The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It’s years down the road”
A new annexation proposal is making its way through Mt. Crested Butte town offices, but the owner of the property involved says it will be a long time before the land will be sold or developed.
The annexation of an 8.8-acre parcel of land on the northwest corner of Mt. Crested Butte is being proposed by Brush Creek Holdings LLC. The Mt. Crested Butte Town Council discussed the petition for annexation during a regular meeting on Tuesday, November 6 and set a public hearing to approve the parcel’s eligibility for annexation on Tuesday, December 18.
Mt. Crested Butte town attorney Rod Landwehr said approving the parcel for eligibility is the first step in getting it annexed into town. Approval “doesn’t say we’re going to annex it. It just says (the parcel) complies with the requirements of the state statute for annexations,” he said.
Annexing the parcel would square off one end of Mt. Crested Butte. Brush Creek Holdings president Gary Garland says the current outline of the town looks like it has a big bite mark where the area is located. Brush Creek Holdings has owned the property for about year and a half, according to Garland, and it’s within the Mt. Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District’s jurisdiction.
In the basic development plans submitted along with the petition, Garland says, he included several single-family lots and a multi-family lot. The exact size and number of lots won’t be determined until later on in the annexation process, he says. Garland says he’d like to get the annexation process complete before deciding whether to develop or sell the empty lots, but either way, “It’s years down the road.”
Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) director of planning John Sale says the Brush Creek Parcel is adjacent to a large parcel of land owned by the resort and proposed as the future home of the upscale Promontory development. Sale says Garland still has a long way to go to get his land annexed into town, but his property would likely be served by a road CBMR will construct, called Promontory Drive. Garland does hold an easement to access the property. Sale says it may be learned later on in the annexation process just how the Brush Creek Holdings parcel will tie in with Promontory.
Garland says his plans for the parcel don’t necessarily rely on CBMR’s development of Promontory, “but obviously the hope is to do it all in conjunction,” he says.
The parcel is identified on the Mt. Crested Butte Community Plan as a potential spot for an annexation, though its use is not described.
The Mt. Crested Butte Town Council will hold a public hearing to approve the parcel’s eligibility on December 18. If approved, the annexation petition will then face another public hearing and review of its benefits.
