Severance

Severance restores permits to grade land before final plat approval

October 28, 2026·Severance·Weld County

From the Severance Town Council meeting of October 27, 2026

A $2,000-per-disturbed-acre bond and town engineer approval are required. The permits cover preliminary grading only, not building or infrastructure work, and do not guarantee final plat approval.

The Severance Town Council approved an ordinance restoring early-grading permits Oct. 27. The permits allow preliminary grading after preliminary plat approval and before final plat approval. Grading requires the town engineer’s approval.

The town engineer must approve grading and drainage construction plans and issue an early-grading permit. Applicants must post a performance bond of $2,000 per disturbed acre in the town’s favor to ensure final site stabilization. The bond must be provided to the town before work begins, a staff member said.

The ordinance’s findings say the town had previously adopted an early-grading provision, but it was inadvertently omitted when the town replaced its land-use code in 2025. A staff member said the provision was lost when a code section was moved and the omission went unnoticed. A council member confirmed that eliminating early-grading permits was not a decision by this council or a previous one.

Early grading is at the subdivider’s and property owner’s risk: the permit does not guarantee final plat approval. If a final plat is denied for a valid code-based reason, the ground would have to be returned to its prior condition, a staff member said. A council member said preliminary plat approval typically carries conditions for applicants to address before final approval, leaving much of the outcome in developers’ hands. Given the expense, “a developer is not going to whimsically decide that I'll start doing pre-grading,” the member said, expecting grading and work toward final approval to proceed in parallel.

Early grading means scraping and preparing the ground without digging, before construction of public improvements, a staff member said. The permit does not authorize vertical building, grading for building pads or foundations, infrastructure construction, or installation of impervious areas or utilities. It must include any conditions the town engineer considers necessary to limit effects on adjoining properties or address foreseeable environmental, structural and public-safety risks before final plans, plats or construction documents are fully approved.

More from this meeting

Severance Town Council work Session/Regular, Oct. 27, 2026
Severance proposes 6% wastewater rate increase, 1.5% for water; Severance starts annexation process for 3.668 acres of Berrado land; Severance sets Dec. 8 hearing on Buffalo Creek annexation; Council appoints Knott to Planning Commission, 6-1; 5 consent items adopted.
Item A1Severance proposes 6% wastewater rate increase, 1.5% for water
The proposed bills set a $38.15 water base fee plus $8.88 per 1,000 gallons, and $39.81 for the first 5,000 gallons of wastewater. A public budget hearing is set for Nov. 10.
Item C2Severance starts annexation process for 3.668 acres of Berrado land
A public hearing is set for Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. to consider whether the proposal meets state and constitutional requirements. Reviews by special districts and local governments would follow before a final council vote.
Item C3Severance sets Dec. 8 hearing on Buffalo Creek annexation
The hearing is set for 6 p.m. at the Severance Town Council Chambers, 3 S. Timber Ridge Pkwy. The council will determine whether the proposed annexation meets constitutional and state-law requirements.
Item C4Severance starts Ridgegate annexation process, sets Dec. 8 hearing
The hearing will determine whether the proposal meets state constitutional and statutory eligibility requirements, not whether to annex the land.
Item C6Severance raises lot, street setbacks near plugged, abandoned and reclaimed wells to 75 feet
Future plats must place plugged and abandoned wells and production facilities in separate non-buildable tracts with access. Existing wells retain a 350-foot lot setback, while streets may not be platted within 150 feet.
Item C7Severance approves zero-foot front setbacks for Town Core multifamily housing
Multifamily housing may have no front setback there. Nonresidential buildings with a shared party wall also may have no front setback.
Item C8Severance council allows itself to bypass planning panel on code text amendments
The ordinance lets the council skip commission review after a motion at or before introduction, but it must still apply code criteria and hold its own public hearing with at least 15 days’ notice.
Item C9Severance sets 30-day restart window for paused land-use applications
Only applications already on hold at an applicant’s request and not already void are covered; they must be restarted in writing after the ordinance takes effect or become void, requiring a new filing and applicable review fees to proceed.
Item C11Severance council directs search for outside legal counsel
The town has an interim attorney, and the council was asked to guide management on what to do next, the town manager said. An outside firm could offer attorneys with different specialties for work a single in-house attorney would handle, a council member said.