P&z - Regular Meeting

You want to guess? Let's call to order uh town of Basalt Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 at 68 17.

All right. Uh Bill Marin. Yo. Kyle Overberetter, Eric Boszek, Rob Levit, yes. Cindy Hersshfield, Mike Horvath, Bob Kaplan, yes. And Ben Firestein, yes. Great. Thank you. You have a quorum. Thank you very much. Um, let's recording in progress. Let's proceed. Item 2A. Um, parcel nine, so Meadows. And is that James?

Yes. Uh, thank you. Let me please share my screen. There we go. Uh, this item is a public hearing to consider an application on parcel 9, Sus Meadows. Uh, it's the preliminary plan application. Um, we have, uh, the design team here with us this evening. We've got Sarah Thai from Connect One and we've got Scott McCale uh from Zcript Architects. And uh this as I noted is the preliminary plan application and it's the preliminary plan phase of the review. Uh it's a PUD process and requires three rounds of review by the Basalt Affordable Community Housing Commission, Bach, uh the PNZ, and Town Council, uh which are the sketch, the preliminary, and the final plan reviews. Uh the preliminary plan is the second out of the three rounds of review. Uh as background uh the property subject to the application is just south of the Willlets uh rugby field and you see it on your screen here. It's on the front page of your staff memo. Uh the property is 46 acres and it's within the town's urban growth boundary. Uh the PNZ reviewed the plans at the sketch plan level and supported uh the plan. Uh it is noted that it was originally proposed as a 14-unit project uh but the council directed stepping up the number of units by two to 16 units uh to get the most benefit out of the project uh given the housing status in the valley at the

current time. Um as a refresher in the application the building contains three levels. Uh it includes uh a surface parking area on the first floor and several units. Uh and then it's got two levels of residential units above it for a total of three stories. Uh they include exterior storage uh individual decks on the units uh as well as uh bike storage uh that is exterior to the building on the north side of the building as you can see there. Uh in reviewing the project uh the design team and their comments can go over adjustments that have been made from the sketch plan level. Um, but staff has identified a series of discussion items that are in your packet materials. Uh, they include consistency with the master plan, uh, compatibility with the neighborhood, uh, parking, consistency with community housing guidelines, uh, the minor subdivision traffic, and then green building and wildfire mitigation requirements. And so staff has analyzed those in your staff memo that you have in your packet. Uh the first being the consistency with the master plan. Uh staff has included a series of goals from the master plan in the memo uh related to providing affordable housing and affordable housing creation uh in the urban growth boundary and close to transit uh in walkable scenarios. and staff uh and the PNZ and council at the sketch plan level uh found this project to be consistent with those goals uh that we have in the master plan

and the project uh in staff's mind is still consistent with those objectives at the preliminary plan level. Uh other uh topics included consistency with the neighborhood. Uh at the sketch plan, there was considerable discussion about the consistency of the project uh with the surrounding area. From a size and scale perspective, uh there are three stories of residential which include uh parking on the first floor. Uh which is generally consistent with the remainder of the multifamily housing in the area. uh in that we've got the Lakeside condos and town homes which have a similar uh scale to them. Uh additionally, you've got Lake Modern and Park Modern and the Willlets town homes in the area, all of which have a similar three stories uh and building height to them. Um there was a lot of discussion at the sketch plan level about whether uh the building could be pushed further north towards the rugby field uh even though it does have a similar uh distance uh from the Lakeside town homes uh that the Lakeside Town Homes have internally uh from their various buildings. And so since sketch plan uh the design team had studied the ability to push the building north uh towards the rugby field and uh it was determined it's not feasible for a variety of reasons uh that are included in your packet. Uh they included the existence of utilities and easements on the north side of the building. Uh they included uh that there's a need to uh tap into the water quality and drainage improvements uh that exist on the north side of the building already. Uh and that there's also a need for the

firetruck turnaround to be on the north side of the building uh to service uh the north portion of the building as well as to come around and service the um the west side of the building adjacent to the lake. Um, and if we didn't have the staging for the firetruck, there's a likelihood that we would need a significant uh firetruck turnaround uh programmed into the project. Uh, the design team can speak more about this topic in their comments. Um, but it was determined that at sketch plan, the project design was generally consistent uh with the neighborhood typologies uh as well as the future land use map uh in the master plan. uh related to parking. Uh the design team has reduced the overall number of parking spaces from sketch plan uh by one parking spot. Um, but they were able to convert uh seven of the parking spaces that were designed as compact car parking spaces at the sketch plan level into full parking spaces uh to make them much more usable on the site. Um, and so there are still two parking spaces per unit, uh, plus an additional seven parking spaces, uh, for guest spaces, and staff believes that it satisfies the requirements for parking. Um, other topics included the traffic. Uh as was discussed at the sketch plan level, uh there were a good number of units that were actually identified in the prior traffic reports for Willlets for this site. And so uh the traffic study identified uh minimal traffic uh

increase uh from the prior studies. Uh and so C DOT has provided comments at both the sketch plan level and the preliminary plan level uh that have confirmed that an access permit is not required for the development. Uh other topics that are included in your staff memo include the green building sustainable building regulations as well as the wildfire uh mitigation requirements. Uh there are conditions uh in your packet materials uh that would require the uh design team in the town to meet the SPR requirements as well as the wildfire mitigation requirements that are in place at the time of permit issuance. Uh the wildfire mitigation requirements uh may shift a bit here in the near future. Uh the state has adopted a state wildfire code and so the towns and local municipalities and jurisdictions uh need to go through their code and make amendments to uh be consistent with those state wildfire regulations. So you'll see code amendments on that uh here in the near future. Uh but once again there's a condition requiring uh that the project be consistent with those requirements at the time of permit. Uh other topics included the consistency with the uh affordable housing livability requirements uh that are in the community housing guidelines. Uh the Basalt Affordable Community Housing Commission Bach reviewed the project at preliminary plan and determined it to be consistent with those livability requirements and that's reiterated in the conditions of approval. Um and then maybe one other topic of note uh related to the parking

uh at the sketch plan level. It was noted that some of the parking spaces for the park uh will actually become part of the uh project uh given that we're doing the lot line adjustment. And uh so at the sketch plan level, the town manager noted that uh the town would be uh budgeting for the potential to widen uh this portion of East Valley Road to accommodate additional off on street parking in the area as well as to legalize uh the current on street parking uh that's around the rugby field to better accommodate the uses in the park. Um, so that being the case, the Basalt Affordable Community Housing Commission recommended approval of the preliminary plan application. And so this evening, staff would recommend hearing comments from the design team. Uh, and then uh taking public comments and providing P&Z discussion. Uh, ultimately, if you're comfortable with the conditions, uh, you could make a motion on the project. Uh, so with that, I will stop sharing my screen and turn it over to Sarah Thai and Scott McCale for any additional comments they have.

