Steamboat Pilot & Today

Hahn's Peak Village property owners are seeking to vacate a portion of Placer Street in the North Routt County community.

The Routt County Board of Planning Commissioners will take up the request at its meeting at 6 p.m. today.

A similar request was denied in 1995.

The street, which borders the west boundary of the village, is developed only in certain areas where driveways access properties. It was platted along with the rest of Hahn's Peak Village in 1896.

The request to vacate 50 feet of the 80-foot-wide right of way along two undeveloped lots to the east comes from Gail Garneau and Donald and Barbara Clem, the lot owners.

Land usually is vacated when county roads are realigned or because there's no other use for the land, Routt County Planner Jim Goossens said.

In this case, vacating the 50-foot-wide area could provide more space to the lot owners. In a narrative supplied to the planning department, the lot owners said the extra space would not be used to make additional lots but instead would make installation of wells and septic systems more feasible.

In Hahn's Peak Village, there is no community water and sewer system, so individual homeowners have to install their own wells and septic tanks.

One argument against vacating land is that the strip could be used in the future to provide space for a community well and sewer system.

Routt County Environmental Health Director Michael Zopf said his department would not recommend that any part of the area be excluded from the installation of utilities.

"We want to reserve the right to utilize the existing right of way unencumbered by any improvements that could be placed there should this vacation occur," Zopf said.

A letter supporting the vacation from nearby property owners Charles Sauro and Carol Wahlgren states that the community sewer and water system project has "been in limbo for at least two years and is essentially holding those property owners who are trying to develop their unimproved lots 'hostage.'"

Other roads in Hahn's Peak Village have been vacated. For example, all alleys in the village were vacated in 1956. However, no roads running north to south, which Placer Street does, have been vacated, according to the planning report.

-- To reach Susan Bacon, call 871-4203

or e-mail sbacon@steamboatpilot.com