This is the column that appeared in the Oct. 30 issue of the Chaffee County Times.

How big a payoff do you want?

There are those who are willing to take a big risk if it means a big payoff and those who are more prudent with their resources, even if it means the payoff will be more modest.

I believe how local residents will vote on Ballot Question 2H regarding the annexation of the Meadows at Cottonwood largely depends on which of the two above categories they fit in most comfortably.

There is a lot to recommend the proposed development, including an assisted living center, community-supported agriculture, trails, an amphitheater, mixed-use neighborhoods and a traffic signal at Crossman and the highway. The risk-takers focus on these amenities.

They also worry that if the annexation is not approved, Buena Vista can forget ever again attracting the attention of other creative developers. They worry that if the annexation is not approved, the land will be sold to a developer who will stack houses one on top of another. That scenario, of course, is impossible, because developers cannot build to that density in unincorporated Chaffee County. County zoning restrictions were, no doubt, an incentive for the developer to seek annexation to our town in the first place.

The more prudent types, however, consider the effects on the Town of Buena Vista if the developer’s plans do not turn out as expected. In short, they focus on the water deal, which does leave the Town unprotected if the economy slows, stalls or falls, and the Meadows doesn’t develop as planned. These folks are aware that the minute the annexation is approved, the Town immediately becomes responsible for providing services to all future residents of the Meadows’ 277 acres, even if build out takes thirty years or more.

The newly annexed property would be due the same services as old-town lots that have been in existence for 129 years. The water service agreement with the Meadows’ developer states that water rights dedication fees and tap fees, which the Town is owed per its municipal code, are payable at the time of final plat for each phase rather than at the time of annexation. Therefore, it’s conceivable that the Town’s need for the cash in the water fund will precede the actual collection of those funds.

The prudent types worry about setting a precedent in which the Town is at risk for whether or not a development is successful. That burden is traditionally borne entirely by the developer and his investors, not by the town’s citizens.

Certainly, an argument could be made that even if the water service agreement were entirely favorable to the Town of Buena Vista, this annexation should have gone to a vote of the electorate anyway, as it will increase the geographic size of the town by 20 percent. The citizens should have a say regarding a change that significant.

So, what say you?

 How big a payoff do you want, and what are you willing to risk to get it?