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Map courtesy Crystal Creek Ranch developers
Developers of the proposed 1,620-acre Crystal Creek Ranch development hope Blaine County officials will agree to a clustering plan placing all 11 of the development’s housing clusters on a 250-acre section in the northern half of the property. Placing the clusters closer together would allow for the protection of a contiguous natural area on the remainder of the ranch, developers say.
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The Blaine County Planning and Zoning Commission is trying to decide whether natural resources would be best protected by allowing closer spacing of homes than is usually permitted for a proposed south-county development.
On Thursday, Jan. 24, the commission considered a cluster-development application for Crystal Creek Ranch, an approximately 1,620-acre development proposed for the Bellevue Triangle.
Under the developers' plan, the acreage would be subdivided into 38 residential lots ranging in size from 3.01 acres to 5.16 acres. The lots would be spread out into 11 clusters.
Developers have asked the county to relax its standards so they can bunch all 11 of the clusters on 250 acres near the northern half of the property.
While county regulations generally require an 1,800-foot separation between clusters, developers can ask for as little as a 400-foot separation. Reduced separation may be granted to protect natural resources, if the topography of a property allows the clusters to be hidden from view from a nearby paved road or for other reasons.
Crystal Creek Ranch developers have said they wish to cluster the homes in the smaller area to allow the property's remaining 1,384 acres to be permanently protected as part of a contiguous conservation tract. Lands included in the protected area make up about 86 percent of the total acreage. Within this area are a heron rookery, a lengthy stretch of the Big Wood River and a bald eagle nesting site.
Crystal Creek Ranch, formerly known as the Diamond Dragon Ranch, is in the Bellevue Triangle northwest of Timmerman Junction.
Speaking to the P&Z, Blaine County Regional Planner Jeff Adams reminded commissioners that the cluster exception only says the distance between clusters shall not be less than 400 feet.
"You have discretion where you put that amount," Adams said.
While no decisions on the matter were made during the meeting, at least one commissioner seemed to harbor some level of support for the cluster spacing plan.
Constraints inherent in the 1,620-acre property wouldn't allow the Crystal Creek developers to use their allowable density if the county requires them to space the clusters at the 1,800-foot limit, Blaine County P&Z commissioner Chip Bailey said.
"I can see geometrically there is good reason these exceptions do exist," Bailey said.
The P&Z's next meeting on the Crystal Creek Ranch proposal is set for Thursday, Feb. 7, at 6:30 p.m.
