The Town of Minturn has been involved in two separate processes regarding the proposed Battle Mountain Project (“Project”).  The first process is annexation and takes place at the town council level. The second process is the land use zoning and subdivision process before the Planning Commission and then the Town Council.

The Ginn Company, through its various entities, filed petitions for annexation and applications for Planned Unit Development zoning.

The process of annexation is governed by Colorado Revised Statutes under the Municipal Annexation Act of 1965.  In November of 2005, nine such petitions for annexation were filed with the Town for the Battle Mountain Property.  In December 2005, the Town Council passed a resolution stating the annexation petitions were complete, and contained the minimum amount of required information. Public hearings were then scheduled to begin in February 2006.  Two years later, on February 27th, 2008, the Minturn Town Council approved the annexation of Battle Mountain to the Town.

The Planned Unit Development (PUD) process is governed by the Minturn Municipal Code (the Code) to, “…allow flexibility for landowners to creatively plan for the overall development of their land and to achieve the purpose and objectives of this Code and the Minturn Community Plan…”  The PUD process itself contains three parts:  Concept Plan, Preliminary Development Plan and Final Development Plan.

The Code states that the Concept Plan review is, “…for the applicant, the Planning Director and the Planning and Zoning Commission to evaluate and discuss the basic concepts for development of the proposed PUD, and to consider whether development of the property as a PUD will result in a significant improvement over its development as a conventional subdivision.…”In aiding the Planning Commission in this review, the Code lays out Plan Evaluation Criteria with which to review a submittal.  In July of 2006, after two public hearings and a public site visit, the Planning Commission recommended approval the Battle Mountain Concept Plan to the Planning Director.

After approval of the Concept Plan, the applicant submitted a Preliminary Development Plan and Preliminary Subdivision Plat application for the Project.  The Code outlines the purpose of this step as the time for the applicant to, “…respond to the issues and concerns identified during concept plan review and to propose detailed, properly engineered solutions to those problems that conform in all respects to the approved concept plan.…”  Furthermore, the Preliminary Development Plan shall include a Community Plan and Development Guidelines specifying the standards and limitations that will control and guide the future development of the property.  The successful completion of this step is important to the developer since it also requested vested rights for their development plans.  On May 23, 2006, the Town of Minturn Planning Commission recommended approval of the applications to the Town Council with comprehensive conditions.

On February 27, 2008, the Minturn Town Council approved the applications unanimously.

The last step in the review process is the approval of the Final Development Plan and applicable final subdivision plats for the Project.  The Town Council shall approve a Final Development Plan for PUD and final subdivision plats.

Review of the annexation petitions and the PUD application is an open public process that puts the Planning Commission and the Town Council in the position of judges who hear testimony from the applicant, the staff and the public. They sit in judgment and review the application based on the criteria in the statutes and Code.  They are in the position of a judge in a court who is required to avoid outside influences, information, and conversations about the application.  Therefore, the members of the Planning Commission or Town Council are required by law to only receive citizen or the applicant comments in the public hearings as required by the Code.  They can then fairly “judge” a land use application based on the review criteria outlined in the statutes and Code.  Once the public hearing process is complete and a decision is reached, then the elected or appointed officials are free to discuss their views and feelings about the application- much like members of a jury are free to speak once their service is complete.

This process can be frustrating for citizens, members of the Planning Commission and Town Council, but they have no choice.  This requirement is there to protect the integrity of the process for all citizens who submit applications for land use approvals.