Town Board approves agreement dividing wildfire-code duties between town and fire district

The Estes Park Town Board voted Tuesday to approve a cooperative agreement dividing enforcement of the town’s new wildfire code between municipal building officials and the fire district. The agreement assigns building-code elements, including permit review and structure-hardening compliance, to the town’s Building Safety Division, while the Estes Valley Fire Protection District will handle defensible-space review and site inspections for vegetation and tree-clearance zones around structures.

During the discussion, Bill Brown said the agreement was written to separate tasks between the two agencies so each could handle the parts that match its expertise and reduce duplicative work. Brown said the town will administer building-code elements, structure hardening and building-permit review, while the fire district will review defensible-space portions of plans and inspect vegetation and trees around homes.

Trustee Mark Igel questioned whether the board was being asked to approve the agreement without a clear estimate of the cost. Brown responded that the code is new and its effect is not yet known, but said added review time could be limited because permit reviewers already examine plans and materials as part of their normal work.

Brown also said the town’s financial exposure is reduced by its agreement with SafeBuilt, the third-party permit reviewer. If the added work eventually increases costs, he said, SafeBuilt could seek a rate increase when its contract is renewed, at which point the town would have firmer numbers on the workload. Igel replied, “Okay, thank you for reassuring us on that.”

Mayor Gary Hall also asked whether the fire district had enough bandwidth to take on the additional work and how property owners and contractors would be educated in advance so they would not be surprised by the new requirements.