Wait for it. There we go. All right. Thank you for having us this evening. Um James went over most of the pertinent things, but we'll get into a little bit more detail of the design. So at the sketch plan level, obviously we're we were fairly high level and we've gotten um much more focused and detailed uh for preliminary plan. This is um just an overall rendering of the site. This is a little bit of a rotated north as you can see. So East Valley is right here. Um, but I'm going to jump into the slightly less exciting CAD version of that plan to show you some of the some of the specifics um of the design as it is shaping up. So to start with, as James mentioned, the the building has not undergone any changes. So the building is the same as as it was in sketch plan with the addition of those two units. So a 16-unit building. the configuration of the building hasn't changed and and the location of the building generally speaking hasn't changed. Um and we'll go over that more at the very end as to why. But um but overall the building and its location is the same as it was before. So in this plan we're showing the footprint of the structure. Um and you can see our parking below and then these are our two first floor uh units here. So from the site perspective, overall our parking configuration has not changed. So we still have um access in here, access in here, and a driveth through aisle here. Um as James mentioned, we do have one fewer parking space, but we have much fewer compact spaces. And our compact spaces that we do have are compact only in width. So they're not compact um in length.

We have um refined this parking area over here to make sure that our proposed fire access meets the requirements from the fire department as well as having appropriate access for the um servicing of the dumpsters which are right here. So also on this north side of the building we have a couple of new additions to the design. We have a we cycle station the location of which was coordinated with we we cycle. So this is the the requested location of the we cycle station from the we cycle team. We have our mailboxes here. We have our covered um blockable bike parking here. This is um trash recycling and compost. And then this is just traditional uncovered bike parking for residents. Here we have access to the building um from the exterior for pedestrians both here um as well as here and then you know here to the staircore. So if you're a vehicle accessing the structure, you come in here, but then we have good porocity for people to get into and out of the lower parking area um at these three locations and then access to all of these um more utility areas from this door adjacent to the staircore or from that opening adjacent to the staircore. Moving to the south side of the structure, we have a uh an amenity space which has uh a seating area here, an outdoor grilling area here, and then a path connector that takes you down to the existing multi-use trail that goes

around the lake. So this is the primary outdoor gathering space um for residents but then also on the north side the residents obviously have direct access to then the rugby field and all this lawn via this egress here. So there's a lot of really great access to directly adjacent open space for all the residents. I won't go through all of the aspects of the lighting plan etc etc. One of the things that was discussed at a previous meeting during sketch plan is creating a little bit more of a threshold here between the parking lot for the rugby parking and the parking lot that will be dedicated to this structure. So we have um some horizontal markings and then we have some signage here um but we we stopped shy of creating you know physical physical barrier. So we do have indicators that you you know pass this or crossing into um parking that is dedicated to this structure. Let's see from a from a planting perspective the this planting plan does comply with the current wildfire mitigation code. Um so we have a buffer of no vegetation uh directly adjacent to the structure. We've kept our grill, our trees, etc. uh um appropriately away from the structure as is required by fire code. And we have put some effort into creating a a pretty heavily vegetated border uh along this area to to try and mitigate any negative impacts that these people might perceive. Uh so we wanted to make sure they had something green to look at. And then similarly, we held a little bit of space between our parking area and this property boundary so that we could have additional vegetation.

On the north side, we worked to preserve as many of these trees that exist as possible. We are going to lose a couple of them associated with the installation of the mailboxes and the um trash, but we've worked to preserve as many of the mature trees um as possible. And then from storm water perspective, because I know that's something that we had talked a little bit about during sketch plan, um this is the just the basics, the very basics of the storm water mitigation. So we're doing water quality mitigation on site in two general locations here as well as here. And then once we do water quality on site uh the storm water will be conveyed to existing uh adjacent storm water infrastructure. So we're doing water quality on site. And next I will tip it over to Scott.

Okay. Thanks Sarah. Um I'll be brief because as we said we didn't really redesign the building or make many changes. We just made some finessing moves on it. Um on the floor plans, they remain the same. Um we can see the unit plan, the dollhouse view, um that we presented to Boach. So we meet all the requirements. Um this will be a two-bedroom unit with two full baths. Um meets all the livability standards, um decks, kitchen minimums, um bedroom sizes. Uh so we feel pretty good about the units in general for livability. Uh as well on each level we have private storage of the 40 square feet. So that will meet it and go to first floor. Um first floor plan. Yeah, we have the parking garage that we discussed. We have two exit stairwells plus we have an elevator. So we have ADA access to all three levels. Um we have ADA parking as close to the elevator as possible. uh the two level the two units downstairs will have a nice little privacy screen uh along with their storage unit as part of the entrance um to those units and then those will have decks um with guardrails on the backside just for privacy. They are elevated a little bit off the ground to give it a little bit more of that feeling of privacy so nobody can just kind of jump over. Um going to the next level, level two and three get repeated. Um we have seven units on each of these levels. Um two towards the lake and then four across the middle and then one on facing uh valley road. We can see the storage unit configuration our stairs corridors. Um next level is third level again. Same level repeated. Then we'll jump to the elevations. Um working on materials and finessing those. So, we'll keep

dialing those in as we get through the different phases. Um, currently right now, we're looking at as far as materials, um, a horizontal lap siding, which would be um, hopefully a cement board product, um, that has a wood tone stain to it, or depending on wildfire standards, we're also always researching the new wood products that are out there. There's a lot of firetreated stained wood products that are thermally modified um that come with a pretty hefty warranty as well, maintenance-free. So, those products we're always um trying to promote as much as we can to keep the natural uh feeling that we like in the mountains. Uh other little pieces would be hardy board panels um which could be painted or stained. Uh we're kind of keep it in the earth tones. Uh so it' be in the browns, the tans, and the grays, warm gray colors. Uh the other pieces are wood slatted pieces for openness in the paracity of the parking area. So those again will be non-combustible material. Um might be metal. Um we're still researching other products that are that keep evolving out of there. Um so we'll keep that going. We have adjusted some of the screen openings at the bottom. And we'll see those better in the 3D views. Um, again, just for safety, light, and then visual aesthetics, breaking down the mass and scale of the buildings. Um, James went through. We can just we'll just go to the renderings. Keep going, Sarah.

So much better in renderings. All right. Do we

sections haven't changed? Um, floor to floors haven't changed. We can see the comparison of the units next door. Um, when we look at the 3D views, we've made some little finessing moves on balconies and screening elements. Um, again, just some alignments and making things kind of more real as we dial in the specifics of it and and what the materials can do. Uh, the other views, the courtyard view, that one shows the the bike and the trash enclosure. Um, so again, there's lots of paracity, but we want to keep it keep the animals out. So, it's fully bearproof and animal proof. Um, we can see the mailboxes on the side. So, they have enough mailboxes and parcel boxes that the postmaster requires. Um, so that was a pretty big kind of sit down meeting and making sure that we meet all their requirements and how they get access and it'll be signed um so that they have during the daytime they have their access at that parking spot. Let's see other touches. Um, again, just we can see how some of the landscape fits u fits around the building. Um, and it's probably not as dense as the new landscape drawing show. So, we wanted to show some of the building, so we pulled out some of the landscape that would be around it. Um, but again, we're trying to create that green space um between the town homes because we know that is a it is a sensitive subject. Um, but we feel that with the design of the buildings and with the landscaping, we've we've done our best to have this building cited and be part of the community um that we're used to seeing over there. I'll turn that back over to Sarah for the last diagram.

