Creekside subdivision enters final phase

Owen votes against five lots south of town

The Gunnison County Planning Commission voted to move the proposed Creekside subdivision, south of Crested Butte, into a final phase of approval, but not unanimously. The sole voting member of the Planning Commission from the north end of the Gunnison Valley voted no.

Commissioner David 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 him to give the county commissioners a recommendation to approve the plan for the five-lot subdivision.
Owens’ 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.”
In defense of his opposition, Owen said, “I think that the subdivision here, as our recommendation documentation points out, has parts of the lot with parts of the parking in the building envelopes within the variable outer buffer. There’s no reason for that to exist on this parcel. Quite simply, there’s enough room on the entire parcel for the applicant to realize the berm, the pond, the parking area, all five lots without violating the variable outer buffer.”
Ted Colvin of Colvin Construction submitted a proposal to the county this spring for five building lots on the property south of the Slate River that is bordered on three sides by the river and Hwy. 135. Along with the formation of the lots, the plan calls for small ponds at either end of the property that would supply water to the homes and add aesthetic value.
None of the lots is smaller than 1.6 acres, with the largest at 2.55 acres. At the bottom of the slope bordering the river, Colvin has proposed a park that will be shared between homeowners of the Whetstone Mountain Ranch and Creekside.
After a site visit in April, the commissioners showed some concern about the amount of space available for snow storage and additional parking for guests to use in accessing the park.
Colvin said he was committed to protect the wetlands surrounding the river, which is also the function of the variable outer buffer in the Land Use Resolution.
“The home sites are in the relatively flat part of the property and it goes out to the edge of the 15 percent grade. We’ve done extensive covenants that require everyone respect the possible wetlands below and treat them as if they are wetlands,” he said.
But the added pavement needed for parking pushed the subdivision development past a point Owen was comfortable with.
“The language says, ‘to the maximum extent feasible,’ and I certainly think it is feasible for the applicant to avoid putting anything in the variable outer buffer, which is why I’m going to vote against it,” Owen said, and he did. The other four voting members of the Planning Commission voted to approve the recommendation.