The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Issue has been going on since 2008
The owner of a large parcel of land in Gunnison County has filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the county, assistant county attorney Art Trezise, and the individual county commissioners.
Scott Wagner, owner of a 180-acre parcel 26 miles east of Gunnison at the foot of Tomichi Dome, filed the suit August 4 in Denver. The property was purchased by Wagner in 2002 and is considered to contain major geothermic attributes. The county has hired an independent attorney from Denver to help advise them with the litigation.
In the complaint, Wagner and his attorneys allege the county has worked to prevent access to his property, prevented him from using existing roads on the property, negatively influenced the independent consultant hired to evaluate work done on the property and given county regulation enforcement powers to Wagner’s neighbors.
“Scott’s primary concern is access to his property and being able to use his house and land,” said Wagner’s attorney Bob Hoban. “That property has great geo-thermal possibilities and he wants to explore that possibility. We’ve been working with an expert who is interested in pursuing such a thing on the property. It could be a great resource and the county is holding it up. We don’t believe he is being treated fairly and we are concerned that the county has given the neighbor authority to enforce county stipulations on Scott. Scott has done everything asked of him by the county but they seem to keep moving the goal line for some reason. That is why we filed this suit.”
According to the Gunnison County attorney’s office, the county’s position is that it is simply asking Wagner to follow the process that everyone in the county is supposed to follow when making improvements to land in Gunnison County. For example, when a landowner puts in an ISDS (individual sewage disposal system), he or she needs to file a permit application and get permission before starting the work. The county then comes to the site, discusses the application and makes recommendations. The county then inspects the completed ISDS and signs off on the work.
“It appears that Wagner did the work properly on the ISDS and an engineer has given a stamp of approval,” said Trezise. “But he then cut in roads that weren’t taken through the county process at all. We don’t want to piecemeal approvals. We aren’t even sure what Wagner intends to do with the property. Does he want a residence or a commercial geo-thermal plant? Those have different requirements. We came up with a list of things the owner needed to do in order to make the major improvements on his land but he has never done them. He doesn’t seem to want to do the work required in the county process. It seems he wants to litigate rather than work with the county.”
Trezise said this federal lawsuit is a rehash of the issues already decided in the county’s favor at the state district court level. “There doesn’t seem to be much new in the federal complaint,” he said. “We have been trying to work with [Wagner] since 2002 and reach a solution to his litigation since 2009. I think it has been frustrating frankly for everyone involved.”
There are talks going on with a third party to apparently investigate the feasibility of using the land for a geo-thermal power production facility. The county is open to the idea if all the proper permits are obtained.
The county has until the end of September to respond to the court over the lawsuit.
