BOCC talks taxes on Snook land

The Pitkin County commissioners denied an effort by the county’s top planning official Wednesday to strip the “agricultural” classification from Gary Snook’s 55-acre property on the lower slopes of Mount Sopris. In the process, the board held another in a series of spirited discussions about the low taxes paid by owners of luxury gentlemen ranches in Pitkin County. The issue was before the commissioners because Cindy Houben, the county’s community development director, took the unusual step in April of appealing a decision by the county’s hearing officer, Jim True. True had ruled that adding a caretaker’s unit to Snook’s Hanging Valley Ranch property, where he raises hay and horses, was not enough to change the “character of the land.” If True had ruled otherwise, Snook’s property would have been taxed as residential, rather... [read full story]