ASPEN – — Archaeological artifacts scattered on a rural midvalley property, and the landowners’ request that Pitkin County deem the site unsuitable for development, tripped up county commissioners Wednesday.
The property’s owners, David Brown and Jody Anthes, have asked that the parcel be deemed a constrained site, which means the site is undevelopable or severely constricted under the county’s land-use code. They have offered to place the parcel on the county’s historical register and are seeking two transferable development rights, which they could sell to recoup some of their investment in the property. Development rights on the parcel would be extinguished.
While constrained lots occasionally result in such an outcome, the nature of the constraint — a collection of tools and fragments that led an archaeological consultant to deem the site worthy of the National Register of Historic Places — left commissioners with more questions than answers.
“To the best of my knowledge, this is the first-ever application in Pitkin County involving an archaeological site. We don’t have a road map to follow,” said planning consultant Mitch Haas, representing the applicants.
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