The Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved the development of an eight-lot subdivision off Road H in Cortez at their meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 26 despite opposition from neighbors.
The lots will be divided from roughly 36 acres, creating 3.5 to 4.5 acre parcels with a manufactured home on each one.
The decision had been postponed a week to give the commissioners time to read through letters of opposition from neighboring properties, who voiced their concerns when the proposal was first brought to the board on Nov. 19.
“The reason these people bought here was for the beauty and seclusion of our road,” said Bill Akers, the first neighbor to speak at the Nov. 19 meeting.
Seven more followed Akers and spoke during public comment that day; he said he hoped their united opposition “will weigh heavily in our favor.”
“It complies with the land use code,” Commissioner Jim Candelaria said at the most recent meeting, when the proposal passed.
“Like I said, we had a continuation so we could review all the packets, and we’ve read them all. I didn’t see anything in there that I read that we didn’t already discuss.”
Desert Mesa Estates LLC., the company that proposed the project, said they plan to divide the land and create the neighborhood over time. They first got their proposal approved by Planning & Zoning under two conditions:
- That there’d only be one home developed per lot and
- The dirt road leading to the property would be upgraded.
The company obliged, and it passed Planning and Zoning 4-1.
In fact, in its business plan, Desert Mesa Estates described itself as “a real estate development company focused on creating a community out of a property with road and water problems.”
The opportunity to improve access was a major point Rachel Comisky, one of four members of the development company, brought up at the Board of County Commissioners meeting.
Comisky recognized the “road is really terrible.”
She said her parents live there and they’ve tried to sell the property, but their efforts have been unsuccessful because of the road and the lack of water.
“This (the neighborhood) is our plan to mitigate those two issues,” Comisky said.
With the revenue the project will generate, they’ll upgrade the water line, which will allow for extra water taps for people to buy, she said.
And before they do anything, they’ll upgrade the road by widening it, raising its center to improve drainage and put in bar ditches and six culverts, too.
One community member spoke in favor of the development, citing the road upgrades as a major benefit.
The owner of Bright Star Campground, Robin Smith, said the subdivision that will border her property will “be detrimental to my established rural and compliant business.”
Like others opposed, Smith cited the area’s rural character; developing a neighborhood there threatens the quiet and the beautiful views of Mesa Verde National Park and the night sky, the opposition said.
In a letter to the commissioners, Troy Jaskowski, another opposed neighbor, went a step further in citing the Montezuma County Land Use Code.
“It violates Section 1201 … which states that the main objective is ‘to protect the rural character of the County through the enactment of development regulations appropriate for rural areas.’”
Jaskowski also cited Section 4101, which is meant to “conserve the value of the land.”
“Manufactured homes decrease in value over time,” Jaskowski said.
Another community member called the development a “mobile home park,” and Candelaria and Camisky were quick to correct that.
“This is a subdivision with manufactured housing,” Candelaria said.
Camisky confirmed that, and said the homes will be “connected to land” with foundations. “They’re not mobile homes,” she said. “They’re the stick-built manufactured homes, so they’re to the stick-built code. And they’re not small, they’re good size homes, you know, 2,000 square feet.”
The development company projects the homes will go for anywhere between $400,000 to $600,000, depending on the size of the home the buyer chooses, and whether they want a garage or car port added to it, according to Desert Mesa Estates’ business plan.
All of the developments will have water, electric and a septic system. And they’ll sell and build one at a time, thus mitigating someone’s concerns of a “deserted neighborhood across the street” if the homes don’t sell.
“This could be a three to five- year project. It’s not going to be a stream of eight homes coming in,” Comisky said.
Light pollution was another major concern, since Mesa Verde is a certified International Dark Sky Park.
Plus, the couple who owns the campsite next door said it will be “detrimental” to their business, as it’s likely to “obstruct the view of the stars, the view of the mountains, and the beautiful view we came here for,” they said.
Comisky assured the commissioners they will direct the lighting down and not toward residents, as to avoid being “a nuisance.”
Since the county approved the proposal, Desert Mesa Estates LLC will start with renovating the road and water infrastructure, and then build the first home.