So, lastly, we just wanted to address a little bit the movement of the building north. You know, that's an important topic of conversation that we we put some time and effort into considering how we could move this a little bit further away. And it came to light that we there's a fair number of restraints, constraints. Um, but probably most importantly is the relationship of existing utilities and utility easements to the location of the structure. So this line here represents um existing utility easements. And you can see that we are we are very close to that existing easement. And then within those existing easements um you can see that they they did actually put utilities right in that easement and they are very close um as well. And so scooting this building to the north would require both an adjustment of the easement itself as well as um relocating the existing utilities which is is very cost prohibitive and and in trying to make this an affordable project to construct um it was determined that that might be a little too cost prohibitive. Then um the other elements that James kind of briefly touched on were related to some of the fire access and how the location of the required fire access and the size of the fire access impacts where we put certain of the more utilitarian uh functions of the of the project. So right now for example we have all of the dumpster access, mail access, etc. here on the north side. Um so that when the trash truck comes in the morning and moves the dumpsters around, it's away from the back bedrooms um from the bedrooms of the Lakeside Town Home

parcels. If we shift the building to the north, this firestaging area also has to shift and then access to a lot of these things would end up having to move kind of to the south of the building. Um, and we would in addition have to probably put a a firetruck turnaround hammerhead somewhere down here, which would result in in a lot of paving down on the south side of the building. So, it would reduce this amenity space down here and make it a whole lot of paving, firet truck turnaround, trash truck access, which is not great for the residents of this building and we thought probably even less great for the residents of of the Lakeside Town Homes down to the south. So, um, those are the primary reasons that we ended up not shifting the building very far north, but we wanted to go over those because I know that those are important to our neighbors. Any questions?

All righty, let's uh let's start commissioner questions. Um, Bob, do you want to start? Sure. I have a few questions. Thank you for that detailed um review of what's going on. Um when you when you were instructed to move from 14 to 16 units was um how did you accomplish that? By reducing the unit size or by adding the two downstairs units?

Um by actually adding two upstairs units. So I'm going to show you um this axon view here. Here okay so in the previous massing of this building we had a step down in the structure right here. This is the portion of our structure that is closest to our our Lakeside Town Home neighbors. And so we actually created a step down in massing um so that we didn't have these two units right here. Uh so the building at the point that it was closest to Lakeside Town Homes was only two stories tall. Um in conversations with council they said you need to put those two units back on. So we did

box and box. Sorry. Um and so we actually did it um by adding these two units back on and not having the step down and massing. Okay, that Thank you. Uh speaking of the Lakeside neighbors, how close to the lot line is the building in its closest point? The lot line with those neighbors, how close to the lot line it is closest point and also where the building and the um driveway kind of are.

Yep. So the closest point that we are from the lot line to the corner of building is right here. So there's corner of building right here and this is lot line right here. And I can pull a dimension on that because I don't have it off the top of my head. Um the lakeside town homes themselves, the town homes in this area are a little bit further back from their lot line. You can actually kind of see them in this rendering here. Let me

me um so this kind of gives you an indicator of about where they are in relationship to the lot line. So this is the corner of our structure that I was mentioning is the closest. This is our property line and then this is kind of the closest Lakeside town home neighbor. and and it's this distance um that James was referencing is approximately the same distance between Lakeside Town Homes themselves. So if you look at for example and I can pull it up, but if you look at an aerial view of Lakeside Town Home Drive, Lakeside Town Home across the drive is uh this same distance give or take eightish feet. Um, so we we are about the same distance from the Lakeside Town homes as they are from themselves, if that makes sense.

That makes sense. And that's the closest point. But I guess that's the closest point. And then we we veer away as you can kind of see. Um, so then our building, you know, their their building kind of parallels the property boundary, but then our building kind of veers away from the property boundary. So we get pretty far away pretty quick. Um but right here in this corner um you know we're closer. So those few units will be the most impacted. Correct. Yeah. Yep.

Um and this is perhaps a question for the town is what is the reality of adding parking on valley? Um I live in Willlets. I drive across valley particularly in the afternoons when there's uh practices for sports teams and stuff and it is crowded. It's narrow. Um and I think there's a need there and this is only going to make the need more.

The the current parking that's adjacent to the rugby field that's on street parking is not really legal on street parking. Um several years back the fire district uh basically said that they didn't really want that to be parking anymore um given the widths of of drive aisles that it left. Um and and so there is room to push out actually on the other side adjacent to the highway

uh to create more width and and distance for additional parking and legalize that parking that's not official parking currently on street adjacent to the park. Um certainly that that will take some some funds to do that. Um but as was noted at the sketch plan level, town manager indicated we would be looking to budget to do that. So it's fairly high on the urgency level scale. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, if everything went um in a perfect scenario here, this this project's not going to break ground um until late 2027 at the earliest. Um and so that leaves a significant amount of time to get something designed over there to do roadway improvements as well. That's all I have. Thank you, Rob. Okay. Um do you have any questions?

Yeah. Um, first question, we are keeping the existing geometry of the landscape island at the gateway connection that you created. I think that's that's appropriate to create that boundary. Is there any additional parking that can be found there and still continue to create that landscaping buffer or are you just not touching it because it's off your property? a couple of reasons, right? We're not touching it because the less we touch, the less we have to rebuild. Um, and so, you know, trying to save a little bit of cost there

and also because we with the existing parking that we have created are above the parking requirements um for this project and we didn't want to continue to eat, you know, further north. we just kind of left this left this alone. You know, it could be that we could ek out maybe another space right here. Get one more space and we can certainly look at that. Your monument sign is just in a place where that could potentially be a space if the town is caring of maximizing potential parking opportunities. Um just a just a thought there.

Yep. Um, we spent a a good deal of time talking about drainage and the drainage concerns in this park in this lot. Um, and I do see that we are draining to the pond. Um, as as our means for after water quality, the ultimate discharge is the pond. That was not the discussion. It was explicitly said that we were not going to be draining to the pond during sketch plan. U I'm curious what calculus changed as a to make that alteration and what assumptions because it only says assumptions in the drains report.

Yes. And you're definitely asking civil engineering questions and our civil engineer uh is not here. Neither is Katherine. Uh so I will do my best to answer the ser answer the civil engineering questions. Um, so I know there was a conver conversation between Jay and Katherine related to full detention on site um versus doing water quality and retention on site and releasing at you know historic levels and the direction from the town engineering department was to move towards this solution. Since I am not the civil engineer, I cannot tell you much more than that. Um, but if it's additional information that you would require, we can have Jay.

