Garfield County to decide on Spring Valley Ranch
Glenwood Springs correspondent
Aspen, CO Colorado
GLENWOOD SPRINGS – Garfield County officials will decide on Aug. 9 whether to give the green light to round one of a large residential-golf project that has been in the works for decades.
The developers of the Spring Valley Ranch PUD, located in a wide valley of meadows in the mountains southeast of Glenwood Springs, are asking the county commissioners to give final plat approval for phase one of the project.
According to a memo from the county’s head planner, Fred Jarman, phase one “basically includes platting of the open space in the lower meadows and improvements to the main entrance of the project.”
Jarman’s memo did not indicate when subsequent phases of the project may be submitted for county review. But the documents dealing with the application indicated that no further development can occur without such additional county review.
The entrance to the property, Jarman wrote, is to be a 700-foot road, with utilities alongside it, coming off County Road 115.
The Spring Valley Ranch PUD, first proposed in 1977 for a small number of homes, reached its maximum proposed size in 1984 – 2,750 homes, two 18-hole golf courses, and a 150,000-square-foot “village center.”
The current project, by Spring Valley Holdings LLC out of San Francisco, calls for construction of 577 homes and 20,000 square feet of commercial space, along with the two golf courses.
The PUD covers approximately 6,000 acres of terrain.
Other items on the agenda for the commissioners this week include:
• Discussion of whether or not to ask county voters to decide the fate of medical marijuana dispensaries in the unincorporated portions of Garfield County.
The county passed a six-month moratorium on medical marijuana business activities in July to give officials time to come up with local rules and restrictions in compliance with new state laws.
Voters approved the production, sale and use of medical marijuana in a constitutional amendment passed in 2000, and last year the state Legislature approved a set of laws meant to clarify a host of issues related to the growing industry.
Although a resolution calling for a countywide vote on the subject has been submitted to the commissioners for the Monday meeting, officials said no decision will be made until after a work session on Aug. 10, which begins at 8 a.m.
• Discussion of a proposed wilderness bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver;
• Review of a proposed solar farm lease of a site at the Garfield County Regional Airport;
The meeting begins at 8 a.m. at the County Administration Building, 108 Eighth St., Room 100, Glenwood Springs.
