Grand County is fighting homebuilders. Here’s how I’m covering it.
Murphy Flats, the three-level property shown here, was planned as condominiumized multiplexes. Now that only locals can purchase the units, the homebuilder says they will instead be rental units. photo by Carter Pape, licensed for exclusive use
When Grand County officials learned in late January that a local homebuilder was looking outside the valley for the money needed to enable new housing, it set in motion a series of decisions that eventually led to the project getting derailed.
The essential question was this: Who is allowed to own homes built under the county’s High-Density Housing Overlay ordinance? After initial debate, the county eventually said that only locals could buy them, despite authors of the ordinance saying that anyone could buy them, as long as locals lived in them.
Eventually, it became clear (despite some disagreement) that the county was wrong about the original intent of the ordinance. However, the letter of the law was a separate matter.
Homebuilders took their case before a hearing officer, who indeed ruled that the intent of the ordinance was legally irrelevant because the letter of the law was on the county’s side.
Now, one of the homebuilders who lost their appeal has said that they plan to appeal the decision to a judge. Today, that is where the story sits.