Setback Discussion Continues, Including Starkey Lots
On January 20, 2026 the Adams County Commissioners met at the Adams County Courthouse. The commissioners discussed the grant application for Packer John Park with Meredith Fisher, from Planning and Zoning. They were taking public comments, but no one made any. The grant would pay for things like fire pits, RV pull throughs, gravel for roads, and the installation of a concrete vault toilet. They are ready to input the information and send it off for the grant.
The commissioners discussed the setback ordinance with Fisher, who had updated the language. Fisher wanted to confirm that setbacks were specific to buildings, as opposed to structures which could include signs, fences, etc as well. Commissioner Joe Iveson asked if a pole barn was considered a building. Fisher said FEMA defined it as a structure with either a roof or three walls, but perhaps the county needed their own definition. Commissioner Daren Ward did not like the idea that the county could regulate things like fences in right of ways, he thought permanent structures should not be allowed on the right of way, but it would be ridiculous to say one couldn’t put a fence, conex box, or camper on them. Commissioner Viki Purdy could see snow falling off structures becoming an issue in the future. In the end they decided to define structures as something permanent or on a foundation, but everyone still seemed unsure if that was the best definition.
Steve Shelton with Solid Waste said they found the problem with the new loader and are fixing it. Commissioner Ward had an update on the new building the county had purchased. Disaster Response said they are ahead of schedule and the project is going as well as can be expected, they will be doing testing next week. It might need a sump pump in the future and they will also run the HVAC into the crawlspace to prevent future issues. Ward said he has been working on a scope of work with the building inspector and they will meet with contractors next week.
Adam Balderson, with Road and Bridge, said that the estimate for chipsealing in Council was $75,000. They were doing a trade with the city for property and he said they could do some asphalt patching for the rest of the trade value. They are also working on chipsealing for Indian Valley Road and pulverized pavement for Orchard.
Sheriff Ryan Zollman said there were 25 state inmates and 4 county. He received an estimate from M2 for a new server for storage that came in around $83,000 and said he would be bringing it to the commissioners at the next meeting. They are in communications with a new inmate commissary and communication provider and are considering it. It would, unfortunately, cut out the local grocery store, but would save a lot of time for his employees. Zollman explained the program and why he thought it made sense, it would include moving things like the law library, which they are required to provide to inmates, onto tablets. Commissioner Ward said that he wanted to be transparent and let everyone know that he works with this company in other counties.
After this resident Bill Heard arrived to discuss updates on problems with road access and the commissioners decided to go into executive session to discuss some new developments.
After the executive session, mayor of New Meadows, Julie Good, arrived to discuss a possible MOU. She said the city of New Meadows was concerned about fees regarding development and wanted an MOU that said the different districts were going to share information on potential fees for developers. She said the new ambulance district conversations have all been about them needing more money and she was concerned about where they were planning on getting that money and that they have not been forthright with developers about potential fees. The commissioners were confused about the situation and asked Prosecuting Attorney Peter Donovan about legalities concerning the situation. He said the code gave provisions for the fire district to charge reasonable fees for services rendered. However, Commissioner Ward thought it sounded like they were trying to charge impact fees without going through the trouble of an impact study, Donovan said they weren’t supposed to do that. They decided to place the MOU on the agenda for the next meeting as an action item. And went on to certify the signatures for the Meadows Valley Ambulance Petition and set a hearing date for Tuesday, February 17 at 6:00 p.m. and the Depot in New Meadows.
The final discussion for the day centered around setbacks. Teresa Vanderpool and her husband owned a lot in the old Starkey townsite. They said it was platted as a recreational townsite and was promoted as a place for modest homes next to Starkey Hot Springs. Today’s setbacks, however, are 20 ft on each side and 80 ft from the right or way, which make it impossible to build on their legally platted lot, which is only about 30x75 ft. “These lots existed long before the modern zoning,” said Vanderpool, who thought that the regulations left the property with no practical use, and requiring every property owner in the townsite to obtain a variance was not practical. He asked the county to exempt the historic Starkey townsite from the setbacks or to adopt a new policy.
Commissioner Iveson said they were in the middle of working on setbacks and their issue may be addressed. Meredith Fisher, with Planning and Zoning, said it may still be an issue. The new setbacks will be 40’ from the centerline of county roads, but their lots were not on a county road, and they don’t have jurisdiction over easements.
The Vanderpools thought they were on a county road and had documentation. Fisher clarified, there were multiple roadways within Starkey that were platted but never developed and established. Vanderpool said that every parcel there is landlocked if nothing is established, and there were hundreds of parcels.
They went over some of the history of the sites. It was platted in 1911 with hundreds of lots but most of them didn’t sell. They were advertised as camping and bungalow sites. There was some disagreement over whether bungalow meant a structure. Vanderpool said there were cabins all over and not all were dry cabins. Fisher showed the commissioners the structures they were referring to, all constructed prior to current ordinances. At one point there were water lines coming from Starkey. The lines were ripped out and there is litigation going on about the water rights currently.
Commissioner Iveson said he didn’t think they could make a decision today but recommended that the board go look at the sites. He said he understood their frustration and was not a fan of setbacks. Commissioner Purdy said the problem with allowing people to put stuff right next to the property line was the snow. One of the biggest issues was the road. Prosecuting Attorney Peter Donovan mentioned the road itself was sort of a landlocked sliver. It was something approximating a road legally speaking.
Commissioner Ward liked the idea of an overlay for the original historic town site. Ward thought they would have to address other similar sites at some point as well, but this was the one on the table today.
Meredith Fisher said the way plats were done back in the day was different then today, where everyone is supposed to have a buildable lot. Subdivisions could write into their CC&R’s rules that are more strict than county setbacks. If they want to go less strict they can apply for a planned unit development and can negotiate it. One caveat for changing the historic subdivision would be they would have to bring it up to modern standards for a subdivision, which wouldn’t really be affordable. They could do a variance application, but a variance was supposed to be for something unique to the property. This wasn’t unique as it applied to everyone at Starkey. They could also possibly do a conditional use permit, she wasn’t sure legally how that would work.
Commissioner Iveson thought those were all great options. Fisher said that these lots would be buildable if they had enough of them together. Fisher thought they were kind of funneled into a case by case basis. Commissioner Ward wondered if it would be illegal for them to do an overlay for the historic townsite. Fisher said honestly she had never heard of such a thing. Commissioner Iveson didn’t think it would be illegal because that property was developed before the setback rule. “It’s exempt in my mind,” he said. He thought that if it were his property he wouldn’t have even bothered asking. He said he wasn’t encouraging people to break rules, but that’s how his mind would have gone. “I’m not promoting people breaking the law.”
Commissioner Iveson said they would work with Fisher and figure out what they could do legally. They were still concerned about the road. Donovan said that even though it did appear to be public property, it was not contiguous to the road system and there could be passive abandonment issues. Commissioner Iveson thought it would be a no-brainer if it was connected to a road. The Vanderpools were not concerned about access and said they had never had problems there. The commissioners decided to plan a meeting for a site visit and then continue the conversation after reviewing their options.
