Blue River – Facing angry residents, the Blue River town board withdrew a controversial ballot question Tuesday night that would have asked voters whether they wanted to pave the rural community’s dirt roads.
“We believe this is in the best interest of the town,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Howard Smith.
The surprise reconsideration came after the town board held a closed-door executive session on the paving issue, which would have cost property owners as much as $18,000.
“The soonest that it could become a ballot issue is a year from November,” Smith told the overflowing crowd at the Blue River town hall, generating applause.
The community’s real-estate agents and speculators supported the measure, feeling it would increase property values. The proposal met stiff opposition from the working-class residents who would have been forced to move or take out second mortgages.
Additionally, many residents argued that paving the 10 miles of residential roads would detract from the rural feel of the neighborhoods scattered throughout the woods just south of Breckenridge.
“We came in with dirt roads, and we’d like to stay with dirt roads,” said Steve Powell, whose father built a weekend cabin in the community years ago.
The proposal was so controversial that the Summit County Sheriff’s Department dispatched a pair of officers in case of flaring tempers. Citing those hostilities, Mayor Darcy Lystlund abruptly resigned two weeks ago after the board put the measure on the ballot.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
