Telluride voters to decide on 'valley floor' project

Joe Garner, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 14, 2006 at midnight

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Preservation of sweeping open space in the valley leading into Telluride is the highly charged question facing voters today in the wealthy southwest Colorado ski town.

"It's a very passionate issue within Telluride and the region," said town Councilman Stu Fraser. "To many people, the valley floor is considered the heart and soul of Telluride."

Four expensive pieces of property are involved - all outside town limits in San Miguel County, and all owned by the San Miguel Development Corp.

However, the focus of the debate is the 560-acre tract called the South Side - because it is south of the highway leading into the box canyon where Telluride sits. The South Side alone has been valued at $26 million in the town's appraisal and at $51 million in the owner's.

The ballot question comes down to this: Do residents want the town council to continue with condemnation proceedings intended to keep all 560 acres pristine?

Or, do residents want council members to compromise by allowing preservation of 513 acres while allowing 22 large homes of up to 8,000 square feet each on the remaining 47 acres.

Those homes could have an attached caretaker's home or similar structure of up to 2,000 square feet.

The compromise also involves annexation of all four parcels, which total 793 acres, into the town. The owner would be allowed to develop market-priced homes, deed-restricted affordable homes and retail stores on the other three sites, conditioned on dedication of a five-acre site for a school and a three-and-a-half-acre site for a park.

The issue, which will be decided by 2,085 voters marking paper ballots, has divided the town's wealthy over the future of the elite community. The election arrives with all the trappings, including opposing editorials in the town's rival newspapers.

The Telluride Daily Planet is opposed to the ballot question, which has the support of Mayor John Pryor, the town council and most of the community's other elected officials.

"The condemnation route would be better and a more sure way of protecting the valley floor, which is what people want," said editor Suzanne Cheavens. "When, at last, can we say 'no' to more development, especially at our gateway?"

The Telluride Watch has sided with the mayor, who called himself "an enthusiastic 'yes' vote."

"The opposition has been loud, vocal and, at many times, very rough," Pryor said.

If the measure to continue negotiations passes today, the town will hold another election in September to gain further direction from residents, the mayor said.

"This is too big a decision about the future of Telluride for seven people to decide," Pryor said, referring to himself and the six town council members.

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