s outsized impact on homes, businesses, land and lives more than four years ago.<\/p>\n

City officials acknowledged enforcement will create additional work for staff. Under amendments approved by council, Cortez will track added costs incurred by the city to administer and enforce the code. If those costs become burdensome, the city may request state funding or rescind the ordinance adopting the wildfire resiliency code.<\/p>\n

Concerns about the financial impact were raised during the meeting. Montezuma County rejected implementation of the code last year, citing a lack of building codes and an enforcement division and calling the requirement an \u201cunfunded state mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Future
Future developments near Denny\u2019s Lake, which falls into the moderate intensity category, will need to comply with new wildfire resiliency regulations. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe already know that we have affordability issues with building in our community. And I think that we need to be tracking our costs on administering this and then reporting that to the state to say, \u2018You guys need to be helping to pay for this,\u2019\u201d said council member Robert Dobry, who raised similar concerns during the previous City Council meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He applauded city staff for the new amendments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an unfunded mandate. This is something that would have been much better conceived as a program that included grants to local communities and even potentially to homeowners to help support that,\u201d Dobry said.<\/p>\n

Developers and builders also will shoulder some of the burden. The Durango City Council has already adopted the code, and officials there estimate construction costs could rise about 20%<\/a> after enforcement begins July 1.<\/p>\n

Sean Canada, Cortez\u2019s fire and building inspector, said the codes would affect only a small number of projects within city limits.<\/p>\n

\"Undeveloped
Undeveloped lots along South Broadway classify as a mix of low intensity and moderate intensity fire risk. New construction or alteration projects will need to adhere to the wildfire resiliency code. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWhat we\u2019re looking at is the periphery of the town. Very few lots actually exist in that,\u201d Canada said.<\/p>\n

Canada said the Cortez Fire Protection District will work with city staff to enforce the rules by identifying properties within wildfire-risk areas and evaluating construction sites to determine how the code applies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that there\u2019s going to be a lot extra to it. It is going to take a little bit more time,\u201d Canada said.<\/p>\n

While the city finalizes its enforcement plan ahead of summer, staff plan to organize informational and engagement sessions for developers, construction professionals, materials suppliers and trade organizations. City staff also recommended public engagement sessions following the code\u2019s implementation.<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frustration expressed on City Council prompted city staff to amend the state-mandated ordinance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5737,5736,5735,5741],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-local-news","category-news","category-newsletter","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53863"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90680,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53863\/revisions\/90680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53863"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}