Land and acreage in Douglas County

In unincorporated Douglas County three offices split the work. The Planning Services Division of Community Development runs land use planning and zoning. The Building Division issues building permits. Public Works issues construction and grading permits for public infrastructure, including permanent and temporary access permits.

Covenants sit on top of all three. A covenanted subdivision can restrict what the county would otherwise allow, so read them alongside the zoning, not after it.

The Douglas County Zoning Resolution has four districts most rural buyers meet. A-1 Agricultural One carries a 35 acre minimum lot area, which can be reduced with a clustered design through the exemption process (the Resolution’s Cluster 35 plan). LRR Large Rural Residential runs from one dwelling per 34.9 acres to one per 10 acres. RR Rural Residential runs from one per 9.9 acres to one per 5. ER Estate Residential runs from one per 4.9 acres to one per 2.5.

In the residential districts those figures are densities rather than fixed lot sizes: lot size can be set through a site analysis, so individual lots within a subdivision can vary. The Resolution also maps a Water Supply Overlay District and a Wildfire Hazard Overlay District that add requirements where they apply.

The Zoning Resolution is published on eCode360 and is amended from time to time. Confirm the current text, and the district on a specific parcel, with Planning Services.

Across much of the county, domestic wells draw from the Denver Basin, four stacked aquifers the state describes as not renewable, with withdrawals based on a 100-year aquifer life. The county’s own aquifer page notes that the Dawson, the shallowest, is the one domestic wells commonly tap.

The west and southwest are different. The county says about a third of Douglas County, the Pike and Rampart area, relies on fractured granite aquifers recharged only by precipitation rather than on the Denver Basin. A well there is a different proposition from a Dawson well, and worth asking about specifically.

Either way the state permit governs what the well may be used for. Under 35 acres, outside a cluster development, the standard exempt permit allows household use inside one home only. The well permit guide shows how to check.

The Douglas County Health Department permits the installation, repair and use of septic systems everywhere in the county, under its own regulation and the state’s Regulation 43. A new system needs an application, the fee, a system design, soil information (test pit logs and percolation tests where used) and a site plan, followed by a site visit from environmental health staff. A Colorado licensed professional engineer must design it in certain cases, including a limiting layer within four feet or a slope over 20 percent.

The county sets no minimum lot size for a septic system; whether one fits is a question of soil and site.

A sale of a property on septic requires a Use Permit, based on an inspection by an independent certified inspector, and the seller is the one required to obtain it. The requirement has been in place since July 1, 2011. Deficiencies found in the inspection have to be dealt with before the permit issues, so an early inspection protects the closing date.

Parts of Douglas County fall inside the Zoning Resolution’s Wildfire Hazard Overlay District, which has its own map and requirements. The Building Division publishes defensible space guidance for homeowners, and the Colorado State Forest Service’s public risk viewer gives a free wildfire risk lookup for a specific address.

Insurers rate rural property partly on that exposure, so on treed acreage get an insurance quote while you are still inside your inspection period.