It's it's more of a question for town. Um, as as they are the ones who have to permit your ability to do that. Um, and the discussion was counter to what we did at sketch plan level. And while I don't disagree that what is being discharged is considerably negligible, um we have reduced that pond by about an acre in size from the lake modern properties. Those are just getting constructed right now. I don't believe anyone has certified this pond and I am just speaking as we continue to use this as our solution.

Yeah, I I appreciate that. um and also not being an engineer, but uh I will I will dare to add in the tidbit that um there is a significant drywall on the property now designed and that's been a um very large indicator of another reason why we're not moving the building further north.

Yep. Um and I think there's some level of calculation going on there about the um filtration through that um dry well to the discharge pipe to the pond that makes it negligible enough that that is an acceptable alternative. It certainly will continue to be reviewed as we go through final and um we'll have those details as we go forward from I I don't disagree. I'm more concerned about other properties affecting this pond.

Um, and if we're not holistically thinking about the ecosystem of this area, we're going to continue to searchcharge the the the overall park as that grass is already really soggy and, you know, what what detrimental downstream issues are we are we seeing. Um, it also looks like you have utilities that are outside of that easement that you're putting the building adjacent to. Is that you you made mention of that Sarah? Uh we do not have utilities that are outside. No, the the utilities that were running in that existing easement are outside of the easement.

There are there is I think one spot as you come south where the utilities come outside of this easement, but typically they actually did in a very novel fashion keep their utilities largely inside that ement. Um you you can see as you come south of here this so the utility easement goes straight down and the utilities themselves curve around this path. So there is kind of this area here where they hop outside the utility easement but then when they get back to here they they typically then stay in the ement

and those are not in conflict with your foundation or have you guys not yet? So we did look at we did look at that and in a preliminary look those are not currently in conflict with our foundation. As we get deeper into the engine the actual engineering of the foundation itself um you know things may change but yes we we did look in a preliminary way at our foundation in relationship to those utilities and right now we're feeling good. Fingers crossed for you. Yeah, fingers crossed. That's all my questions. And we are required to adjust the easement on those utilities. So, we've been working with Mid Valley Metro District on that. No more questions.

Okay. Good, good, good. I have a few questions. Um, first off, um, I don't believe you guys are required to have any typea units. Are there any proposed regardless of whether they're required or not? um haven't gotten into those details specifically, Bill, actually. Um as you well know, that's my standard request on every single project. So, um I just wanted to see know if you if you had given any thought to that. Um I'm digging into that next, honestly. Yeah. Okay. But we'll we'll accommodate um we'll work through that with Michelle and the town and and Boach and see what makes the most sense. Yeah. It's not super hard to do.

No, not at all. Uh, let's see. Um, my next question. Um, are there, and this is for Sarah, are there any improvements to the bike or ped pedestrian connectivity? I know there there's a bike path on the um on the west side, but that's not plowed. So, is there um is there any yearround connectivity proposed? I know the town's going to be redoing the street, so there's a possibility of that. So, we've got this we've got this multi-use path here, which is what our we cycle station is on. Yeah, that's not signed in any way.

It's just a sidewalk. It may be called a multi-use path. Yeah, it's it that is correct. It it is quite wide and and so I guess it is maybe just a very wide sidewalk. Uh we are putting a recycle station on it so for bikes now. Yeah, because if technically speaking um and Balt's finest can write you a ticket if you're over 12 and so I don't I generally don't use those.

Interesting. So So I guess in terms of bicycle connectivity, if this if this path is not technically a multi-use path, then the main accommodations that we are making for bicycle connectivity is providing a we cycle station. But then outside of that then they would be required to ride on East Valley. Um which is already too tight for parking in addition. Yep. So this really rests with the town to make an accommodation for that. Maybe when we widen East Valley, we can add a bike lane. Got it. Yeah. Because then we could get it connected to the one that's plowed between Emma and and Willlets.

Um let's see. any uh Oh, yeah. Um are all the HVAC compressors on the roof? Um yes, we're working on those still too, Bill. We'll either have compressors on the roof um or have PTAC BTAC units in the inside. Okay. So, it might be one or the other. It depends on the system that ends up being the best environmentally and economical because the thing is when you put them on the roof the allseason compressors get really big and scary looking. They look sort of like alien spaceships and yeah and and the neighbors really freak out when they see them. So

that's why we're with a lot of the units and if we you know end up kind of potentially going modular most of those are in the unit. Um so those would be they'll be vax or vax. Yeah, that would be on the exterior wall. We have a closet already left in there for them just for that reason. Okay. So, right now it's in the design to keep it within the unit. Yeah. Because PES get kind of cheesy, but they work. They they are, but they Yes, they have a kind of a motel vibe. Yes, exactly. It's a lovehate with me on those. Yeah. Yeah, they they do function. That's the thing. All right, that's one of my questions. Um, let's uh open this up for a public hearing at uh 6:59.

Sarah, could you please stop sharing your screen? Yes, I will stop sharing my screen. Don't know if there's anyone here who wants to make a statement. We have a woman. Oh, yeah. Come up and and give us a um tell us who you are. And uh my

name is Barbara Klein and I live on Lakeside Drive, not the court. and I just am coming in here. Um, and for me, I'm very I'm I'm not on the one the, you know, the court, which is the condos that are directly adjacent. But if I have a question about the AC units, if they're high and you added two units to the end and then you're putting the the compressors on top, wouldn't the noise and the whole, you know, I mean, you're taking their view, excuse me, their view away and then you're adding something that's not very sightly.

Yeah. Um I I think that's part of the the ongoing discussion and and uh since they have no idea where the

I don't know. And and the other question that I have or just statement I want to make is um I'm a bit concerned because we have that walkway. It's not all the way around but it's already starting. Um the other day there were five ebikes with teenagers that were racing. Okay. And um we have kids, we have dogs, we have cats, we have everything. And I don't I I when I walk in Park Modern, they have signs that say, you know, no ebikes. So, I'd like that to be a consideration that when you're in the res, we have enough bike paths that when we're in the residential neighborhoods that they're not racing down, you know, um the connected bike path.

Thank you very much. I think that's a that's a greater town issue and it is okay. But talk about that. talk about that because I know James has been very helpful about looking at the speeding that's going on on East Valley and he put a you know a detector or monitor there so he can report on that but it is it is definitely a problem that's speeding down East Valley. So just want that to be part of the discussion. All right. Thank you very much. Absolutely. Anyone else in the public? I recognize most of the faces out there as being professional, so I doubt that there are. Um, anyone online?

Uh, if anybody is online and would like to make a comment, if you could please raise your hand.

I'm not seeing any. Okay. Um, do you want to give it a couple couple seconds or should we just end it here? All right. Um, let's uh end public hearing at 702 and let's go to commissioner comments.

Um, I think the things that been brought today are are valid and uh look forward to seeing what you all are putting together here coming forward. I have no issues with the variances that are being requested. Um, I think they are all appropriate, fits within the character of the neighborhood. Um, from town's perspective, I will reiterate what I said previously at sketch plan that at Lake Avenue, we need sidewalk and uh, access improvements to the raft station there at original. Um, that is substandard. And while we are doing a great job in putting in the bike um we cycle stations, we need further connection down East Valley Road to allow uh transit solutions to be appropriate in this area.

