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A recently completed land swap will help preserve historic and open space values along Peru Creek.
42-acre Chihuahua parcel along Peru Creek will go into public ownership; 21 acre Forest Service parcel near River Run gondola goes to private hands
By Bob Berwyn
SUMMIT COUNTY — A Summit County land swap that’s been in the works for almost 10 years was finally completed last week.
White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams signed off on a deal that will convey 21 acres of national forest land near Keystone’s River Run Gondola to private hands, while the Forest Service will take ownership of the 42 acre Chihuahua parcel, along Peru Creek.
The decision is subject to a 45-day appeal period that began Aug.20.
The complex trade previously included several tracts near Breckenridge, but appraisals of the various parcels at first didn’t match up. Forest Service regulations require the value of trade parcels to be within 25 percent of each other. The difference can be made up with cash.
The Dercum Dash parcel at River Run has preliminary zoning approval for 21 homes.
The Chihuahua parcel was platted as a town in the late 1800s. The development rights associated with that status were never completely settled, and county officials previously said they weren’t inclined to go to test the issue in court.
Keystone developer Gary Miller was the main proponent of the trade as the local spokesman of a group of investors who own the Chihuahua parcel. Miller has said he has spent about $2 million pursuing the trade.
The trade stalled as several rounds of appraisals went awry, ultimately leading to a review by top agency officials in Washington, D.C. during the past several months. Somewhere along the way, the values of the parcels finally — and some would say magically — aligned.
Filed under: public lands, Summit County Colorado Tagged: | Chihuahua, Peru Creek, Snake River land exchange, Summit County Colorado, Summit County News, US Forest Service
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this is why developers get a bad name for themselves the bottom line is this is a bad land deal that benifits only one person the idea that this turkey was going to turn Chihuahua into a development was a joke
Don’t blame the developer. This is more about who knows who in Washington (Tom Glass, Western Land Group connections with Harris Sherman, now in charge of the Forest Service). Talk about making a square peg fit a round hole ….
Hence why nearly every single Dem event is hosted at Tom Glass’ house. It truly is who you know in this town, and with the help of well funded dc connections from Tom and David Cunningham, among other self pocket liners, deals like these go through. They are not in it for the good of the community. Ask David Cunningham about his suspect lobbying on behalf of the ethanol industry. Yet best pals of his in summit an denver (gibbs, french, bennet, hikenlooper, thomas davidson, karn steigelmeier) simply turn a blind eye to it, as long as he and Tom Glass continue to host the same fundraisers iver and over for them.
I think getting the Chihuahua land into public ownership is a good thing for the community, but I don’t agree with the way this deal was made. There is very little transparency as to the relative values of the parcels until it’s too late in the process for meaningful public comment.
Hey Bob,
So where is this headed?
Has anyone tried to appeal the land values? $50K / acre slopeside?
Is the development likely to be approved by the county?
The swap is in an appeals period with the Forest Service. Don’t know if any appeals, I don’t think so. The development has preliminary zoning approval and is going through a development application for plat approval.