The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Town real estate tax doing just fine these days
By Mark Reaman
An official funding agreement between the town of Crested Butte and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) was approved by the Town Council last month. The $1 million in the agreement will be used to help pay for the Trampe Ranch Conservation Easement.
The council had agreed to the $1 million donation from the town in 2015. At the time the council allocated the money to support the conservation easement but a funding agreement was not needed until now.
Justin Spring of the TPL explained to the council that the first phase of the three-part deal closed last winter when the Home Ranch parcel near Gunnison was completed.
This summer, phase two is slated to close with a parcel of land near Jack’s Cabin south of Crested Butte.
The Crested Butte money is earmarked for phase three of the deal when the approximately 2,600-acre Upper East River Valley parcel closes in late 2017 or early 2018.
In its entirety, more than 4,300 acres of prime ranchland will be protected for ranching forever as a result of the deal.
“It has been a Herculean effort to get to this point but it is a great project,” said Spring. “This is a major project with some of the largest donations ever contributed to a conservation easement. Great Outdoors Colorado donated $10 million.”
Community development director Michael Yerman said the town’s contribution would come out of the Open Space line item that is funded through real estate transfer taxes. “The town’s RETT fund is over the $1 million mark so we have the money in hand to pay the contribution,” he said. “We can fulfill the commitment this year.”
Yerman said that while no other major open space project is in the budget for this year, the RETT looks healthy and, given the economy, should only grow. “I would expect the fund to be fine by the end of the year,” he said.
The Trampe ranchland stretches from Gunnison to Gothic and has been touted as one of the most impressive conservation efforts in Colorado.
