Briefs: Gunnison County

By Katherine Nettles

Starview denied

Gunnison County commissioners this week officially decided the fate of the proposed Starview development on a 90-acre parcel on Highway 135 near Cement Creek Road. The proposal had gone through several work sessions and joint public hearings with the county planning commission before the commission recommended denial earlier this month.

Commissioners reviewed the recommendation and staff summary of the proposal during their January 20 meeting. They discussed the technicalities of the Land Use Resolution (LUR), reasons for recommended denial, and acknowledged the applicants’ efforts to respond to extensive public comment and planning commission feedback prior to the final proposal. Commissioners then voted unanimously to deny the application.

“This one has been a long, arduous process, working through the expectations and the standards outlined in the LUR,” said commissioner Jonathan Houck. “There are some places where it hits the mark with some of the opportunities,” he said, but other areas where he found the application missed the mark in meeting LUR standards.

Commissioner Liz Smith agreed. “And I appreciate the difficult situation that the applicant was in trying to navigate public comments and what’s laid out in the LUR,” she added. She emphasized the application’s failure to address “missing middle” housing needs of affordable, but not necessarily deed-restricted homes.

“When I think of the tradeoffs of this application, I do think this could be a good site for development,” said commissioner Laura Puckett Daniels. “I’m looking for development on this parcel that still honors the rural heritage, that still allows for wildlife connectivity, that provides the right balance of workforce housing or attainable housing…That for me is the crux of this denial right now.”

She said there must be a role for the private sector to play in solving affordable housing problems in the community.

Denial for Lower Allen bridge

Commissioners also approved an official resolution denying the request that would have allowed construction of a new bridge on Lower Allen Road. Hunter Family Estates had requested a waiver of standards for roads and bridges for its parcel of land in the Cement Creek drainage to add a second access from Lower Allen Road; after a public hearing on December 16, commissioners agreed during their January 6 meeting to deny the request.