Foothills annexation plan shrinks

26-acre Spann parcel taken off the table

Expressing a great deal of frustration at the Crested Butte annexation process, Foothills of Crested Butte proponent Cliff Goss and his group are adjusting their proposal. The potential developers are reducing the amount of land in the annexation proposal by about 40 percent, and Goss said he also wants a more definitive sign by the town there is a real chance of the annexation happening.

“We’ve been discussing this for two-and-a-half years with the town and we want to know if it is going to work or not,” Goss said last week. “Are we on the right track? We think that is a fair question. We want to have an idea by this spring. There are other options and we just need to know whether or not to pursue them.”
Goss’s group had originally proposed a 68-acre residential annexation north of Crested Butte. The Foothills is comprised of property originally owned by the Spann and Trampe ranching families. The development’s proponents are now just focusing on the 42-acre Trampe piece, which they have already purchased.
Foothills retains an option on the 26-acre Spann property, which wraps around the Crested Butte cemetery to the Moon Ridge subdivision.
“I’m not terminating that option or contract with the Spanns,” Goss said. “But it won’t be part of the town proposal.”
Goss said his group is walking gingerly but hasn’t given up on the town process yet. “We are frustrated,” he admitted. “We want to do the right thing. We came in with a plan that addressed affordable housing, put development next to development and had a sustainable and environmental quality to it. We came in with these ideas and it just doesn’t seem like the town process is moving forward. It is frustrating.”
He is not sure what the town will expect with open space and affordable housing under the proposal with reduced acreage. “We started with a 68-acre proposal and have been whittled down to 17 acres of useable land, and that was before the wetlands meeting [see page 8]. Those things have to be figured out,” he said.
Part of Goss’s stated purpose in pursuing the development in the corridor is to help the Spanns and Trampes. “They have both been here more than five generations and they have helped preserve the water and open space in this valley,” Goss said. “I’ll do everything I can to make sure they are rewarded in some fashion. I think we owe them that.”
While meetings are continuing between the developers and town staff, no meeting with the town Planning Commission is scheduled.