Richard Holland, the managing partner in ResortVentures LLC, has a vision for the 731-acre Aspen Valley Ranch in Woody Creek.
He plans to build and sell 14 luxury homes and create "an authentic western working ranch that combines with the beauty of the Aspen valley and the sophistication of the Aspen lifestyle," according to sales material on the Internet.
And since buying the property about a year ago, Holland and ResortVentures have decided they would like to move a few things around on Aspen Valley Ranch, which is easily visible across the river from Highway 82 when traveling downvalley - it is the last meadow on the right before SnowmassCanyon.
The new owners want to take a seasonal stream channel below the confluence of Red Canyon Creek and Dry Woody Creek, that also doubles as an irrigation ditch, and turn it into a meandering stream with ponds.
They've proposed a curving new driveway that runs along the new stream and leads directly to "ranch headquarters."
Then ResortVentures would like to build a new road up a hillside to access four homesites it also owns in the adjoining Aspen Valley Downs luxury subdivision.
They want to build other new ponds, gain the right to build a new ranch house in return for designating two structures as historic, and build two guest cabins near the center of the old ranch.
And they want permission to move 76,335 cubic yards of dirt, enough to fill 7,633 dump trucks, in part to create landscaped berms around some of the homesites situated in the meadow.
Last year, the developers built a new section of road through the existing ranch center and were cited, or "red-tagged," for building the road without county permission.
Tomorrow, in a meeting with the Pitkin County commissioners, ResortVentures will retroactively seek approval for that section of road as well approvals for their other proposals.
The Pitkin County planning staff is recommending against approving the new driveway and the new road to the lots in Aspen Valley Downs.
Senior Planner Suzanne Wolff wrote in an April 25 memo that "the creation of a new road solely for aesthetic purposes is inconsistent with the preservation and protection of rural character and agricultural lands. While improvements are required to bring the existing roadup to County standards, these improvements will have a minimal impact on the landscape, while construction of a new road will have a substantial impact on undisturbed ... areas."
The county planning staff feels that the new road leadingup to the Aspen Valley Downs homesites "will also be quite visible fromHighway 82."
The staff is also frowning upon Resort Ventures LLC's proposal to add two 750-square-foot guest cabins mixed in with the other buildings in the "ranch headquarters" area.
"Staff feels ... that these cabins will function asseparate units of density, even if they do not include kitchens," wrote senior planner Suzanne Wolff in a May 14 memo to the commissioners.
In January, the Woody Creek Planning Commission voiced its concerns about the cabins, the new roads, the landscaping berms, the stream"restoration" plan, the trading of historical designation for more development rights and the potential for Aspen Valley Ranch to be turned into an elite dude ranch.
"Based on statements by the current owners tomembers of the planning commission, we are also deeply concerned that the intention of this development is to create resort-managed rental homes ... as its potential is to turn a single property into a resort," wrote RobertPew on behalf of the Woody Creek Caucus.
Attorney David Myler of Basalt, who is representing AspenValley Ranch, recently assured the county commissioners that the intent is only to create a common area and that no one expects the entire neighborhood ofhomes and ranch facilities to be rented out to a single party.
Still, there will be nothing preventing homeowners from renting out their luxury homes and giving their guests privileges to use the common ranch areas, which will be professionally managed.
ResortVentures LLC purchased the property from SGS-AVDLLC about a year ago. The ranch was previously owned by Mary Jane Garth and before that by Howard Vagneur. It was homesteaded by Benedict Bourg, who bought 164 acres from the federal government in 1894.
Vagneur, who used to own most of the ranch lands betweenAspen Valley Ranch and Woody Creek proper, warned in a hand-written letter to the county against messing with the stream on the property.
"Anytime you narrow up a water way, the water level rises," he wrote. "You can be assured that the new house being built at the present location will be flooded."
The first of 14 homes is now being framed in a wide meadow that was formed by tens of thousands of years of mud and debris flowing out of Red Canyon and Dry Woody Creek Canyon.
Red Canyon stands behind the old ranch and a pedestrian easement now allows public access through the property and to the steep trail in the canyon.
The entire ranch parcel is listed on the market for $88 million but the developers have also been preparing to build the 14 previously approved homes.
In all, there will be 88,750 square feet of new development on the nine lots in Aspen Valley Ranch and another 53,000 square feet on the four lots the developers own in the adjoining Aspen Valley Downs subdivision.
bgs@aspendailynews.com
