Jane Hickcox’s Internet service was interrupted for hours Monday, and she was frantic. With only a few days left and more than $7 million to go, she couldn’t afford to miss a single e-mail.
Hickcox and others at the Valley Floor Preservation Partners in Telluride have raised $8.8 million since Feb. 16, when a Delta jury determined that the value of the 570-acre parcel near the entrance to town was $50 million.
She remains optimistic that they’ll reach their goal by Thursday, though she admits it would be a fundraising feat of tsunami proportions. The town already has more than $34 million committed to the project.
While locals are selling family treasures and businesses are donating all their profits in a desperate effort to save the land for open space, the town council tonight will consider legal options that could lead to an appeal or possibly a new trial on the condemnation case.
Attorney Leslie Fields declined to comment Monday, but anybody who followed the trial last month could see myriad opportunities for legal challenges – if the town’s in a fighting mood.
The $50 million endorsed by the jury – nearly twice the amount town appraisers set for the land – was based on assumptions that are best described as fanciful.
To develop the property to make it worth $50 million, the San Miguel Valley Corp. presumes that the county would approve exceptions for wetlands protection so that a dam could be built to create a lake, the Town of Telluride would approve a costly connection to the sewer system, an exception would be given to county requirements that all developments incorporate affordable housing, the state would approve the owner’s plan for mine tailings remediation, the Army Corps of Engineers would grant permits to drain the wetlands in violation of the Clean Water Act, the Fish and Wildlife Service would find no conflicts with the Endangered Species Act, and the Forest Service, the Town of Telluride and San Miguel County all would endorse the plan to build a gondola network to connect the development to the ski area and the Mountain Village.
Testimony during the trial indicated this process likely would take five years. The odds of success were described as “extremely speculative.”
“The appraisal does presume a lot in terms of what the property owner might do and what the local government might approve,” said Doug Robotham, Colorado director for the Trust for Public Lands, which works with willing property owners to buy land for open space.
It presumes so much in fact, it’s enough to make a swashbuckling old mining town consider calling the owner’s bluff.
The folks in Telluride still could walk away from the deal, tell SMVC to keep their lousy swampland, and let the notoriously intransigent nature of government bureaucracy take its course.
Just imagine all those residents who have spent a decade trying to save the Valley Floor packing public hearings. They could discombobulate every decision-making process from the granting of permits for gondola construction on public lands to zoning changes for curb cuts along the highway.
It would be wicked, I know, but for some it might feel like sweet revenge.
After all, it’s not as if the SMVC team has exactly been gracious in victory.
The $3.5 million legal bill submitted by SMVC’s attorneys included 10 percent extra because the town was paying the bill instead of the corporation.
Hickcox has no time to think about revenge fantasies or even potential legal challenges though. “We don’t have the inclination to get into the whole appeal arm of this or second-guessing what the jury did or walking away and hoping that the hurdles are insurmountable for development,” she said. “It’s time to be adult about this, try to get the money, pay it and get on with life.”
In an era when flipping real estate for a fat profit is akin to a national religion, the campaign to save the Valley Floor seems quaint, naive, romantic even. “But isn’t that the beauty of it?” said Robotham.
Ah, it sure is, and ultimately preserving the land – no matter what the price – is one investment that can’t lose.
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 303-954-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com.
