A place removed from it all. A place where there is time to catch up with the staff at your favorite coffee roaster. A place where the bartender pours your favorite drink when you enter the restaurant. A place where there is always parking in town. A place where the scenery is always stunning. The Wet Mountain Valley is that place.
This guide is designed to help both newcomers and existing residents of this wonderful region acquire the knowledge and connections necessary to ensure that their residency here remains as magical as the first time they laid eyes on the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Please make no mistake: there is a reason that the Wet Mountain Valley region stays, and will always be, a place removed from it all. The mountain environment creates a scenic wonder, but it also fosters physical remoteness from urban comforts and conveniences. The weather can range from paradise in the summer to brutal cold and windy winters. Power, communications, and roadways are interrupted by the occasional rockslide, flash flood, forest fire, or stray worker with a backhoe who severs the only fiber-optic line.
The challenges of the Wet Mountain Valley are also what give it allure to those who want a place removed from it all. The information in this guide will help overcome the natural roughness of the environment with knowledge and local resources gathered over the 40 years during which this Real Estate and Builder’s Guide has been published. Not only have the authors and editors of this publication lived many decades in this wonderful place, but most of the businesses listed here, with long-standing reputations for good work in the region, have also been strong partners of the Wet Mountain Tribune.
This introduction provides a walkthrough of the key considerations to keep in mind when buying real estate or upgrading a home in the Wet Mountain Valley Region.
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First and foremost, the businesses in this guide have taken the time and money to purchase advertisements in this publication. It is this level of seriousness that both newcomers and existing residents need to take into account when relocating to a new region or seeking services they have not previously required. The internet is great for basic research, but it is inadequate when it comes to conveying to customers how seriously a business takes its operations. The businesses that advertise in the pages of this publication are serious about what they do.
One thing that catches newcomers, and even those who have been here for a while, off-guard is the unique zoning laws, particularly those of Custer and, to a certain extent, western Fremont Counties, which comprise the region known as the Wet Mountain Valley. Custer County is one of the few counties, out of the 3,244 that make up the United States of America, that is known as a “land use” county. When land is purchased in Custer County outside of the town limits of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, the only rights the land owner has on their property are for residential and agricultural uses. The pages of the weekly edition of the Tribune each year always contain a few unhappy souls who bought land here and tried to start a certain type of business that went against residential and agricultural uses, and the owners found out they could not do what they wanted with their property after a struggle with the county government. Even within the towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, as well as western Fremont County, how land is used is often not up to the landowner. Be sure to consult with the real estate agents listed in this guide and the respective governments that control the area where the property is located for detailed information.
After land use rights come the buildings themselves. The weather in the Wet Mountain Valley ranges from alpine forest on the western side of the Valley, a place that can receive around 30 inches of water, mainly in the form of snow, to the arid Piñon and Ponderosa-covered hills to the north and east of Westcliffe that are a near foothill desert and receive an average of 15 inches of water per year. Every building site, from within the two town limits to the rural counties of Custer and Fremont, is unique and presents their own opportunities and challenges. Suppose you are looking to purchase land to build. In that case, it is highly recommended to work not only with real estate agents listed in this guide but also with builders, excavators, tree experts, and water drillers to fully understand the land and what can be built on it.When buying existing structures in Custer County, it is essential to remember that Custer does not have any building codes outside of the town limits (Silver Cliff and Westcliffe use International Building Code Standards). While this lack of building codes allows for considerable freedom when building, it also means that some structures have been built in odd and, on occasion, dangerous ways. Fremont County, by contrast, does have building codes, but even if a home is built to code does not mean that everything was done correctly. It is highly recommended to hire a building inspector or develop a relationship with one of the experienced builders listed in this guide if you plan on undertaking major renovations or additions.
It is the mountain environment that attracts people to this region, but once again, the Rocky Mountains live up to their name. Building roads, wells, and foundations into rock takes skill, experience, and excellent equipment. For those building or renovating a property outside of the town limits, the lay of the land will place restrictions on roads, building sites, power, and water options. This knowledge is only gained through decades of experience, and the businesses in this guide have the answers new or existing residents might have.
Lastly, a word on the most significant natural risk that exists in the Colorado Mountains: wildfire. The trees and landscape of the Wet Mountain Valley region have evolved to burn. Trees such as Aspens or Scrub Oak, both hardwoods, are the first species to thrive after a fire has torn through part of a mountain. Many of the pine and fir tree species require the shaded and moist soil conditions created by Aspens to initiate germination and grow, eventually pushing the Aspens out. Also, most conifers require bare mineral soil for successful germination. The litter layer is often consumed in fires, which exposes the underlying mineral soil that seeds need to take hold and grow. Many shrubs and grasses also benefit from the occasional fire as minerals and nutrients are released following the cooling of the flames. Native Americans knew that burning a mountain valley meant that the following year would bring deep and lush grasses that attracted elk, deer, and bison to hunt. In short, the mountain environment is one that not only burns, but it has evolved to burn and take advantage of the resulting nutrient release or exposed mineral soils.
Unlike the environment, humans and their homes have not evolved to deal with fire. Homes often represent not just shelter but are frequently the primary source of long-term wealth and investment in a person’s net worth. The problem is that real estate values have continued to rise at such a blistering rate, coupled with homes spread out in dry, fire-prone forest environments across the Western United States, that insurance companies cannot handle the losses when fires strike. Recently, home insurance companies have been dropping homes they deem to be in fire-prone areas, making it increasingly complex for the thousands of homes in the region to access affordable insurance. Worse, some homeowners are now finding it almost impossible to find insurance companies to insure in certain locations. Be sure to find out if a property can get insurance for fire before purchasing land or a home.
We hope that this guide allows locals and prospective residents to access quality businesses and information on living and building in this wonderful valley. For more weekly information and updates on all things local, be sure to subscribe to the Wet Mountain Tribune newspaper, which has been delivered to a mailbox near you since 1883.
– Jordan Hedberg
Publisher
