Legal Lot

Definition

You must have a "legal" or "valid" lot or parcel before a Land Use Change Permit, Building Permit, ISDS Permit, or Access Permit can be issued.

A "valid" or "legal" building lot refers to lots which were created in compliance with Colorado statutes and the county's subdivision regulations that were in effect at the time the parcel was created. A determination whether a parcel is considered a valid building lot must be made before an Individual Sewage Disposal System Permit or Building Permit can be approved for the property.

Bill 35

In 1972. Colorado's Senate Bill 35 became state law, requiring counties to pass regulations to regulate subdivision of land which created any parcel smaller than 35 acres. The result of this bill is that since May 1972 any parcel created that is less than 35 acres must have been approved by the Board of County Commissioners to be considered "valid".

How to Prove Lot is Legal

Many building lots in Gunnison County are in platted subdivisions, which meet this "valid" or "legal" lot requirement. There are, however, many parcels in the county which are not in platted subdivisions. Documents must be submitted that demonstrate that these parcels met state statutory and subdivision regulations in effect at the time they were created.

This can most often be demonstrated by providing the history of deeds back to the recorded date when the parcel was created, and deeds to adjacent parcels when necessary.

Finding the History of Deeds

You can find this history of deeds to your property by going first to the County Assessor's Office in the Blackstock Government Center. They can provide basic information on the past few changes in ownership and size of the property. Contact Gunnison County Assessors Office at 970-641-1085.

The Clerk and Recorder's Office, also located in the Blackstock Government Center, keeps tract indexes which maintain the history of transactions which have occurred on your property, and can make copies of the deeds. They have more resources, such as the grantor / grantee indexes, for finding older deeds. Contact the Gunnison County Recorders Office at 970-641-2038.

Title Companies

If you need assistance with searching for these documents you may want to hire a title company, which will have personnel trained in doing this type of research, or your attorney can also help you.

Submission

Once your research is complete, submit the documentation with your application for an OWTS or Building permits to the Community Development Department.

Once we can confirm that your parcel is a valid, legal building lot, we can complete the OWTS and Building permits processes.