After Pleasant View Town Hall, Montezuma County Commissioners Promise Action on Blight

Montezuma County commissioners on Tuesday promised a closer look at trash, burning and visual blight on private property after a town hall in Pleasant View drew 34 residents and raised complaints about a range of local problems.

The meeting at the Pleasant View Fire Station centered on a proposed NCA on the Dolores River, county roads and widespread concern over blighted county properties. The county posted on Facebook, “The commissioners were very pleased with the strong turnout and sincerely appreciate the community’s input and engagement.” During the meeting the board also advanced a septic complaint to inspection.

County Attorney Stephen Tarnowski told commissioners that adopting a new blight ordinance would require public hearings and likely broader changes to the county’s comprehensive land-use plan, which dates to the mid-1990s. “My recommendation would be to do so either through an addendum to the comprehensive land-use plan or an amendment to really look at what’s the big-picture plan here for the county,” Tarnowski said, stressing that any change should follow a transparent public process.

Tarnowski also flagged a practical obstacle: limited staff capacity in the planning department. “Practically, a difficulty for the county is that we don’t have a dedicated staff person who is working on these issues,” he said. “When they come to the county’s attention, they end up in the lap of the planning department or also myself, and we both have a broad set of responsibilities.” The planning office currently has two employees whose primary duties cover permits, rezoning and development review rather than code enforcement.

Commissioner Jim Candelaria said the town hall put a spotlight on specific problem properties and pushed the administration to act more decisively. He urged prioritizing the most severe violations. “There are violations right now with the land-use code and we know that and we are trying to resolve the worst of the worst before they get any worse,” he said. “So we will move that forward and keep working on it.” Candelaria also warned against delay: “Again from what we heard last night, I don’t want to kick this can down the road. This can’s been kicked down the road long enough, and I am not willing to just go another month.”

Public information officer Vicki Shaffer said most complaints involve household trash, abandoned cars and tires, and that “the issue is spread across the county and is not limited to rural or residential areas.”

The commission held a public hearing on an alleged unpermitted on-site wastewater treatment system at a rural parcel about 20 miles outside town limits that includes renters, a single-wide camper and several RVs. Environmental Health Specialist Linda Hill said she found no septic permit on file. “When I get a complaint like that I go into my database, put in the address and look for a septic system. If I don’t find it, we have an old database that I also confirm there. So again, I confirmed, I did not have a septic system on file with this parcel,” Hill said.

The property owner told commissioners he installed a system more than six years ago without realizing permit and state regulation requirements. “I didn’t know about all these rules,” the property owner said. “I did not even know what I was required, I just learned the hard way that I wasn’t supposed to be doing it.” Hill agreed to inspect the site this week and will report findings to commissioners at the 9:30 a.m. hearing next Tuesday, when possible enforcement actions could include a cease-and-desist order or fines.

For residents, the immediate impact is twofold: a county administration signaling movement toward firmer enforcement and a reminder that community complaints can prompt inspections and hearings. With the comprehensive land-use plan under review and staffing constraints a limiting factor, Montezuma County faces a choice between resourcing enforcement or relying on public processes and voluntary compliance as it updates policy to address blight.