The Montezuma County commission approved amendments to the land-use code Monday at a hearing where no opposition was presented to the proposal.

Two major changes and several minor clarifications to the code had been recommended for approval by the Montezuma County Planning Commission.

First, the code now includes a strictly agricultural zone in its zoning menu for tracts between 35 and 80 acres. Before, landowners with less than 80 acres did not qualify for a strictly agricultural designation and were stuck with zoning their property AR-35 plus, or AR 10-34.

Those zones suggest future residential development is planned.

But many farmers committed to smaller-scale operations like vineyards, vegetable cooperatives and fruit orchards don’t want that potential development label on their land’s zoning designation. The new ag-zone accommodates them.

The other change approved was changing the term "letter permit" to "permit application." Letter permits are filed with the county for proposed or existing commercial businesses, but only for a particular location where the business is or will be.

The concern was that owners of existing commercial or industrial businesses might interpret their approved letter permit as permission for carte blanche commercial development on the entire property tract. Commercial development may require a public hearing if it exceeds any of a number of threshold standards established to deal with conflicts between neighbors and community conformity.