County hears plan for Owl Rock development

Some of the storm surrounding the Owl Rock Road development appears to have calmed, judging from the few comments received during a public hearing last week on an application for a subdivision there.

Last Tuesday, Oct. 13, the Blaine County Commissioners considered the first part of applications to create four residential lots and to build a small bridge spanning Clear Creek at the end of the road. Public comment was limited compared with protests lodged in hearings for the road itself in the early 1990s.

Owl Rock Road, which some think has scarred a very visible hillside, extends west of State Highway 75 into Clear Creek Canyon, just south of the new St. Luke’s Hospital site.

The county and local neighbors had gone to court to stop the development, but the controversy was settled last summer with an agreement that allowed the four building sites described in the application.

The four lots measure roughly 16, 6, 22 and 51 acres. The first two will go to developer Heidi Baldwin, who has said she plans to sell one. The state will receive the others. Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa has said money from their sale will go to the School Endowment Fund.

Project engineer Dick Fosbury said pedestrian and non-motorized traffic will be allowed, and there will be signs to warn travelers of avalanche hazard.

The bridge over Clear Creek will be three-sided and will not interfere with its flows.