The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
No guarantees from new owner
A deal to fix problems associated with five exposed foundations at the Wildhorse Subdivision in Mt. Crested Butte is surfacing slowly after more than a month of back-and-forth between the town and the properties’ prospective owner, the development company The Pauls Corporation.
Pauls is set to take ownership of the foreclosed properties January 1, but has already come to the table with Mt. Crested Butte to discuss a Notice of Nuisance Abatement issued for the properties by the town this fall.
By identifying the properties as a nuisance, due primarily to concerns with safety and impacts to surrounding property values, the town put some pressure on Pauls to deal with the problems. Shortly after they met with the Town Council in October, the company put up a safety fence with dark mesh around the foundations.
At the October meeting, the council also pressed Pauls for some kind of financial guarantee, like a bond or letter of credit, that would become available if real construction progress were not made on at least a couple of the properties in a reasonable amount of time.
But principal Brad Pauls hesitated to make any guarantee for the future. Town manager Joe Fitzpatrick said, “They did a nice job with the fence, but they’re not interested in promising much of anything.”
Fitzpatrick said the town could deal with the problem without the developer and flex its muscle in the nuisance abatement with a court order to have the foundations removed and the site re-graded to reduce its perceived impact on neighboring property values. But that’s expensive muscle to muster and Fitzpatrick doesn’t think the town has the money to throw at the job.
Mayor William Buck says, “We’re looking for some sign that construction is going to begin and a guarantee is probably not going to happen at this point. If they pulled an application or indicated in some fashion that they intend to build something, then we’d hold off.”
Community development coordinator Carlos Velado says the applicant heard the council’s request for construction guarantees and put its foot down, saying if the town touched the existing foundations, the company would “construe it as a taking and litigation will follow.”
Fitzpatrick said the removal would alone cost an estimated $60,000 to $70,000, in addition to the legal fees associated with a court order that would allow the town to proceed with the removal.
Buck says the situation is shaping up to “cost the town money either way, so we’re trying to find the path of least resistance, while accommodating the needs of residents.”
Members of the Town Council have also said they can appreciate the value in time and materials that the developer has in the completed foundations. An analysis of the foundations earlier this year showed that all five are still structurally sound, even after several years of sitting unattended.
“We don’t know if we’re going to get a court order or not. The council feels [the foundations] are somewhat of a blight on values. But how does one go into a courtroom and prove [the unfinished foundations] have impacted property values, with everything that’s going on in the market?” Fitzpatrick said. “We need to decide what we as a community want to do with those foundations.”
Fitzpatrick also said town attorney Rod Landwehr is investigating whether or not the town ordinance has a mechanism for fining The Pauls Corporation for not removing or developing the foundations in a time period set by the council.
“It seems they’re prepared to follow [the legal] route as well. So we’re looking for a remedy to the problems based on their response to the Town Council’s requests,” Velado said. “Basically, we’re negotiating a solution to the problem.”
The Town Council will discuss its next move at a meeting December 6.
