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Doorknob regs up for review in Pitkin County

Janet Urquhart
The Aspen Times
Aspen, CO Colorado

ASPEN – A proposed code amendment scheduled for review in Pitkin County next week would mandate round doorknobs on new homes because they’re more difficult for bears to open.

Pitkin County commissioners will take up the matter on July 28. Kevin Wright, district wildlife manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, urged the county to regulate doorknobs during a meeting with commissioners earlier this year.

“Round-handled doorknobs is huge in my mind,” he said at the time.



Wright calls lever-style doorknobs bear-friendly. “They’re not good in bear country,” he said.

Bears don’t seem able to turn a tight-fitting, round doorknob, even if the door’s left unlocked, he said.




The proposed regulation would go into the land-use code section related to wildlife standards, according to Lance Clarke, assistant director of the Community Development Department.

That section also addresses such matters as fence heights, how high bird-feeders must be strung in bear country, and a prohibition on fruit-bearing trees and shrubs that can attract bears. There are about 15 standards related to wildlife, Clarke said.

“It’s not anything that requires everyone in the county to retrofit their doors or anything like that,” he added.

The doorknob regulation would, however, become part of the county’s site plan review for new construction, if it is adopted, Clarke said.