BOCC to Review Next

TELLURIDE — The San Miguel County Planning Commission voted 3-1 to recommend that the board of county commissioners conditionally approve a cluster development plan that would allow 540 acres located on Turkey Creek Mesa near Alta Lakes to be subdivided into 28 residential lots.

Final approval should be dependant upon Silver Mountain Industries meeting a list of conditions compiled by County Planning Director Mike Rozycki, and two amendments suggested by Planning Commissioner Lee Taylor, the CPC said.

“We’ve gone through a lot of proposals and some of the early ones were easy to dismiss,” said Planning Commissioner Joe Reagan. “I think it’s in the interest of the county to close this deal.”

Rozycki’s conditions fell within 20 categories ranging from obtaining all required permits and approvals such as those to build and operate a private community water system, to providing infrastructure improvements including easements for mountain biking.

SMI, a subsidiary of the Fortune 500 Leucadia National Corporation, which also owns the New Sheridan Hotel, must submit various reports and plans on matters ranging from geohazards and wetlands to a community center and the Alta Townsite Area.

Taylor’s amendments would require that caretaker units not be developed on lots located within the Turkey Creek elk migration corridor, and that SMI work to coordinate a meeting concerning Alta Lakes Road with the county, the Colorado Department of Transportation and the U.S. Forest Service.

“I felt this [plan] wasn’t there yet,” said Planning Commission Chair Kris Holstrom, who cast the dissenting vote. Although the plan contained many merits, parts of it still needed work, she explained.

At a meeting in early October to review SMI’s preliminary plan, the CPC continued the meeting and asked the company to address matters within it including the potential impact of the development on the migration corridor, sustainable building requirements and construction mitigation, among others.

Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, SMI submitted a supplement to its application addressing those issues. In addition, it revised its preliminary plan to exclude both development in the upper portion of the Alta Townsite and improvements to the section of Alta Lakes Road between the upper gate of its property and the Alta Townsite, stated a memo from Rozycki to the CPC.

The plan proposes no change to the land’s F zoning district, which allows for one single-family dwelling up to 12,000 square feet and one caretaker unit up to 2,000 square feet per 35-acre lot or larger.

Instead it seeks an exemption to create parcels smaller than the 35 acres allowed as of right.

If its plan is approved by the board of county commissioners, SMI could develop a cluster of lots sized between five and 18 acres and one 43-acre lot.

Additionally, deed restriction would require a building envelope on each lot to limit its developable area. Land outside of the envelope would be designated as passive open space and protected against further development.

“I’ve looked at the application and I’ve spent a lot of time with it,” said Rozycki. “It clearly meets the Colorado statute for cluster development.”

The statute requires that a development may not exceed the allowable density and must preserve at least two-thirds of the combined property as open space.

He said that the plan also met the goals and objectives of the county’s High Country Area Master Plan, which promotes the preservation and protection of the high country for open space, public recreation and watershed and source water protection purposes.

“This application meets those standards and as such I’m recommending approval,” said Rozycki, referring to both the statute and the master plan.

In exchange for the exemption, SMI would convey its ownership of 140 acres located east of Boomerang Road and 307 acres in the Gold King Basin to the county for preservation as publicly owned open space.

“When you peel everything away we’re developing 9 percent of the property,” said SMI attorney Tom Kennedy. “This is a very, very open space friendly plan.”

The CPC made its recommendation despite public objection.

“Obviously this is a very complicated application, I would ask right off the bat that you continue this portion,” said Hilary White, director of the local environmental group Sheep Mountain Alliance.

“We are opposed to any type of development happening within the high country area,” she continued.

One particularly charged topic concerned the future of Alta Lakes Road, the only point of access into the proposed subdivision.

The Colorado Department of Transportation has advised SMI that to safely accommodate increased traffic created by the subdivision, the road’s entrance along Highway 145 must be relocated and other improvements made.

Neighbors are concerned that SMI will reconfigure the gravel road to allow for faster speeds, and that the road will be paved and its rustic character destroyed. They and their legal representatives are seeking an ironclad guarantee from SMI that it will remain a rural roadway.

“The road issues are important to my clients and myself,” said Brian Flaherty on behalf of Casale Trust. “How can we get a requirement that’s going to stick one way or another?”

“The written representation is that they’re willing to accept a gravel road and that’s what they’re proposing at this point,” said Rozycki. However, because the United States Forest Service has jurisdiction over the road, the decision is not SMI’s to make, he said.

Attorney Doug Tueller, also representing Casale Trust, suggested that approval of the application be made contingent upon a guarantee that the road would remain gravel, be no wider than 22 feet, and configured for speeds no greater than 25 miles per hour.

“You don’t have to grant this application, you can make it dependent on certain conditions,” he said.

Tueller proposed that the county insist that the USFS turn over jurisdiction of the road by means of a federal FRTA (National Forest Road and Trail Act) easement.

“To be blunt, we as the public are worried about a shell game here,” he said.

Kennedy responded that such an easement might be appropriate, but, as Rozycki had already said, SMI could not tell the USFS what to do.

County Attorney Steve Zwick added that approval of the application based upon the actions of a third-party over which the county had no control would be “highly problematic.”

With the discourse growing more adversarial with each exchange, Commissioner Reagan humorously explained that he doubted that the USFS would insist Alta Lakes Road be paved.

“I spent the majority of my career sitting across the table from major Mafia leaders,” he said. “This threat doesn’t bother me.”

Opponents also suggested that the SMI sought the cluster exemption in order to increase density, and that the application was being “fast tracked” through the approval process.

Rozycki flinched at the accusations.

“I feel very passionate that this cluster plan is much preferable to 1:35,” he said. “We’re not tweaking this thing to increase density, we’re trying to fulfill the goals of the High Country [Area] Master Plan.”

“We believe that this plan preserves the high country area in the way it was intended,” said SMI Vice President Mark Oligschlager, reminding those present that another development remains at their disposal.

“We are prepared to do what we can do as of right now,” he said.