Public Notices

main the moneys of the County. In the event that a Short-Term Rental license is revoked, suspended, or relinquished prior to the end of the license term, all moneys paid for a Short-Term Rental license shall be and remain the moneys of the County and no refund shall be made to any Licensee.

D. The Short-Term Rental Property license application review fee shall be used to cover the cost associated with reviewing the application for compliance with this Ordinance.

E. The Short-Term Rental license fee shall be used to cover the administrative and personnel costs associated with developing and implementing the Short-Term Rental license program and enforcing the provisions in this Ordinance, including but not limited to responding to complaints and inspecting Short-Term Rental Properties.

Section XI. Violations, Penalties and Enforcement

A. It is unlawful for any Owner, Local Responsible Agent, Lessee, or occupant of a Short-Term Rental Property to violate or allow a violation of any provision of this Ordinance, as applicable.

request to EPA.”

The EPA uses three-year averaging in evaluating whether a pollution-troubled area is getting better or worse in attainment of the agency’s ambient air standards. Ground-level ozone is a threat to lung and heart health, and some scientists are recommending a further tightening of the standards below the 2015 cap of 70 ppb.

Ozone is caused by a combination of nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, intense summer sunshine, wildfire smoke and other factors, including natural background sources and industrial pollution drifting from out of state.

Regulators disregard the highest readings and set their sights on benchmarks such as the fourth-highest readings of the year in order to throw out anomalies. To avoid a downgrade in the current three-year cycle of 202123, Colorado monitors would have had to stay below the upper 40s in parts per billion in 2023. Readings at key monitors spiked to 89 ppb in 2021, and 78 ppb in 2022.

The relevant readings at a monitor near Chatfield Reservoir reached 70 by late May of this year, and 67 at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden. Those put the three-year averages at 79 at Chatfield, for example, and 77 at NREL, the Center for Biological Diversity said.

State regulators do not dispute those calculations. The health department “takes ground-level ozone pollution seriously,”

B. An initial warning may be issued to request voluntary compliance with this Ordinance, prior to suspension or revocation actions, or issuance of civil infractions. The warning may be provided in-person, over the phone, electronically (such as e-mail or text), or in writing. The warning may include a request that immediate action be taken by the Owner, Local Responsible Agent, Lessee, or occupant.

C. When any of the following occur or is imminent, a warning may not be provided:

1. The violation poses a risk to human health or safety, or a risk of degradation of the natural environment that must be remedied in an expedited manner.

2. The violation is determined to be affecting the quality of life of residents or visitors within proximity of the Short-Term Rental Property.

3. Time is of the essence and authorized by the Director or the Director’s designee or the Douglas County Sheriff.

D. In addition to suspension and revocation actions pursuant to Section VII of this Ordinance,

Schleifer said, in a written statement.

One of the primary impacts of a downgrade in the attainment classification is a broadening of pollution sources that must go through the state permitting process. Regulators can demand changes in process or equipment that could reduce pollution before issuing a permit, and permits can ratchet down allowed pollution over time.

In 2022, the EPA downgraded the nine-county area under the looser 2008 ozone standard from “serious” to “severe.” The federal agency said at the time that under “severe,” requirements include the use of reformulated gasoline in summer months and a reduction of the threshold requiring control measures on emissions sources from 50 tons per year to 25 tons per year.

Each reclassification puts another strain on state regulation as well. Colorado officials said at the time of the “severe” reclassification it would require for 473 more sources of pollution that contribute to ozone, as the threshold dropped to include all those emitting 25 tons or more.

Recent legal actions by environmental groups forced the addition of pollution sources in northern Weld County, home to much of the oil and gas drilling and production activity in Colorado, to the Front Range nonattainment area. Previously, only the southern portion of Weld County was included in the stricter violations of this Ordinance are subject to the penalties set forth below. Each day or portion thereof during which any violation is committed, continued, or permitted shall constitute a separate offense and shall be punishable as a separate offense. permitting regime.

E. Any violation of this Ordinance may be separately, concurrently, or together enforced through this Ordinance, other applicable County Ordinances, the Douglas County Building Code, the Douglas County Health Department Regulations, and the Douglas County Zoning Resolution by the Director or the Director’s designee, and the Douglas County Sheriff, or both.

F. Any person who violates any provision of this Ordinance commits a civil infraction and is subject to the penalty assessment procedures of Section 16-2-201, C.R.S. and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of TWO HUNDRED FIFTY dollars ($250.00) for a first violation, a fine of FIVE HUNDRED dollars ($500.00) for a second violation, and a fine of ONE THOUSAND dollars ($1000.00) for the third and subsequent violations.

Taking action now would put far more northern Weld County operations under the “serious” 2015 standards. After asking the EPA for another downgrade, Colorado could take other actions such as demanding a “pause” to oil and gas operations on bad air days, much as the state asks individuals to limit driving, get car emissions tests, or avoid outdoor activity, Ukeiley said. The state could also limit the use of the natural gas-fired Cherokee Generating Station north of downtown Denver on high pollution days.

Colorado officials often argue against swift air pollution action by saying it can take corporations a long time to acquire and install new equipment. Admitting to another ozone downgrade now rather than waiting would give those officials and companies longer lead time to make changes, Ukeiley said.

“We know it’s all inevitable that we’re going to get downgraded,” he said. “The state might as well admit that and move forward with the process. And use the process to come up with the most protective effective measures to reduce our pollution.”

This story via The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver that covers the state. For more, visit www.ColoradoSun.com. The Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, which owns Colorado Community Media.

G. In addition to the penalties prescribed above, persons convicted of a violation of this Ordinance shall be subject to a surcharge of TEN dollars ($10.00) that shall be paid to the clerk of the court by the defendant as provided by Section 30-15402(2)(a), C.R.S.

Section XII. Severability

Should any section, clause, sentence, or part of this Ordinance be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be unconstitutional or invalid, the same shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the ordinance as a whole or any part thereof other than the part so declared to be invalid.

Section XIII. Effective Date

In order to preserve the