Land Use Changes May Affect Ridgway Real Estate

July 26, 2008

Code Amendment Would Alter Rights of Private Property Owners

RIDGWAY – A proposed amendment to the Ouray County Land Use Code that would greatly alter private property rights in the county is set for public hearing before the Ouray County Commissioners tonight at 8 p.m. at the Ouray County 4-H Event Center in Ridgway. The amendment would, if enacted, shift decision-making authority involving changes to existing subdivisions from the homeowners’ association to the Ouray County Board of Commissioners.

The application for the amendment was paid for by Craig and Renee Cambria, owners of the 60-acre Night Hawk Ranch in Log Hill Unit II, under a law that allows the county, private citizens or private or public entities to request legislative changes.

The Cambrias wish to sell two six-acre lots but are restricted from doing so by current code regulations and the planned unit development's covenants. The properties surrounding the ranch currently have zoning densities ranging from approximately one to six acres.

Arguing for the Cambrias will be former county attorney Mike Hockersmith, who says that the existing rules have given neighboring property owners too much power over legitimate applications for amendment or modification of a subdivision's covenants, resulting in hardship for a particular lot owner.

Some homeowners’ associations and the Ridgway-Ouray Community Council have opposed the proposal, arguing that planned unit developments are contractual in nature as far as the lot owners are concerned and that if elected officials are allowed to have the final say on plat amendments or modifications, this would divest all lot owners in PUDs throughout the county of their decision-making power to prevent further divisions of lots prohibited by the covenants of their PUDs.

This hearing will follow an earlier hearing beginning at 6:35 p.m. to review non-substantive housekeeping changes to Section 6 of the Land Use Code that have been proposed by the county.