A preliminary plan for a major subdivision — Mountain View — near Silt was approved Monday by the Garfield County Board of County Commissioners. 

The 27-acre rural zone district property, owned by Red Dog LLC and located about two miles north of Silt, will be split into five lots, according to the preliminary plan application. The lots will range from 3.9 to 6.8 acres. The plan states that single-family houses will be built by individual property owners on each lot, with the option to add an accessory dwelling unit. 

The lot is currently undeveloped aside from irrigation structures, a pump house and access points to County Road 261 and Columbine Lane, according to the staff report. A new road off County Road 261 will provide access to four of the lots, while the fifth will be accessible from Columbine Lane. 

Although no written public comments accompanied the staff report, some neighbors at the Sept. 10 planning commission hearing opposed the subdivision, citing traffic and access concerns, as well as water and site compatibility issues. 

The project is expected to add about 84 daily vehicle trips on County Road 261 — less than a 20% increase — according to the application’s traffic study. Columbine Lane will see around 17 additional trips per day.

“The Planning Commission recommended that road and bridge be re-consulted after hearing

public comments regarding CR 261’s adequacy,” the staff report states. “Road and bridge’s follow-up response indicated that they still found the proposal to not have detrimental impacts on the county roadway.” 

The Peach Valley Orchard and Simon Subdivision homeowner associations indicated that the subdivision has an adequate legal water supply and provided a will-serve letter for the application. The impact analysis found the proposed lots compatible with neighboring developments, according to the staff report. 

“When I look at the size of these properties, this is going to be actually a high-end neighborhood,” Michelle James, a realtor and subdivision resident, stated. “The ones that are developed across the street from me, those are more modular, lower end. They’re trying to subdivide those into smaller two-acre parcels, and they’re discussing those water rights.

“So when I look at this with the water and the size and what these are going to be, I don’t think we can ask for anything better than this,” she added. “What’s the other option? Go smaller and have less water? So when I look at it, I’m 100% for it. I would approve it conditional on agreeing with our HOA on the water.”

Colorado Parks and Wildlife recommended prohibiting construction between Dec. 1 to April 30 due to high-priority elk and mule deer habitats. However, the planning commission declined to adopt this restriction, noting that surrounding properties are not subject to it and it would limit residential construction. 

Condition of approval No. 9 states that “at the time of final plat, final engineering, operations, and management documents related to the water supply system will be provided. This shall address all items included in the will-serve letter and include sign-off from the PVO/SSE HOA.”

Commissioners expressed concern about the developers and HOA working together on water supply system issues in time to submit a final plat application within a year of the preliminary plan’s approval. 

“I’m not saying this is going to happen, but I don’t want this to happen — you guys fight for a year, nothing gets done,” Commissioner Mike Samson said. “He has to come back here , and we say, ‘Guys, you had a whole year. You didn’t work it out and now it’s no,’ and then you’ve spent a lot of money trying to get this done. That’s what I don’t want to see.”

Planning Commission staff recommended approval of the plan, and the Garfield County Commissioners on Monday unanimously approved it despite their concerns.