The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Allow for corporate ownership
By Alissa Johnson
The Mt. Crested Butte Town Council approved amendments to a restrictive covenant between the town of Mt. Crested Butte and Marcellina Apartments, LLC. The restrictions apply to seven units in the old Marcellina apartment building, which is being redeveloped as the Timbers by GOCB, LLC.
At the council’s February 2 meeting, town manager Joe Fitzpatrick said he expects the Timbers developers to approach the council about moving the location of the building’s seven deed-restricted units from one side of the building to the other. The deed restrictions needed to be cleaned up before then.
“The deed restrictions that existed were challenged at best,” Fitzpatrick said, noting that he and town attorney Kathy Fogo had been working with the developers to more closely align the new deed restrictions with such as Prospect Homestead subdivision.
Under the changes, the covenants would require that residents of the units have one year of residency (which could be waived by the housing authority) and work in and earn 80 percent of their wages in Gunnison County. The covenants also provide a definition of seasonal employees to allow them to occupy the units and dictate resale restrictions, limiting the increase in sale price to three percent per year.
“[The covenant] also allows a corporation to purchase a unit, which was wanted by the developer, to allow a company to purchase and use a unit for their needs for employees,” Fitzpatrick said.
Lastly, he pointed out that the amendment addressed foreclosures, giving the town and the housing authority the opportunity to purchase one of the deed-restricted units if the owner foreclosed.
“If the housing authority or the town doesn’t purchase it, [the deed restriction] could be lost,” Fitzpatrick said.
“We basically took one problematic paragraph in the original restrictions and turned it into nine pages,” added Fogo.
Councilmember David O’Reilly asked if a corporation could purchase only one unit. Fitzpatrick confirmed that the number was not limited.
Councilmember Gary Keiser wanted to know if the restrictions were consistent with those in Prospect. Fitzpatrick confirmed that they were close, and mayor David Clayton pointed out that the major difference is that Prospect does not allow corporate ownership.
Council supported the changes unanimously. According to town manager Joe Fitzpatrick, the developer aims to have construction complete in the next couple of months.
