The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Campfire Ranch property’s case against Gunnison County dismissed
By Katherine Nettles
In a lawsuit between a Gunnison County short-term rental property up Washington Gulch, several allegations against the county were recently dismissed in Gunnison County District Court, and two of those decisions are now under appeal.
McCloud Placer, LLC sued Gunnison County last spring claiming the county’s community and economic development department took unlawful actions against it in issuing compliance violations and a stop-order for the property’s commercial use.
Drew Fink, who owns McCloud Placer, purchased a three-bedroom cabin in 2022 and began marketing it through local property management company and adventure resort operator Campfire Ranch as a backcountry ski hut in 2023. The county’s community development department issued McCloud Placer a notice of violation of building code provisions, and determined that McCloud Placer had changed the use of the cabin from residential to commercial without proper procedures or the infrastructure to handle an increase in visitor capacity.
Namely, the county found McCloud Placer to have advertised short-term rentals of the property for up to 12 people when the property’s on-site wastewater treatment system (OWTS) was built to a design standard for a maximum of six people. The county then revoked the certificate of occupancy on December 28, 2023.
McCloud Placer appealed this decision to the Gunnison County Board of Adjustment (BOA) last spring, arguing it had been unfairly targeted by the county staff. The BOA upheld the county’s decisions, and McCloud Placer sued the county in Gunnison County District Court with additional allegations of county misconduct.
These allegations were that the county had “abused its discretion and exceeded its authority by misinterpreting and misapplying the county’s Land Use Resolution (LUR)” in finding McCloud Placer to be in violation; had unlawfully withheld disclosure of 45 documents McCloud Placer requested through the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) and that there was no way to challenge the county’s decisions and seek remedies.
The county entered a motion to dismiss part of the case last spring, arguing that McCloud Placer had not exhausted administrative remedies. On June 7, 2024, the court ruled in favor of the county’s motion to dismiss charges in the case of McCloud not having a way to challenge the county’s decision. “Without attempting to either obtain a new permit or a variance they have failed to exhaust the available administrative remedies,” wrote district court judge Stephen Patrick.
On August 29, the county filed another motion to dismiss charges that there was a taking of Constitutional rights, given the county’s power to regulate use of property for health, safety and welfare and arguing that it had rightfully denied the CORA request because it involved internal staff documents related to the county’s investigation of the property and discussions concerning possible code violations.
The court issued an order on September 30 agreeing that the county did not violate McCloud’s Constitutional rights and that it had rightfully denied the CORA request. “The County is entitled to benefit from the deliberative process privilege. The County has satisfied the procedural requirements for invoking the privilege and Respondent’s need for the subject records does not outweigh the County’s interest in confidentiality,” wrote district court judge Kellie Starritt, who had recently replaced Patrick upon his retirement. McCloud recently submitted an appeal of that ruling.
In the case regarding the building code violations, the court found that McCloud Placer did not provide plausible claims against the county beyond a court review of the Board of Adjustment’s decision affirming the staff’s determination that McCloud’s property violates the county land use resolution (LUR) and building codes. That aspect of the case will therefore proceed as an administrative appeal in district court.
Last, the court also dismissed McCloud’s claim the county violated its civil rights by finding the property septic system out of compliance with the county’s OWTS code. McCloud has appealed that decision to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
The Crested Butte News reached out to the county and McCloud Placer about the rulings. Fink responded that he did not have much to add beyond the content of his numerous filings and appeals, however county attorney Matthew Hoyt gave the following statement:
“The County is pleased that the Court continues to recognize the lack of merit contained within McCloud Placer’s multiple lawsuits against the County. Since the start of this dispute, the County has made clear that it wants McCloud Placer’s business model to succeed, but for it to succeed, McCloud Placer must follow the law. Rather than work with the County to come into compliance, McCloud has decided to fight us in the courts. Gunnison County will continue to resist attempts to avoid following the rules by filing lawsuits instead of cooperating with us to ensure both business success and regulatory compliance.”
