The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Rozman also seeking subdivision of gravel pit
Work on a new south entrance to the Riverland Industrial Park should start this spring as soon as the snow melts, and finish up by the end of the year.
Riverland Lot Owners’ Association manager Danny D’Aquila said the approval process leading up to a groundbreaking in May is “almost done.”
“It’s a no brainer. If we were to lose the south entrance we would lose half the businesses in the Industrial Park and the county would lose that much in tax revenue, and added safety comes with accel/decel lanes that are in the plan,” D’Aquila says.
The new entrance to Riverland will be aligned with the driveway to the Lacy property across Highway 135 about 250 feet south of its current location. The existing entrance will be closed, since it never had Colorado Department of Transportation approval in the first place.
More than two years ago, CDOT threatened to close Riverland’s south entrance, which is actually on property owned by rancher John Rozman and United Gravel, a company operating a gravel pit mine on Rozman’s property. D’Aquila and the Lot Owners’ Association started working with Rozman and the county Department of Public Works to develop a plan for the new entrance before CDOT backed off the threat.
Since then, the Lot Owners’ Association has raised $100,000 from its members and enlisted JCI Construction, which D’Aquila said will be working for the best possible price, to complete the job. United Gravel is also pitching in $100,000 for the project and Rozman will be giving up the land for the new entrance.
CDOT has approved the new entrance that will connect the industrial park and the gravel pit on Rozman’s property to the highway and D’Aquila says he is hoping the work will begin in May.
At the same time, Rozman is just starting the county process to subdivide three acres of his property. The subdivided land would be given to United Gravel in exchange for the release of about 200 acres on the Rozman ranch that are leased by the mine.
Once back in Rozman’s control, the land will go back into a plan to preserve the north part of the ranch with a conservation easement. The county Planning Commission held an initial work session on the subdivision on Friday, February 18. It’s the first step in a process that will include a site visit by county planners, a public hearing and a decision on the proposal.
