Telluride hits $50 million goal for land

Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 9, 2007 at midnight

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The Telluride community said it met a deadline for raising the $50 million it needed to preserve one of the town’s most scenic attributes — 570 acres of meadows and wetlands on the outskirts of town.

More than 1,700 donors contributed to the fundraising campaign, which included a last-minute push this week to raise the remaining $1.5 million needed to buy the property before a court-ordered deadline. Private donors kicked in $24.5 million, while the town itself had already committed $25.5 million to buy the land it condemned for conservation purposes.

"This is an incredible day in the history of Telluride," Mayor John Pryor said in a statement. "This parcel defines Telluride historically, culturally and ecologically."

Neal Blue, a California defense contractor whose company San Miguel Valley Corp. has owned the land for decades with the intention of developing it for commercial use. He bought it for about $7 million in the early 1980s.

The town of Telluride, located about 330 miles southwest of Denver, seized the land in eminent domain proceedings that began in 2004. The fundraising effort began after a Delta County jury set the land value at $50 million, twice the amount that the town had offered for it. Nearly two-thirds of the money raised from private donors was committed in the past 11 weeks.

"Never have I seen a community rally more effectively for the preservation of one of its most important assets," said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Preservationists say it offers some of the area’s most scenic vistas, even though it was once the site of mining activity.

Big donors such as second-home owner and eBay CEO Meg Whitman helped rally deep-pocketed donors from across the country. Locally, residents pitched in by contributing more than $1 million in loose change and $100 bills to a wishing well. Whitman and others are expected to speak at a news conference this afternoon.

Actress Daryl Hannah and heavy-hitters such as former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke, also became active in an effort spearheaded by a group known as Valley Floor Preservation Partners.

An attorney for Blue said the developer will continue to fight the condemnation of his land. The case is currently on appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court.

"This is just one round in a long fight," said Thomas Ragonetti, a Denver attorney representing Blue.

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