The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Resolves three separate cases, brings property into compliance
By Katherine Nettles
Gunnison County has accepted a settlement in a series of legal disputes with the owner and operator of a short-term rental property in Washington Gulch, and the property will now come into compliance with Gunnison County building codes. Gunnison County commissioners agreed to accept the settlement terms last month after holding an executive session on the matter Tuesday, March 18.
McCloud Placer, LLC sued Gunnison County in 2024 claiming the county’s community and economic development department took unlawful actions against it in issuing compliance violations and eventually a stop-order for the property’s commercial use.
McCloud Placer owner Drew Fink purchased the three-bedroom cabin in 2022, and shortly thereafter the cabin was marketed through local property management company/adventure resort operator Campfire Ranch as a backcountry ski hut. Gunnison County issued McCloud Placer a violation notice for the property based on local building codes, commercial use provisions and the cabin’s advertised use for up to 12 people when its on-site wastewater treatment system (OWTS) was built to a design standard for a maximum of six people.
The county temporarily revoked the certificate of occupancy from late December 2023 to early January 2024 due to an unvented fuel gas appliance (which McCloud Placer fixed), and issued a stop order in January 2024 based on commercial use and parking issues. McCloud Placer appealed these decisions to the Gunnison County Board of Adjustment (BOA).
The BOA upheld the county’s decisions, and McCloud Placer sued the county in Gunnison County District Court with additional allegations of county misconduct. Two of the four claims were dismissed in court, a third was reviewed as an administrative appeal in district court and a fourth claim was dismissed but appealed in the Colorado Court of Appeals.
The settlement reached last month stipulated that both parties would dismiss their claims, including those in the Colorado Court of Appeals, and pay their own respective court costs.
According to the settlement document filed with Gunnison District Court, “The parties have now agreed to fully resolve all of the claims between them that could have been asserted” in the dismissed claims.
“I think we’ve reached a strong conclusion; I think we’ve had a chance to receive direction from our attorneys,” said county commissioner Jonathan Houck after commissioners exited the executive session and reconvened the regular meeting in March. Commissioners unanimously agreed to accept the settlement agreement proposed and to authorize the board chair’s signature on the document.
County commissioner chair Laura Puckett Daniels commented on the settlement to the Crested Butte News afterward, characterizing the agreement as “comprehensive.”
“We’re really pleased to reach a settlement. From the beginning we’ve offered many paths for homeowners to seek compliance…we want to support homeowners in whatever their endeavor is. This settlement brings the property into compliance for public safety and welfare, and if there is more that they [the property owners] want to do in the future with that property there is a path for that,” she said. The property will now operate within its current certificate of occupancy based on the original bedroom count.
Puckett Daniels said she wanted to emphasize that the county supports entrepreneurship and stands by its requirement that businesses and homeowners follow the necessary steps to achieve their goals under the county’s building codes.
Regarding the implications that this case had for the potential of short-term rental businesses to sue the county over compliance issues, Puckett Daniels said, “We feel strongly that we will uphold our right to initiate enforcement. And the county will use all the tools available to us to do that. We’re really happy to see the property come into compliance and hope they have a bright and thriving future.”
Fink, who owns Placer McCloud, declined to comment.
