County commissioners split on plan for Creekside Subdivision

Proximity to Slate River at issue

Ted Colvin’s Creekside subdivision, bordering the Slate River south of Crested Butte, squeaked out an approval from the Gunnison Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) on Tuesday, October 19 as commissioner Jim Starr agreed with planning commissioner David Owen’s concerns about the project.
But the subdivision’s weeks of vetting during planning commission review were enough to convince commissioner Hap Channell that the spirit of the land use resolution was being followed.

The 2-1 vote by the BOCC to recommend that the planning staff approve the project is the last step in a subdivision process that started this spring as what Colvin was hoping would be only a plat adjustment.
Once the minor impact review process started, the Planning Commission took a tour of the property on Highway 135 in April and the proximity of the building area to the Slate River became an issue.
But through the commission’s review and the public hearing process, the subdivision plan was adjusted and Colvin showed the majority of commissioners that there were enough environmental protections in place to keep the river safe from soil and run-off contaminants coming from Creekside.
In comments explaining his dissenting vote, Owen said the applicant hadn’t done enough to keep development out of a buffer between the subdivision boundary and the neighboring Slate River for Owen to recommend that the county commissioners approve the plan for the five-lot subdivision.
His reason for voting against the recommendation was section 11-107 of the county’s Land Use Resolution, which prohibits or limits development inside the variable outer buffer “to the maximum extent feasible.”
And Starr agreed, saying when it comes to an issue of public health and safety, “I think we do need to mitigate to the maximum extent feasible. I’ve asked four times how that’s been done and I haven’t gotten a satisfactory answer.”
Starr made it known early in the hour-long meeting, which rehashed most of the concerns raised and addressed in the planning commissioner review, that he was concerned with the planned use of individual sewage disposal systems (ISDS) so close to the river.
“I’ve got to admit some concern with the issue of the ISDS,” Starr said. “These are all right above the river and the fact is that all ISDS eventually fail.” Then he asked if there were going to be any additional requirements for monitoring downstream water quality.
Assistant planning director Neil Starkebaum responded, “That wasn’t an issue identified by [the Colorado Department of] Environmental Health.”
Early in the Planning Commission review, there had been some discussion about the possibility of the Creekside subdivision tying into the central sewer in Skyland. The distance between the two was more than the state limit of 400 feet and the highway separated the two, so the idea was shelved.
And Colvin was adamant about the efforts he’s made both in the design of the subdivision and in the development of the subdivision’s covenants to make sure that every effort is made to protect the environment.
Commissioner Hap Channell said he had confidence in the job the Department of Environmental Health does and felt that, even though he had concerns, he thought the Planning Commission did a good job analyzing the plan.
Weighing in on the meeting over the phone, commissioner Paula Swenson agreed that the Planning Commission had looked at all of the angles thoroughly and pledged her support, along with Channell, for a recommendation to approve the minor impact application for five lots on just over nine acres.
But as anyone driving by the property can see from the dirt work going on, progress waits for no one.