Montrose - Daily Press

Matt Hildner

Daily Press Writer

MONTROSE — The Montrose City Planning Commission backed away from a zoning proposal that would have allowed duplexes and multi-family unit residential development on the city’s east side at its Wednesday night meeting.

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Instead, the commissioners passed a recommendation on to the Montrose City Council for a 40-acre parcel of land at the northwest corner of Miami and 67.00 roads that would still allow duplexes in one corner of the property, while the remainder would contain zoning where the only allowable residential use would be for single family homes.

The commissioners, who voted 5-0 for the revision with Matt Box recusing himself, cited the safety concerns would come with more traffic in the area as a result of the original proposal.

They were also concerned that the original zoning proposal would have allowed for its greatest densities along Cedar Creek, which cuts diagonally across the property.

Janice Auker, who lives roughly 200 feet from the creek and joined the standing room only crowd of neighboring residents opposed to the zoning, was the first to broach safety concerns regarding the creek.

“If you look at that creek during the summer time when irrigation is happening roughly from mid April to October, I’ll guarantee you if a child fell in that creek they would not get out,” she said. “If I had grandchildren that were toddlers or three, four, or five years old, they would not be playing in my backyard.”

Concerns over the ability of local roads to handle the traffic from the higher density development also influenced the commissioners.

The parcel’s annexation agreement would require the developer to widen the halves of Miami and 67.00 that abutted the property in addition to designing and contributing $100,000 toward the widening of the 67.00 Road bridge that crosses the creek.

Despite those demands, commission Chair Frank Casey did not believe the remaining improvements, which would have to be borne by the future development of other properties, would keep pace with traffic demands.

“Those plans have been around for quite a while and the improvements aren’t going to be done prior to the development taking place and, therefore, the school kids and the people that use Miami Road for jogging are still going to face the issue of added traffic,” he said.

Southwest Colorado Land One put forth the initial zoning proposal.

The staff report submitted by Assistant City Planner Roger Shores supported the initial proposal. It noted that the zoning met the objective in the city’s comprehensive plan that called for providing a diversity of housing opportunities.

The report also stated that housing costs require going to higher densities than used to be the case in western Colorado and the city expected to see a continuing demand for multi-family and town house development.

Attorney David Reed, who once served as Montrose’s mayor and represented the company at the hearing, said the demand for development with higher density was on the rise. He cited statistics from the Montrose Association of Realtors that the number of new homes selling for between $160,000 and $200,000 in the last year was double the number that sold in the range of the mid-$200,000 to mid-$300,000.

“I think it’s no secret to any of us that work force housing in the Montrose community is an absolute need,” he said.

Commissioner Moira Collier countered that the city had already created an adequate amount of higher density zoning in other parts of the east side near U.S. Highway 50 and along Hillcrest Road.

Collier suggested that the part of the property allowing for duplexes, or R3 zoning as it’s designated in city regulations, be limited to the northwest corner of the property.

“I’m very much afraid if we put in R3 it would spoil the look of the area and the intent that was conveyed to other developers,” she said.

City council set first reading for the zoning and annexation of the property for its April 5 meeting. The proposal would have to pass two readings to gain approval.

Contact Matt Hildner via e-mail at matth@montrosepress.com

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