Neighbors ask Chaffee County commissioners to revisit handling of Divided Sky subdivision appeal

Several neighbors from the Choctaw Cherokee Heights neighborhood told the Chaffee County Board of County Commissioners they believe the county planning process mishandled an appeal tied to the Divided Sky Estates subdivision application and asked the board to ensure their concerns get a full hearing.

Residents said they filed a formal appeal in March 2025 after document requests and a review indicated the applicant and planning staff had allowed deadline extensions not found in the land‑use code and that the Planning Department treated the appeal as untimely. "We were originally on the agenda of this meeting," said Mike Rossi, identifying himself as a resident, and adding that the Planning Department told them the appeal was not valid because it was filed outside the department’s stated timeframe. "We just wanna ask if you guys were aware of this situation and are you guys okay with that?" Rossi asked.

Board members told commenters the commission is the quasi‑judicial decision maker for appeals and that it was not appropriate for commissioners to discuss or rule on specific land‑use appeals during open comment. County staff noted the Divided Sky major‑subdivision final‑plat hearing is scheduled for May 13 (continued from April 8), which provides another formal opportunity for noticed parties to be heard.

Several residents described a multi‑year timeline: a sketch plan public hearing in September 2022 and a preliminary plan hearing in March 2025, with no intervening public hearings that they said would have allowed earlier appeals. Neighbors voiced concerns that the applicant, which some described as having limited prior development experience, could damage shared access roads and that the planning process had lacked transparency.

County staff and a commissioner advised neighbors to bring detailed procedural concerns to the Planning Department staff or to the formal hearing, since county commissioners must remain neutral in quasi‑judicial matters. The board did not take formal action at the meeting; staff confirmed the final‑plat hearing notice and encouraged affected neighbors to attend and present evidence at the scheduled hearing.

The matter remains before the Planning Department and the Board of County Commissioners as part of the land‑use review process; residents were told their remarks are part of the public record and will be considered at the hearing.