Pitkin County, population 14,872 (2000), lies in the Elk Range of the Rocky Mountains in the center of Colorado. The City of Aspen is located in Pitkin County and the County includes several ski resorts. However most of the County's land area remains undeveloped and lies within national forest boundaries.
In 1994, the County created a Rural/Remote (RR) zone for backcountry areas. The RR zone is designed to preserve alpine and sub-alpine environments in areas that are not close to utilities and public services and to discourage development in areas that are subject to wildfires, slope failure and avalanches. The new zone is intended to provide land for backcountry recreation and lifestyles. The only use permitted as a matter of right in this zone is non-commercial recreation. However, by special review use permit, the new zone allows alternative dwellings, such as domes, yurts, tepees and tree houses, as well as commercial recreational uses. Prohibited uses and activities include the extension of utilities (such as electricity, water, sewer and telephone), new roadways, water wells, above ground generators and septic systems. The new RR zone also significantly reduces the allowable density, with a minimum lot size of 35 acres, a maximum building footprint of 400 square feet and a maximum floor area of 800 square feet.
Finally, to further promote preservation, the RR zone provides a transfer of development rights component allowing the transfer of single-family residential development rights. As explained in detail in Beyond Takings and Givings, these TDRs are used to exceed residential floor area thresholds and for exemptions to the County's growth management quota system.
Beyond Takings and Givings stated that, as of November 2000, 75 TDRs had been created, resulting in the permanent preservation of 1,590 acres of land in the Rural/Remote zone. In an update, Pitkin County Planner Ellen Sassano reported that the TDR program had transferred 106 TDRs and preserved 2,200 acres as of the end of 2002.