All right, thanks Rob. Do we have a name for this project besides So Meadows Parcel 9? It's just that's a gorgeous It rolls off the top or the Rugby Field Housing, you know, one or the other. It's it's we're we're calling it the pitch view 16. It's a combination of pitch, which is a rugby term, and obviously lake view. Like pitch might be confusing because there are 15 players on the rugby team, as you know. As you know, Michelle. Well, that's including the ref. Or the coach. The coach.

11th seven. What are we talking about here? No. Okay, good. Um, comments I mirror a lot of Ben's uh statements. I think it's in keeping with the community. It fits well there. And actually, it's kind of odd that there's still that vacant space now. So, I look forward to it moving forward and trying to pitch it into a small space as best we can. So, yeah.

Thank you. Thank you. I have some comments. Um, first off, I'd like to say um the design of this is is pretty decent and given especially all the tight constraints on this. This is a really really tight site with a really big program and I Scott, I gave you a hard time on the last project, the town center and on this one. I think you guys did a great job.

Thanks. So, I you know, I know how hard it is, especially with, you know, all the IECC stuff and and keeping it within a budget. You know, it's all 100% affordable housing. So, it's that that's tough. So, I think you guys did a great job with that. Um, my next comment is I I said this before, but I think we should investigate, this is a cost implication, but a higher STC rating on the on the highway side. Um I've done some affordable housing adjacent to the airport and um it's nasty. I mean it's really terrible and I live on the other side of the highway so I know. Um so you know things like but not limited to you know triple glazing uh laminated glass um sound rock any of those kind of things. Things that don't increase the wall thickness because I know you don't have much room

but um things that you can can do. But all of those things are not cheap and contractors hate it when you do it. So, um, but you know, it would increase the livability of those units quite a bit. Um, let's see here. Oh, and my usual comment about the type A units, I think, and this is an expense for the town, but I think it would it's always the right thing to do and none are required by code, but if we could do it, it's not a super big expense. It's just blocking and some, you know, special cabinetry to make them adaptable. What's the threshold for number of units to make it? It's 20. 20 unit. This is 16.

Yeah, this 16. So once you're over 20, then it's 2%. So anyway, that that's all my comments. Um, anyone have anything else to add? Do you think we could uh craft a motion here? Uh I motion I motion to uh vote and approve um the site plan as uh presented. Do we need to approve the variances or any of that? No. So we have a motion. I I have a second. A first and a second. Any further discussion? That's with staff comments. Correct. With conditions. With conditions. No further comments. All in favor?

I I Motion passes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you guys. Appreciate your time. Appreciate yours. Thanks to for the comments, too. Yeah. Do we need to take any time between issues here for bathroom breaks right now? Okay. Okay.

Just keep moving. Carlton, next item. Hot seat. She dropped it. That's serious. Oh, damn. Uh, yeah. Just add a add a chair here to pull a chair. Sit next to each other. Sit over there. Yeah. Where's I guess I guess no Heather. Yeah, Chris, you can sit over there if you'd like. No, Heather.

Just so you're on a mic or she You guys are not as good-looking, you know. No, no, no. Nor nearly as eloquent. I've heard you guys do pretty well. It's been a while since we've been here. Yeah. It's good to be back, though. I haven't worked with Chris in a couple decades. It's It's been a bit It's been a while. It's been a while. Since Sam's not the original or the revitalized one. Okay, just checking. I was a kid built that one.

Okay. I'll have I'll have you know and I'm not trying to butter up the commission, but I did just frame the original elevations that you and I worked on and put it up in my office a little while ago. It's on the things that should have been wall. That's true. Because Dave Corbin did get us fired. Michael. Yeah. Heard all about it.

We're ready. Well, good evening, uh, PNZ. I am here to, uh, present another, uh, draft letter for your consideration. Uh this evening we're considering e an Eagle County referral for a 1041 permit and variance from improvement standards application uh for a parcel located in unincorporated Eagle County generally northwest of Highway 82 and the Elabel Road intersection. Um, this county referral again was from Eagle County and the town of Basalt has been given an opportunity to provide referral comments uh for this development application. Kind of the process we're following on this one given the size uh the scope and the location of this application is we're coming before PNZ and then next week we'll also be returning to town council uh to get their input as well. And so, you know, town staff, PNZ, and town council will all provide uh comments and consideration uh both for Eagle County staff and for the applicant team as well. Um, a little background on the project. Uh, the subject property is slightly larger than 20 acres in size and as I mentioned is located generally northwest of the Highway 82 and Elabel Road intersection, uh, north of Highway 82 and south of JW Drive. Um, the applicant, Aspen 1 and Crawford Properties LLC, is proposing a what they're calling a workforce housing community consisting of 111 residential units, all four rent with 86 apartments, 24 town homes, and one designated property manager unit. The proposed development would include 14 dude restricted units to be price capped at 80 to 100% AMI per Eagle County housing guidelines. The remaining 96 units uh with the exclusion of the property

manager unit are intended to serve incomes ranging from 80 to 250% AMI. Uh although as I mentioned in the staff report, these are not proposed as deed restricted units. Um the proposed developments split into 21-bedroom units, 54 two-bedroom units, 13 three-bedroom units, and 24 fourbedroom units. Uh, additionally, an indoor community center and several open space areas are proposed throughout the property. Um, trail and pedestrian connectivity is also included as part of the site plan. And the proposed development uh will meet the minimum parking requirements for Eagle County with 310 parking spaces currently proposed via a mix of garage, surface, and tandem parking spaces. A draft of the referral letter uh has been included as part of uh your packet for this evening. Um and staff will provide referral comments to Eagle County from the town engineer and Balt police department at a future date. Um I will jump into that letter just to cover the comments briefly. Um, and this evening, in addition to uh questions and discussion uh with the applicant here this evening, we would ask that you uh discuss the the draft conditions and consider the draft referral letter that was included. Um the first comment relates to the density uh on the site. The applicant has applied for uh a density that meets the use by right uh per Eagle County's zoning uh and land use code. Uh however, the density proposed on the site falls below the town of Baltults uh density as identified by the master plan, which would be a recommended density of 6 to 11.9 dwelling units per acre. This would um

equate to 122 to 242 units for a parcel of this size. And so the town of Basalt would support a greater density um for this site in particular um due to the adjacency to highway 82 uh two raft lines both the local and the BRT line um significant community resources and commercial services in the vicinity. Uh the second comment we'll bring your attention to um per the 2008 IGA, I know this is nothing new to you guys, the town of Basalt would request that the county require 25% of the units in the development to meet our housing mitigation standards at uh 120% AMI or lower. Um currently as mentioned the uh 14 units would be um de-restricted and pricecapped. The recommendation would be for the applicant to price cap and deed restrict at least 28 units. Um the third comment uh the town of BALT would request that the applicant further clarify the deed restriction uh categories. Uh this is some somewhat more of a courtesy um and further uh adding detail to comment number two. Um given that 96 units are quoted as being workforce uh and community housing units, we would just request that uh further deed restriction be placed on those units. Um whether those be price capped or include an RO deed restriction. Uh, additionally, the town of Balt would encourage the applicant applicant to consider a mix of for sale units just given the needs in our mid valley um housing market. Uh, we would also recommend that short-term rentals be explicitly prohibited as a use, further

