The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Land Trust plans to sell
The Crested Butte Land Trust (CBLT) got the blessing of the Gunnison County Planning Commission to subdivide a 3.7-acre piece of the so-called Niccoli property north of Cement Creek Road.
The parcel is part of a 36.77-acre section of the Niccoli Ranch that CBLT purchased in 2006 for $2.6 million. All but five acres of the land was placed in a conservation easement held by the town of Crested Butte and kept open for agricultural uses, while the remainder was set aside for a possible future sale.
CBLT executive director Ann Johnston told the commissioners that it was the Land Trust’s original intention when they purchased the property from the Niccoli family to sell off part of the land as a means to generate revenue.
The Land Trust has dipped into reserve funds to expand its portfolio of protected lands in the Gunnison Valley, and went to the county last year for permission to turn the one protected piece of land into two pieces of property so it can return that money to its budget.
At a public hearing in January the Planning Commission heard from one person opposed to the proposal, former property owner Bob Niccoli, who was upset that a house could be built on a part of the land. The proposal has been waiting in the wings ever since, while the CBLT got the proposal ironed out with the town.
And since the public hearing, Niccoli has become involved in reducing the size of the proposed subdivision by more than an acre, which Johnston said also made sense on the ground, where a smaller lot fit better with the topography.
And at a meeting Friday, November 19, the planning commissioners were satisfied with the covenants placed on the property, while Johnston maintained that the impact of development on the property will be less after the property is sold, because the covenants are so restrictive.
The section that would go up for sale already has a homestead and several outbuildings on it. To keep the developed footprint on the property from expanding, any future buyer would be bound by a covenant limiting development on the property to the square footage that is already there, about 2,800 feet. And the covenants require that development be only residential in nature.
“And the Land Trust board wanted to keep the house because they thought it represented a nice old historical ranching structure,” Johnston said.
Buildings on the property would also be limited to 20 feet in height. Part of the reason for the restrictions is to maintain the property as a view corridor, which was part of the justification CBLT gave for purchasing the property.
Johnston also told the commissioners that there wouldn’t be a trail on the property until it can connect to an extended trail system.
The acreage that is not being sold will continue to be protected by a conservation easement that allows for agricultural uses and protects against development. That land continues to be leased to Niccoli for grazing.
The Gunnison County Planning Commission directed staff to put together the recommendation to approve the Land Trust’s request. When the commissioners see the proposal again, they will vote to send the recommendation on to the Board of County Commissioners, who will make the final call on the CBLT’s subdivision request.
