While Colorado\u2019s stay at home order makes it clear nonessential travel is forbidden, many people with properties in Grand County are trying to navigate the gray areas in some of the order\u2019s language.<\/p>\n
County officials have pointed to limited health care resources as the main reason to keep second homeowners away. With more than half the housing units in Grand belonging to second homeowners, according to a 2018 assessment, an increase in population could strain resources.<\/p>\n
While counties like Gunnison have passed aggressive policies banning nonresidents, including second homeowners, from traveling to the county, the Grand County Commissioners have only asked visitors to follow the governor\u2019s public health order and avoid unnecessary travel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not prevent owners from occupying their properties, but we are asking them to exercise smart judgment,\u201d the commissioners said in an open letter last week.<\/p>\n
For Michelle Wiesner, who lives in Denver and owns a condo near Granby Ranch, the order meant she should stay in Denver. She and her husband come up to Granby most weekends, but since the coronavirus pandemic, she said they have been staying home as directed.<\/p>\n
Their situation highlights the property owners in Grand who aren\u2019t full-time but still feel like a part of the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really do split our time and live there,\u201d Wiesner said. \u201cWe would otherwise be doing that, but I do believe that would be an irresponsible thing to do right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as the time between visits lengthens, her concern for her property has grown. She doesn\u2019t have anyone to monitor her property and wants to check on her condo to make sure there haven\u2019t been any leaks or break-ins.<\/p>\n
Schelly Olson, spokesperson for the Grand County COVID-19 team, outlined what responsible recreation looks in the time of coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe do need to, at least on a monthly basis, come check on this place,\u201d Wiesner said. \u201cThere are responsibilities when you own a place to make sure that things are okay from time to time.\u201d<\/p>\n
County officials might understand these responsibilities, but emphasize that the stay at home order makes it illegal to travel to or within the county unless it is for necessary activities, business or services. This means delaying any visits to second homes, including to check on them, said Schelly Olson of the county\u2019s COVID-19 response team.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease do not come here,\u201d Olson said. \u201cWait until this is over. The stay at home order means stay at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the response team\u2019s April 7 update, officials said local US Post Offices were concerned over an increase in applications for new boxes, most of which were seemingly coming from second home owners. Officials implored second homeowners to not use the mountains as a safe haven and to protect the community by staying away.<\/p>\n
Olson pointed out that Grand is not the only resort community wrangling with the governor\u2019s stay at home order, policies to promote public safety and the rights of second homeowners, and that it is an issue many places in the country are dealing with.<\/p>\n
\u201cFolks will say, \u2018That\u2019s my home,\u2019\u201d Olson said. \u201cBut you should stay at your primary residence, and don\u2019t travel between counties or states.\u201d<\/p>\n
While enforcement of the executive order has varied, law enforcement in Grand County has expressed a desire that community members willingly follow the order. In an open letter soon after the public health order went into place, representatives of the county\u2019s law enforcement agencies said they would not take a \u201cheavy-handed, zero tolerance\u201d approach to enforcing the order.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, our desire is to generate voluntary compliance with the law through education and collaboration first, and enforcement for only those who are endangering the lives of others through their unwillingness to comply,\u201d the law enforce agencies said.<\/p>\n
Since enforcement seems to be for only the worst offenses, county officials did give advice to second homeowners who choose to come to the county anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecond homeowners who do ultimately choose to stay in their second homes should limit their impact on local resources by limiting their interactions and bringing their own groceries and supplies,\u201d county officials added.<\/p>\n
Wiesner argued that simply checking on her property wouldn\u2019t harm the community and that she would act to limit any exposure to locals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have to go to the store. We don\u2019t have to interact with people,\u201d Wiesner said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like I can\u2019t go check on this place and put other people at risk \u2026 I can do that because there\u2019s really nobody there. I can maintain six feet and be able to do what I need to do there.\u201d<\/p>\n
It remains unclear how long the order may go on, but Wiesner said she would limit visits to check on her property as much as possible. While the county discourages it, she sees a small number of visits as necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a balance between being responsible and following the law to not put anyone at risk, but we also have a responsibility to make sure this place is okay in an extended absence,\u201d Wiesner added.<\/p>\n
While the county won\u2019t be blocking any roads, officials continue to discourage any non-essential travelers from coming into Grand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While Colorado\u2019s stay at home order makes it clear nonessential travel is forbidden, many people with properties in Grand County are trying to navigate the gray areas in some of the order\u2019s language. County officials have pointed to limited health care resources as the main reason to keep second homeowners away. With more than half […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-11 18:35:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIFT - The LIFT FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46018,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45992\/revisions\/46018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}