reinforcing the commitment to workforce housing at this site. Uh comment six relates to uh the upcoming uh limitation on permanently irrigated landscape landscape areas uh via state bill uh 24005 and house bill 25 uh 1113. Um these limit both uh artificial uh irrigated turf and um irrigated turf areas. Uh, and so we just added a comment there to uh acknowledge some large turf uh for use by um residents, but that the town staff would be supportive as well of um minimizing the amount of land dedicated to irrig irrigated turf grass potentially in service of some additional density. Um comment number seven, uh the town would also recommend that Eagle County consider requiring the applicant to provide a contribution to daycare in the Mid Valley. Um, this requirement and comment was added on the last application for an Eagle County referral that you guys saw. Um, and is just something that we've decided to add as a stock comment to Eagle County. Um, as these folks would be a part of the basalt community and uh would be likely consuming um childcare. Uh, I don't have anything else for staff at this time. If guess I hand it back over to PNZ

suggest the presentation from the applicant at this point. We got Philip Jeff and Chris Kylie here this evening.

Well well Phillips loading the presentation getting it ready. Um I'm Chris Kylie the senior vice president of planning and development for Aspen 1. um engaged in mountain planning activities up valley and affordable housing, workforce housing um and child care activities here in in the mid and lower valley um here with Philip Jeff, our director of housing development. We are here um in part because Heather Henry is not able to to join us tonight and I apologize that you'll be stuck with us. Um, however, we are both intimately familiar with this project and incredibly excited to bring forward what will be the largest workforce housing project that a private employer um, Aspen 1 has put forth in the valley. Um, we're pleased with the design um, sensitive to the context and look forward to talking with it talking with you tonight about it.

Super. Thanks, Chris. Philip Jeff again. Um, I look forward to sharing this with you. Um, it is exciting. Before I jump into the details, I do need to provide a little bit of context since this is so different than what we've done in the past. Um, I don't need to share with you the the details of the affordability crisis, but when I started working on housing for the skiing company eight years ago, I focused all my attention on seasonal beds or entry level, you know, housing. With COVID, all that changed. As we all know, the pockets of affordability disappeared and as a result, we had to pivot our attention at this at of our efforts. Um, you can see here obviously, you know, we're at a place now where even if you make 300% of AMI, um, you cannot afford the median home price in Garfield County. That changes everything. Um, and as a result, we've focused, we've changed our focus completely. We've looked at our employees are what they need, their their entire continuum of housing needs. And this project is dedicated to full-time year-round employees that are critical to our operations. And so that's the the real change. And so as you, as Colton mentioned perfectly, it is a 20 acres site. It is um perfectly located to meet this need. We have submitted a 1041. It was accepted back in August. Um, we wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't this site. Um, it's this is this is showing you the half mile radius. The site here's in the middle. You've got services just outside that you've got just outside that radius, shopping, restaurants, tons of bus stops. Um, the connectivity and the the

open space and the parks, the amenities are amazing. So, we are so so grateful that we've been given this opportunity. looking at what we've done here a little bit. The principles that have guided uh the design and I'll jump into the site plan in a minute, but the the underlying principles we're really to start with embracing the neighborhood um respecting the the neighbors. Uh we've created buffers with the existing blue blue lake neighborhood separation. We've enabled them to preserve their views. Um, we've also got this burm along the highway that we think will really enhance the livability of the units both for us and also those in Blue Lake. Um, it's it'll be, you know, undulating and vegetated. It'll be really nice. Also, a big focus on uh connectivity, not just for our residents, but also connecting our neighbors to the bus stop. So, this isn't gonna this will be a a connectivity that allows people to pass through. These paths will be open to the public. That's a really um you know, we focused more on the way you can bike and walk through this site than the the benefits of driving through it. Um so, that's been a key guiding principle. also water conservation, really limiting the areas that are um as you mentioned, as Cole mentioned, turf um and leaving the natural vegetation as much as possible. Here's the quick quick view of the site plan. Um you have on the north, as Carl mentioned, we do have the 111 units that are the units that we're allowed by our zoning. We have town town homes to the north that are adjacent and really look towards the street. Um, as we move away and move away from the neighborhood, uh, we increase the density with two-story

apartments. These are these two buildings here, if you can see my cursor. Um, and as we radiate and away from the neighborhood, the single family neighborhoods and closer to transit, we move to a three-story product. Um, you'll also see on the plan there's parking per code, uh, including garages, um, for lots of storage and things because this is where our employees are going to be, uh, with all their stuff. And so, there's lots of garage space. There was mention of a community building that is here in this corner right here along the place where we can kind of keep an eye on on the central areas. Place where our u residents can gather. We'll look at some some renderings of that and then a maintenance operation on the side here. Looking at what that looks like from a bird's eye view. This is from JW Drive. Uh town homes in the front. that radiating density as we get closer to uh the services and transit again from the from JW really um front front doors facing the road not backing up against um the neighborhood embracing the neighborhood. This is that uh greenway that we're like described as that. It's also that buffer that we're talking about with Blue Lake. You can see it's inviting people to walk through, bike through, get to transit. Um, trees and paths, bikable, walkable. There is this is if you were standing near that community center. Uh, we're we're contemplating parks for different age groups. We know we've got some great amenities nearby. So, working to complement what is in the area with uh age group appropriate parks that are missing.

Uh the quad area that is where those larger buildings are is a would be an amazing place to to hang out and play and that's depicted here. And then big picture the perspect the the goals here has always been um integration of the site with the neighborhoods the connectivity um giving the investing in the landscape as appropriate but also condensing the impact of this project. You can see it is it is condensed in the portion so that we're keeping our utility costs and our site development costs as low as possible but also providing really attractive spaces. Um the mobility and the accessibility. We obviously have you know we've looking at the bike paths. We we've been engaged with we cycle. We know that the this is an amazing place to to bike to and bike from. And then we will continue to pursue our our our torch of sustainability on these buildings. We are 100% electric. Um these will be no short of awesome. Um as we as is our standard for housing. So I will leave it as that. Um we are here to answer any questions you have, but we are thrilled to be here. And you know, I want to emphasize as a 100% workforce housing project. One of the real benefits of this is that it's not just for us, but there'll be partners, spouses, families. I mean, those will be they'll be the other side of the bed that could yield an enormous benefit to the community. Um, housing, teachers, and all sorts of u important people. So, we're here and look forward to answering any questions.

