We’re writing with some great news. On December 21, the San Miguel County District Court granted the appeal (a.k.a. lawsuit) against the County’s decision to rezone Diamond Ridge. To win an appeal of a Board of County Commissioner’s decision is very significant and deals a big setback to the County-Town plans to develop the parcels.

You can download a copy of the court order here. To summarize, the court found that Commissioner Hilary Cooper was biased and should have recused herself from the hearing, and she would have to recuse herself from any future hearing on the matter.  Secondly, the Court found the rezoning of Diamond Ridge was not in compliance with the Telluride Regional Master Plan that identifies Deep Creek Mesa as only being appropriate for low-density housing, and that the BOCC’s rezoning of the parcels for community housing amounted to unlawful “spot zoning.”  This means the Diamond Ridge property reverts back to the Forestry/Agricultural zoning, effective December 21, 2022.

“The record shows that Commissioner Cooper abused her discretion by not recusing herself from the final rezoning decision and that her participation in the rezoning hearing violated Plaintiffs’ right to due process. Furthermore, the BOCC misapplied the law by spot zoning the Diamond Ridge Property in disregard of the Master Plan and other regulations. Accordingly, the Court grants Plaintiffs’ request to vacate the BOCC’s May 18, 2022 decision approving the application to rezone the Diamond Ridge Property.”
-Judge Patrick

We notified the Daily Planet and KOTO of the court decision; KOTO mentioned it in its news last night, and the Planet plans to develop a story soon. Scott Bennett, one of the lead plaintiffs, released these quotes on behalf of the Last Dollar Collective:

“We are relieved the Court reached the correct decision on this case and found the process used by the County for rezoning Diamond Ridge for high-density development was biased, an example of spot zoning, and inconsistent with the regional master plan. We stated all along this was a rushed process to push through this rezoning and development without the steps and studies the County would make any private developer follow.”

“We encourage the County and Town to build much-needed housing closer to existing services and to preserve open mesas. It does not make sense to extend scarce water and other infrastructure so far from town, adding to traffic congestion on the spur. Now that the County owns this land, we hope the community will consider converting it to public open space for preservation and recreation.”
-Scott Bennett

While it is unclear what will happen in the future, and we suspect the County will appeal, we are in a much better position to protect the mesas from high-density development than we were just two days ago. Like a playoff game along the way to a Stanley Cup, we pause briefly to celebrate this “win,” but we also intend to press even harder on public process from this point forward to make sure the County/Town does not ignore our voices, including being extremely active in our collective efforts regarding the East End Master Plan process. You may email any thoughts to the Master Plan committee here. This support is more important than ever, and we need all hands on deck to ensure that the updated Master Plan is not adopted in a form that facilitates high-density rezoning approvals on Deep Creek Mesa.

We do still need support to pay legal bills. Please consider donating for the first time, or for an additional time, to keep advocating and addressing the collective concerns. Also, after the paper runs a story on this decision, consider writing a letter to the editor applauding the court ruling. Thank you all so much for the prior support that helped make this possible.

You may give through this link for convenience; however, the credit card and third-party Stripe fee take away 6% of the donated amount. If you would like to donate a large amount, please consider giving by check to avoid that fee and mail to PO Box 1744, Telluride 81435; or contact info@lastdollarcollective.com if you would like to hand deliver it to one of the group’s core members.

Happy holidays and happy new year to all.