Deed Restricted Housing Case Settled

In a potentially precedent-setting case, Breckenridge municipal court Judge Buck Allen accepted a plea agreement from the Indiana couple charged with violating town affordable housing covenants two days before the case was set to go to trial.

As required by the agreement, Kirk and Pam Alter pleaded "no contest" last week to the criminal charges and agreed to reimburse the town the profit they realized when they sold the property at 11 Rodeo Drive, in addition to $2,500 for town attorney fees.

The terms of the agreement stipulate the money must be paid within 30 days and that final judgment in the case will be deferred for one year, on the condition that neither incurs other criminal charges during that period.

Kirk Alter, a professor at Purdue University, and his wife Pam bought the deed-restricted single-family house in the Wellington Neighborhood in July 2004. The Alters paid $305,000 for the new two-story, three-bedroom, two-bath home. At the time, the couple signed an affidavit stating that one of them was employed within Summit County at least 30 hours a week.

During the 18 months the Alters owned the house, it appeared they only visited the neighborhood a few times, town prosecutor Seth Murphy said.

Breckenridge filed criminal charges against both Kirk and Pam last fall after unsuccessfully trying to contact the couple.

"Under the town code, it's a criminal violation," Murphy said. "Under the code they could have been assessed up to $100 a day (for every day they didn't live in the house)."

Because both Kirk or Pam were charged individually, fine amounts against them could have amounted to more than $100,000.

In response to the town action, the Alters hired an attorney and filed motions challenging the legality of the prosecution.

In January, with the case still pending, they sold the house to a local family for $379,000. After subtracting the cost of a two-car garage added while they owned the house and Realtor's fees, the Alters took home $13,021 in profit, which must now be returned to the town.