Only thing that I will add to the presentation, we've had a chance to read Carlton's draft memo. We take no exception to to the comments. We think they're all important discussion items for us to carry forward and continue on, you know, our discussions with Eagle County. Thank you, Ben. Do you have any questions or comments?

Um, do we have elevations of what the buildings look like? elevations. Yes, we do. Um, let me go back. You can see a little bit of of what they might look like here. Take me a minute to pull up the other ones, but u we are working with um Jav Dusa out of Boulder for the architecture. Uh we are looking to uh we've got a height limitation here. We are looking to make these modular also or modular ready. We'll see what they'll be built as. But you can see a little bit of what the the vibe is. We have not settled on on the on that yet. Um but it is uh it will be we'll have varied roof lines and and try to make it as attractive as possible.

Has a traffic study been worked on as a part of of this? it is in is in progress and it has been it has been submitted as part of this. So yes um traffic is part of the the equation here.

Totally. Um I I do feel that what is being provided here speaks outside of some of the normal traffic daily flows. I mean, you are truly creating housing for businesses throughout this valley that have no ability to park at those locations, right? The employees that are going to be living here cannot find parking at Highlands where they will be working. Cannot find parking in Aspen where they will be working. Cannot find parking at Buttermilk where they'll be working. Um, so I do feel that this speaks outside of limitations and I'm curious as to what your engineers are are looking at as a part of that review. Um, you put a bus line in there.

A bus stop will not be a part of this. No, sorry. That is a that is a direction of the bus stop bike way to the bus to the bus to the to the BRT. We have local up here on JW, but that is a there is no bus making that connection through our site to be clear. Right. This is

I was curious. I went and started looking at some of your other properties here and how far you are from a bus stop. I think this one is a little farther than some of your existing properties throughout the valley. Um, and you know, you're you're about a half a mile to to one and a little bit more than a third to the other on the Blue Lake side. Um, you know, as a part of your commitment to those multimmoal solutions. I I urge you to to consider that as a part of of the transit solutions in this valley, which is the direction we have to go if we're going to consider all these projects that we're biting off. Yeah,

to to echoes my point, Susan Echo Ben's point, um, lack of parking at Highlands is not preventing people from driving to Highlands. So, it's a true statement to be done there. Um, just a quick question of staff. Eagle County does not require contribution for daycare.

Eagle County does not have a daycare impact fee, or at least they haven't in the past. Um, in in the town, we've enacted a daycare fee on larger projects like Parcel 5 and and uh uh 525 Basalt Avenue and some of the others. Um, in the past, we've made comments to Eagle County about uh providing daycare subsidy or fee from from development applicants. Um they haven't required it, but we think it's important to continue putting it out. Sort of a no-brainer. Shock that they don't have it. Um this is 100% ski co-housing, correct?

Correct. Um and you guys prefer 100% rental, correct? Yeah. difficulties of financing, building, operating for sale units um especially in a complex as large as this are beyond what we're able to kind of contemplate and deliver. Um definitely recognize and desire to be able to find a for sale type opportunity as part of that matrix that Philip showed across all of our employee types, but in this case, we're looking at it as all long-term rentals. What's the time frame for this project?

It depends on entitlements and the planning process, which as we all know is a variable. We're eager to get going. There's no doubt about it. It's Eagle County. We won't see it again. Thanks. Questions?

Um, why the 111 units? Why not more? And why not more? Oh, to the point about the salt's recommended density. Um, we're very deliberately designing a um project that fits within the existing zoning um in order to help to actually get our product built and delivered. Um, so we've looked carefully at Eagle County's existing zoning. Um, we've designed it to meet that. As Philip pointed out, we've clustered all of our development um as close to transit as we can and also from a placemaking perspective and we think that the resulting mix is really good, really appropriate for the site.

So the fewer variances requested, the faster the timeline. And I would Yeah, I would just add that the town of Balt's recommended density is from the three mile planning area in our master plan. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah, I understand. Thank you.

Well, I have some uh uh questions and comments. Uh first, um I'll start off with I I I um commend you guys for what you're trying to do, which is huge, just huge. Um though, I do think that um and the buildings themselves are very appropriate given the scale and context for what you have. My only comment about the plan is that the the urban design of it is very very suburban and very car centric. And I think that you know you could look at I know it's a little late in the game to do this but look at some other models of building. you know, you wouldn't have to change the buildings to to do this, but to look at some, you know, um Dutch suburban housing models where they have um you know, central parks and drive around the perimeter and then, you know, bike and pedestrians down those central parks. So, and that becomes sort of a a common yard for everybody. Um and it could be done with those buildings in a very similar configuration to what you've got. Um, and it would mean less pavement um, and probably a greater sense of community, but I think you guys are probably too far along to really do that. Um, but um, because it does seem like, you know, like a Microsoft campus and it could it could possibly be much more than that with a little better urbanity in the design component of it. Um, it wouldn't mean changing the buildings hardly at all really. The buildings are fine. You know, the architecture is, you know, that's what you get in a that sort of density. And I, you know, I would like higher density, but I see where you guys are coming with that, you know, and

you just want to get it done, um, and get it built. Um, I see that there's some real problems with connectivity to transit, though. There is a bus line on JW Drive, but I don't know. I can't remember where the bus stops are. Oh, it's what? It's nearby. There's one about a block and a half east and a block and a half west. So, there Bill there, as as Michelle correctly pointed out, there's one here. Yeah. And there's one there. Yeah. Yeah. It's like 1,500 and 2500 feet.

Yeah. It'd be nice if you could get some like plowed way to get there in the wintertime because, you know, you'd be trudging through, you know, calf deep snow and um I run through there. There's no sidewalks there, no nothing. It's just like, you know, it's a county road. Yeah. So, um I really hope that there there is a multi-use path that runs on the south side of JW. This dotted red line bill is a multi, but it is I don't know the status of it in the winter.

Yeah, I've never even seen it even though I've been through there like every month or so. So, it's like something more has to be done to make it to integrate it into, you know, pedestrian bike world for the for the Mid Valley. like there's a way to connect it to you know willlets that would be really great and that there's that underpass so it can happen and it's not entirely your responsibility to do it but it might be your responsibility to think about it

and I encourage I encourage that though this has none of this has any bearing on on our referral letter which I think is I agree with it seems that most everyone here does but Um, there's a city in the Netherlands that just just built a whole new section. It's called Hton. And I encourage you to look at the some of the urban design of places like that to see what they're like because even if it doesn't work on this one, you're the only people around here who have the the the gravitas to do this again. And so you may not this may not be your only shot at it. So now is the time to really, you know, do the best you can and then think about the next time you do it. So does anyone want to make a motion about the the referral letter?

