(1) (a) Except as otherwise provided in section 34-1-305, C.R.S., when the county planning commission of any county makes, adopts, and certifies to the board of county commissioners plans for zoning the unincorporated territory within any county, or any part thereof, including both the full text of a zoning resolution and the maps, after public hearing thereon, the board of county commissioners, by resolution, may regulate, in any portions of such county that lie outside of cities and towns: (I) The location, height, bulk, and size of buildings and other structures; (II) The percentage of lots that may be occupied; (III) The size of yards, courts, and other open spaces; (IV) The uses of buildings and structures for trade, industry, residence, recreation, public activities, or other purposes; (V) Access to sunlight for solar energy devices; and (VI) The uses of land for trade, industry, residence, recreation, or other purposes and for flood control. (b) (I) In order to accomplish such regulation, the board of county commissioners: (A) May divide the territory of the county that lies outside of cities and towns into districts or zones of such number, shape, or area as it may determine, and, within such districts or any of them, may regulate the erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, and uses of buildings and structures and the uses of land; and (B) May require and provide for the issuance of building permits as a condition precedent to the right to erect, construct, reconstruct, or alter any building or structure within any district covered by such zoning resolution. (II) (A) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the aggregate of all charges or other related or associated fees a county shall impose or assess to install an active solar energy system or geothermal energy system shall not exceed the lesser of the county's actual costs in issuing the permit or five hundred dollars for a residential application or one thousand dollars for a nonresidential application if the device or system produces fewer than two megawatts of direct current electricity or an equivalent-sized thermal energy system, or that exceed the county's actual costs in issuing the permit if the device or system produces at least two megawatts of direct current electricity or an equivalent-sized thermal energy system. A county may increase its fees or other charges as authorized by this subsection (1)(b)(II) by no more than five percent on an annual basis until the five hundred dollar limitation specified in this subsection (1)(b)(II) is achieved. The county shall clearly and individually identify all fees and taxes assessed on an application subject to this subsection (1)(b)(II) on the invoice. The general assembly hereby finds that there is a statewide need for certainty regarding the fees that can be assessed for permitting such devices or systems, and therefore declares that this subsection (1)(b)(II) is a matter of statewide concern. This subsection (1)(b)(II) is repealed, effective December 31, 2029. (B) In the case of a nonresidential application, on an individual installation basis only, if the county incurs actual costs for issuing the permit that are greater than one thousand dollars, the county is entitled to recovery of its actual costs for issuing the permit by submitting in writing and disclosing to the applicant for the particular permit proof of the county's actual costs. (C) As used in this subsection (1)(b)(II), "active solar energy system" means a single system that contains electric generation, a thermal device, or is an energy storage system as defined in section 40-2-202 (2), and "geothermal energy system" means a system that uses geothermal energy for water heating or space heating or cooling in a single building, for space heating for more than one building through a pipeline network, or for electricity generation. (2) The county planning commission may make and certify a single plan for the entire unincorporated portion of the county or separate and successive plans for those parts which it deems to be urbanized or suitable for urban development and those parts which, by reason of distance from existing urban communities or for other causes, it deems suitable for nonurban development. Any resolution adopted by the board of county commissioners may cover and include the unincorporated territory covered and included in any such single plan or in any of such separate and successive plans. No resolution covering more or less than the territory covered by any such certified plan shall be adopted or put into effect until and unless it is first submitted to the county planning commission which certified the plan to the board of county commissioners and is approved by said commission or, if disapproved, receives the favorable vote of not less than a majority of the entire membership of such board. All such regulations shall be uniform for each class or kind of building or structure throughout any district, but the regulations in any one district may differ from those in other districts.
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