Boulder County is pursuing an amendment that would make it easier for local farms to compost.
The Boulder County Commissioners unanimously authorized staff on Tuesday to pursue text amendments to the Land Use Code related to composting incidental to farming. The changes would not impact the county provisions related to industrial composting.
According to Andrea Vaughn, long range planner with Boulder County, the proposed update is intended to further the county’s goals related to sustainability and climate through regenerative farming initiatives.
“There are barriers to implementing composting successfully,” she told commissioners.
Currently, the Land Use Code allows composting incidental to farming up to a 1,000 cubic yard limit but prohibits the collection of composting material from the general public and doesn’t allow retail sales of finished compost products on site. Boulder County farmers have said these provisions act as a barrier to local circular economic approaches.
“I’ve heard from a number of community members that have community-sized farms that this would make a big improvement for them,” Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann said.
The county held a virtual community meeting in February on the topic, and 174 individuals responded to an online questionnaire on the proposed changes. The biggest concern of respondents had to do with environmental health, odor and compost quality.
The majority of respondents said they were interested in a compost drop off program at a Boulder County farm, along with purchasing local compost from farms.
With the approval from commissioners, staff will begin work on text amendments. The project is still in the conceptual phase and a formal public comment period is not yet open, but staff can answer questions at [email protected].
