Snowmass Town Council Approves Wildfire Resiliency Code

The asphalt in the parking lot of the Snowmass Village Town Hall doesn’t just reflect the sun; it holds the heat of a dozen recent decisions, all aimed at keeping the woods from burning down the homes built inside them. It is a specific kind of anxiety that keeps locals awake at night, not because they fear the fire itself, but because they fear the rules that will come with it.

Here’s the thing though: the town didn’t just vote on a code. They voted on a definition of safety that prioritizes structure over landscape, and it is already changing how neighbors look at their own backyards.

On Monday, the Snowmass Town Council approved the Wildfire Resiliency Code on its first reading. This wasn’t a sudden reaction to a specific blaze this summer. It was the culmination of a 2023 state legislature move that created a State Wildfire Resiliency Code Board. That board spent its time developing a model code to regulate the woodland urban interface, or WUI. The result is a document that divides the entire town into hazard zones — low, moderate, or severe — and attaches specific, enforceable requirements to each.

“All of Snowmass Village is either moderate or severe wildfire hazard area,” Town Attorney Jeff Conklin reminded the council.

That sentence does a lot of heavy lifting. It means there are no "safe" zones in the traditional sense. There is only the degree of risk. The code splits its focus into two buckets: structure hardening and site requirements. Structure hardening is what you see on the outside, materials that won’t catch fire easily. Site requirements are what you do with the land around the house.

Conklin laid out the three zones for new developments. There’s the immediate zone, the first five feet out. That’s hardscape. No wood. No mulch. Just hard surfaces. Then there’s the intermediate zone, from five to thirty feet, where you have to pull dead plants and space out your trees. Finally, the expanded zone, thirty to one hundred feet out, which focuses heavily on tree spacing to prevent a ladder fire from reaching the canopy.

But here’s the kicker for existing homeowners: you don’t have to rip out your whole yard tomorrow. The requirements trigger only when you replace more than 100 square feet of roof, more than 25 percent of your siding, or build an addition larger than 500 square feet. It’s a piecemeal approach to safety, tied to the natural lifecycle of your home’s wear and tear.

If you’re replacing siding, you also have to meet the “immediate” zone requirements. That initial five-foot perimeter. Conklin noted there is discretion built into the code, allowing building officials to allow for modifications. But he confirmed the council isn’t seeking a variance to opt out of the state model. They want this in.

“I think there’s a desire to get this implemented,” Conklin said. “My recommendation is to proceed. I think we’ve prepared ourselves to start working with this code for better or for worse.”

Mike Metheny, the Chief Building Official, stood with him. Metheny admitted the code might shift as it evolves, but he called it a “good place to start.” Council Member Tom Fridstein agreed, praising the local amendments and signaling a desire to move fast.

Not exactly a unanimous cheer, but a clear directive. The town is betting that forcing homes to harden and landscapes to thin will keep the infernos at bay. It’s a pragmatic, if somewhat rigid, solution. And as the first five feet of hardscape begins to replace the first five feet of grass in new developments, the visual landscape of Snowmass will change. It will look less like a forest edge and more like a fortress. That matters because it changes the texture of the place we live in, turning wild spaces into managed ones, one roof replacement at a time.