Ideas. Stories. Community.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

KSJD Local Newscast - July 16, 2024

Ways To Subscribe

Whether a Dollar General store can be built just off Highway 1`45 between Dolores and Cortez is still undecided. In its response to a lawsuit over the issue, Montezuma County denies many of the allegations made by Leaf Properties, the Georgia corporation that applied to build the store on Road N. The county commissioners voted 2 to 1 on April 23 to reject a high-impact permit for the retail outlet. Leaf Properties filed suit in District Court on May 28, and the county responded on June 25. In the complaint, the plaintiff said the county commissioners never explained how Leaf Properties could "win approval," and that the county's land-use process "should not be a guessing game." The plaintiff noted that the roughly 4-acre tract on Road N is already zoned commercial. In response, county attorney Ian MacLaren wrote that the language in the land-use code is clear and unambiguous, not a guessing game. The county also argued that commercial zoning doesn't guarantee that significant adverse impacts created by any and all commercial uses on a piece of property can be mitigated. When rejecting the permit, the commissioners said such impacts included traffic hazards, lower neighboring property values, and the outlet's lack of comptability with the area's rural character. The court has not yet ruled on the suit.

Stay Connected
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.