BASALT — —The Basalt Town Council voted 5-2 on Tuesday night to chip in $500,000 for a proposed open space purchase that has become somewhat clouded by controversy.
Although some of the majority on the council expressed reluctance, they ultimately approved joining Pitkin and Eagle counties in the purchase. Critics contended that the $5 million the governments are paying is too much for the 145-acre Saltonstall ranch on Hook Spur Road in the Emma area.
Councilwoman Anne Freedman said the benefits outweigh the possibility the governments are overpaying.
“It’s possible we’ll lose this and it will be mega-mansions,” she said.
Basalt Town Manager Bill Kane lobbied hard to get the council to join the counties in the deal. The proposal initially appealed to town officials because it sterilizes property just beyond Basalt’s boundaries, he noted. Plus it provides access to the Crown, 9,000 acres of federal lands administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management.
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