RIDGWAY – As the Ouray Board of County Commissioners continued to work on drafting a resolution that will direct the Ouray County Planning Commission to amend the current Section 9 of the Land Use Code, which sets visual impact regulations, the commissioners agreed Monday that a field trip to the edge of the escarpment on Log Hill Mesa will be beneficial to the process.

The commissioners, planning commission members and county staff have spent the past eight months brainstorming possible recommendations to improve current visual impact regulations and building setbacks from the edge of the escarpment, and precisely how they are measured is one issue that has continued to raise questions.

Commissioner Heidi Albritton said at Monday’s meeting in Ridgway that a number of citizens have invited the board to look at lots along the edge of the escarpment to get an idea of what several different setbacks would look like.

“It would also be useful to see whether it is an approximate or exact number on what these setback possibilities would look like,” Albritton said. “It would be useful for us to see them on the ground.”

Both commissioners Keith Meinert and Lynn Padgett were supportive of the idea, with Meinert cautioning that he didn’t want the field trip to hold up the process, and suggesting that it may be more important for just planning commission members to attend, because they will be charged with making recommendations on setbacks in their public approval process.

“I want to ensure that any site visit is actually more of a planning commission site visit,” said Meinert. “I do want staff and the board to see the same issues on the ground, but we need to put some thought into what is the best way to organize a field trip to ensure that we and the planning commission get the maximum benefit in trying to resolve all of the issues.

“I would be reluctant to rush into this and assume the whole process is being held up by the need to decide on this,” he said.

Padgett said that because a field trip would be “educational” and that everyone could look at a variety of situations, the idea is the “right approach” to solving the issue.

The commissioners agreed to continue the discussion about a field trip to the escarpment at its scheduled work session on June 29, but agreed to direct county staff to begin the planning of a field trip, which must be publicly noticed.

“I would like to instruct staff to start working on a comprehensive field trip for this, whenever it might be,” Meinert said. “It is something that must be pretty thoroughly organized.”

Dry Conditions May Mean Fire Ban in Portions of Ouray County

According to Ouray County Sheriff Dominic “Junior” Mattivi, the fire danger in Ouray County is bordering on tipping from safe to dangerous and without more rain, a fire ban in portions of the county may be initiated.

“I have been talking with the [U.S.] Forest Service and with fire chiefs and it looks like we are right on the edge,” Mattivi said at Monday’s Ouray Board of County Commissioner meeting in Ridgway. “We have been getting a little bit of rain and that needs to continue, but right now our toes are on the line.”

The last Red Flag warning issued to the area was on June 22 with Mattivi calling the conditions on the Uncompahgre Plateau “dry but at low risk.”

With the Fourth of July Holiday coming this weekend and now scheduled commissioner meetings, if the fire danger goes over the line into dangerous, the commissioners agreed to hold a special meeting to approve a fire ban, should it come to that point.

“I would prefer to be as targeted as we can be,” Commissioner Keith Meinert said, keeping Ouray County’s diverse terrain and elevations in mind.

“I just wanted to let you guys know that we are thinking about it and next time I come in I may ask for a fire ban,” Mattivi said.

Search for Mining Claim Owner Continues

Recognizing that there is some question of the entire ownership of the Mephistopheles Mining Claim near Ouray, the Ouray County Commissioners granted the U.S. Forest Service permission to build a portion of the Perimeter Trail on the three-quarters of the mining claim the county currently owns.

Ouray County currently owns three-quarters of the mining claim, named after one of the seven Princes of Hell, the owner of the remaining quarter interest in the claim in currently unknown.

Ouray County Assessor Susie Mayfield told the Ouray Board of County Commissioners on Monday that the claim’s former owners had some “tax difficulties” in the mid 1940s, and that she is researching how the claim’s ownership went forward after that. As of Monday, it was unclear who owns the remaining portion of the claim, but it could very well be Ouray County.

U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Tammy Randall-Parker said permission from the county is needed to begin construction of the trail across the claim, but the commissioners were hesitant to give outright permission, since the entire ownership remained in question.

“We want to work with you on this,” Commissioner Keith Meinert said. “I think we have consensus that we want to help facilitate the building of the trail, recognizing that we don’t own all of the land. At least we give you permission on what we own and we will continue, through the assessor’s office, to try to sort out who owns the quarter interest.

“I would like to ask staff to continue to work with the Forest Service on formalizing the county’s three-quarter approval of building the trail.”

Mayfield said she would continue in her research to find the owner of the claim.

Fairgrounds Advisory Council to Grow With Two New User Groups

As the process of updating the Ouray County Fairgrounds Master Plan moves forward, Fairgrounds Manager Susan Long reported to the Ouray Board of County Commissioners on Monday that two more user groups will be added to the Fairgrounds Advisory Council, which is made up of a conglomeration of 13 fairgrounds user groups spearheading the master plan update.

Long said that the current FAC unanimously approved the request for the appointment of the Second Chance Humane Society and the Ridgway Farmers Market to the FAC and that she is requesting the commissioners make the final appointment of group representatives once their names are submitted.

Despite previous discussions about the Second Chance Humane Society looking for a spot of land on the fairgrounds property to house a new shelter, Long told the commissioners that they have rescinded that request, and have decided to use a property in Ridgway’s Industrial Park for the facility. But although their request has been taken off the table for now, Long said, Second Chance remains a major user group of the fairgrounds and of the Ouray County 4-H Event Center with its annual holiday nonprofit bazaar and the Wine and Whiskers Carnival.

“We still want them to be a part of the council,” Long said.

During the updating process of the Fairgrounds Master Plan, which was last updated 10 years ago, the FAC will compile a list of recommended improvements, repairs, landscaping and/or additional buildings the fairgrounds would need over the next 10 years.

While no appointments to the FAC were made on Monday, the commissioners were supportive of the addition of the two new user groups to the council.