Planning Division

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Online Application Portal for Planning Requests

Public Information Map

Utilize the public information map to locate properties, find zoning, and other useful information.

Gilpin County Zoning Regulations Update

Since early 2023, the Department of Community Development has been working to update the county's zoning regulations with a comprehensive Land Use Code. These regulations cover a wide variety of matters including: residential development, outdoor lighting, short-term rentals, signs, subdivision, and permitted uses on private land.

Draft Gilpin County Land Use Code

We encourage you to review the draft Land Use Code and provide us feedback. You can submit feedback on our portal here:

Public Comment Submittal

Or you can email your comments to communitydevelopment@gilpincounty.org If you are referencing a specific Section of the document, please include the Section numbers in your email.

The Planning Commission will continue to work on this project at their regularly scheduled meetings every second Tuesday of the month. You can attend these meetings in-person or virtually. The Department will also be holding Public Q&A meetings throughout the fall and winter where the public can ask questions and provide feedback in real time on the draft regulations. Dates of these meetings will be posted soon.

Upcoming Planning Commission Meetings

Upcoming Public Meetings:

October TBD

November TBD

Frequently Asked Gilpin Planning Questions

1 Zoning

Most private property in Gilpin County is zoned RR, Resource Residential or RS, Residential Subdivision. Both zones only permit one primary residential dwelling and one accessory dwelling. You must build a primary dwelling prior to construction of any accessory structures such as a garage or barn. Animals such as horses are permitted in all zones but you must have adequate space on the property to house them. The required setbacks or distances of structures from the property line in RR is 30' feet from front property line, 15' feet from all other sides and 55' feet from the centerline of unplatted/undedicated roadways; in RS the setbacks are 30' feet from all property lines or 55' feet from the centerline of unplatted/undedicated roadways.

2 Buildability

Community Development will not make a buildability determination for you. For a property to be buildable you must meet all applicable codes and standards for new dwelling unit construction. You can review some of these requirements on the Building Division webpage. Community Development encourages those looking to purchase vacant land in Gilpin County to conduct thorough due diligence to determine if the property is going to be buildable for what you specifically want to build.

3 Addressing

Community Development will assign an address to a vacant property as part of the building permit process. The department will not issue addresses to vacant land without a building permit. Most addresses associated or used on vacant parcels in Gilpin County are informal and have not been assigned by the county.

4 Camping on Private Property/Renting Campsites on Private Property

Private property owners are permitted to camp on private property up to 30 days in a calendar year with a camping permit. Public camping on private land such as renting out campsites on vacant land is not a permitted use by right in any zoning districts in Gilpin County. All structures intended for habitation require you to pull a building permit and they must meet all current codes and regulations. Temporary structures such as yurts, tiny homes, and tents are not permitted as permanent structures and may not be rented out publicly. The use of private property for public camping such as campgrounds/RV parks can only be permitted in the RR, Resource Residential and commercial zoning districts through approval of a Special Use. We encourage you to review the Special Use Application on our permit portal and run a draft application to better understand the requirements. Submitting a proposal for a Special Use can be complex, you will need extensive documentation and plans to demonstrate the feasibility of the site for the Special Use. We strongly encourage you to consult legal counsel and/or planning professionals to assist you in submitting your application.

5 Temporary Housing Permits

Property owners building their own home may apply for a temporary housing permit to live onsite full time during construction of the home. These permits are good for initial 4 months and may be extended up to three times administratively for additional 4 month periods. For the first extension the project must be at 50% completion. Second and third extensions may be granted if the project reaches 75% completion. The temporary housing permit will not be issued prior to issuance of a building permit.

6 Subdivision

You can subdivide a parcel by right when the resulting parcels will be 35 acres or greater. For any subdivision below 35 acres, you must meet the requirements of the subdivision regulations in the Gilpin County Zoning Regulations and the minimum lot size for the zoning district of the land. For RR, Resource Residential the minimum lot size is 20 acres. For RS, Residential Subdivision the minimum lot size is 5 acres. There are numerous other conditions that must be met to meet the subdivision code such as access and topography that require a land survey with topographic information to determine feasibility. Most parcels zoned RR, Resource Residential and under 20 acres are not going to be subdividable, this includes mining claims.

7 Boundary Line Adjustment & Elimination (Changing Existing Property Lines/Existing Parcel Consolidation)

All Boundary Line Adjustments and Eliminations are going to require a survey. Some BLEs (Boundary Line Elimination) can be completed when the BLE only includes platted lots in a single subdivision without a full survey. Any property line elimination or adjustment on metes and bounds parcels or mining claims is going to require a full land survey of the existing conditions and the desired conditions post-approval of the petition. We will also need a digital file of the survey for post-approval mapping. All BLAs (Boundary Line Adjustments) and BLEs are started with an application on the permit portal. You need your pre and post survey, an ownership and encumbrance report from a title company, existing deeds for all subject parcels, and post-approval deeds with the new legal description. BLAs of platted lots within subdivisions need to provide justification and purpose for the need of an adjustment such as correcting platting or legal description errors. The BLA process is not intended to be a solution for encroachments that can be addressed through easements or to modify platted lot lines for convenience or buildability. BLAs and BLEs are not intended to be a back door to subdivision nor to make existing non-buildable lots buildable through reconfiguration alone. We encourage you to schedule a meeting with a Planner prior to starting surveying and submission of an application.

8 New Single Family and Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Construction

Most land in the unincorporated areas of the county are zoned either RR, Resource Residential or RS, Residential Subdivision. Only 1 single family home and 1 accessory dwelling unit are permitted on a single parcel of land in these zoning districts. There are no other residential zoning classifications in unincorporated Gilpin County. Duplexes, Triplex, and higher intensity multifamily residential uses are not permitted in these zones. There are no minimum or maximum size restrictions on the construction of a single family home so long as the total land coverage area of all structures on a parcel of land does not exceed 25% coverage. There are no aesthetic requirements or restrictions on exterior materials, the proposed home must only meet the requirements of the building code and zoning regulations. Accessory dwelling units can be attached (integrated into the primary home) or detached. ADUs can not have a floor area greater than 50% of the total square footage of the primary dwelling. ADUs must share utilities and can not be addressed separately from the primary. You can convert an existing single family home into an ADU so long as the second dwelling that will become the primary upon completion will be 50% larger than the existing structure.