I' I'd like to make one little comment here because I I do think that it's important that we consider the ecosystem that we live in. Uh and and you're absolutely right like no one has the gravitas but you to to to influence this ecosystem. And just so I'm very clear in screaming from the rooftops as a canary in the coal mine who's looking at the projects that are coming up to our in our valley in the next 5 to seven years. We're talking about 250,000 yards of dirt getting pulled out of Aspen 1. We're talking about a million yards of dirt getting moved at the airport. We're talking about the lumber yard. We're talking about another potential project in Aspen from a hotel perspective. We're talking about heaven forbid the bridge gets worked on as well. That's that's five to seven years of of what this value looks like. And not that this project is inappropriate because it absolutely is appropriate, but it's also impact to our ecosystem. And how do we future in this impact to our ecosystem? and looking at that as a bubble um as we consider all the solutions that we have to have to think about. But that's real yardage of of of real work that's already been signed up um and has to happen. So just please remember that as we're looking in our bubbles and we're working in in the the minutia of the detail, but there's 50,000 feet that you guys have gravitas on and uh we have to consider those too. point point well taken and and um believe me we have talked about the opportunity to be a receiving site for some of that

I love that how do we man camp it I mean we're you're you're talking about a 100,000 truck trips over the next four three four years and that's just two projects that are that are that are known quantities um so please we appreciate Think about that. I think soundproofing on that apartment. We're just

gentlemen. Um, yeah. Motion to submit the letter as drafted. I second the motion. Does anybody else's skin prickles excuse me when they hear workforce housing? It's wasn't Wasn't Blue Lake workforce housing. Wasn't Willlet workforce housing. I know the fact that this is rental and it's ski controlled. Um I think that private development for for this is is the dream. Um but it it it did give me the willies just hearing it. It's not so village. Was that workforce housing too?

It was free market workforce housing at the time. I understand um why they want this to be rentals that I get that um I just had it circled on my notes. I wanted to throw it out there that when we hear that term, we should take note. Um that being said, did you make a motion? I did. He made a motion ahead and second it. Okay. Are you okay with it? Yes, I was going to second it if it needed to be done. Okay, good. So, we have we have a live motion. Any further discussion? Nope.

Your point is well taken. There's no guarantees that 20 years down the line, this is still going to be workforce housing, particularly the the town home units, but it's a private enterprise that is helping the valley in a big way. Well, I feel better about this than other developments that we hear about being workforce housing. I would say, oh, that's the comment. Yes.

No. Uh and and this one's been zoned for density. Um so there's there's no you guys are not changing the existing zoning. It's zoned for density. So Preston and Robert have had this one lined up and the mechanism to execute that. I guess the only comment I would have on that is that staff recognizes your concern as well with the term workforce housing for this where almost 100 units ser just for rent with no deed restriction or any kind of yeah insurance on that and so that gives our second comment there that we would encourage that right so that's all we can do

and again this is a referral to Eagle County as well

I can also add just a little bit context to that because we are absolutely committed to this being a permanent workforce housing project that um supports Aspen One employees as well as their families and and partners. The means by which we um confirm that commitment long term is something we want to retain as much flexibility as we can throughout this process because deed restrictions and different mechanisms impact our ability to work with partners to get financing to be creative in terms of how we actually execute on this investment. And so we have a lot of discussion ahead of us with Eagle County, with our potential partners, with the state, maybe other housing agency as we try to build a stack that will help us to go out and execute that. And so we will eventually get to a point because it's it's our commitment and we want to be able to convey that. How we do that is still very much a question for us as we move through the complexity of the development process. Ready to vote?

All right. All in favor? I. Referral letter is approved. Thanks, guys. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you for the time, Chris. I saw Peter King this morning. Did you really? You're ahead of me. What? You're ahead of me. I haven't seen Peter in only more only a couple times since I've been back. Yeah. Probably about as many times as I've bumped into you. Yeah. I need to get out on the hill more often. Go get your haircut at the Baltber shop. That's a good start. I I get mine. Oh, good one. Thank you, gentlemen. Thanks everyone. Thanks, Michelle. Yeah, my pleasure.

All righty. Um, let's see. We are at commissioner comments and staff updates. I think we got comments. We got updates. Chris, good to see you. Before we get to your comments here,

you know, Michelle, I have one comment that is something that I see is may come down the road. Um, and it has to do with parcel 9 and um the, you know, the development that's coming um between Taka and uh and Willlets area. um council asked uh the planners to add two more units, but adding those two more units makes it more of an impact on the neighbors. And I've had concerns since the, you know, the whole idea of the development of that area north of um um SAR Circle um that you um the city council is going to to try to cram as many units in there as possible. and where I think it's somewhat appropriate here on parcel nine because all around the lake you have town homes and and fairly dense three story two and three story buildings. I think that parcel needs to be a buffer between the the density of the apartments and the retail and commercial and the single family homes. And I fear that there's not going to be enough bus buffer created in the design or if there is council's going to push to cram as many in there. Um I see that coming.

Yeah, I totally appreciate your your concern there. Um where we are on the parcel 2e project is that we are still in community outreach. So, we're still studying the the project um we just went to town council with an update at a work session

um in early late September, early October for further direction um to consider whether we should continue to move forward with the concept of the community space on that project. Um because that community space really defines what the housing density can be on that site. Um so there was general agreement on pursuing um continuing down the path of considering the community space. Um but certainly we've been asked to study some alternatives to to the size and the density. We've really um out of in our public outreach I if we were to say we had five steps of outreach to do I would say we have just left step one. Step one was to say hey there's something coming here. Here's where we are. knowing that we're going to go through multiple more iterations of getting feedback on what's what's going to be palatable or not. So, um that that being said, um there's more outreach to come and more updates on where that is and and everyone will be reached out to directly. Um so, I hear you. Um it's a great segue actually into what council's um priority is right now. Their current priority is really focusing on the development of a public works and police department station on the umbrella and public works site over on original.

Um that project is in a similar very conceptual stage where there's not a lot of um information to share on that right now other than that there's a lot of interest in getting that done.

Yeah. So, that'll be coming out and how um these two projects get staggered um or not is is another topic that's out for discussion. But, um yeah, absolutely. Um we're we're really aware and we're really concerned with that and and um I guess that's a long way to saying that council's focus on the police station public works site um is is shifting to that specifically. So where there might have a year and a half ago felt like a lot of um emphasis on the 2E site, it's really on the PD and public works site, right? Okay.

Um not to say that that isn't we aren't continuing on with our contract there to keep going forward, but your concern is duly noted. Thank you. And that's specifically why I asked that question how it it went from 14 to 16. So council, you know, the architects originally designed a plan that had some sensitivity to the neighbors and trying to make it less dense in that tight corridor being close to them and um you understand what I'm saying.

Absolutely. Absolutely. It's a balancing game for sure. It's tough. It's tough. So, also one topic of conversation at the barber shop today was, have all of the downtown lawsuits been settled or are there still some that are ongoing as far as the redesign we did? Um, there's only one that's open. Okay. Yeah. And it's been stayed. So, so next time I get my haircut, I'll have something to report. Yeah. be in the know.

Chat's always good for some good conversation.

That's always a fun one for me. Anything else? Okay, I have some uh other fun updates for you. Um the safe routes to school project is the bridge behind 7-Eleven that connects to the elementary school intersection. I'm sure everyone that uses that has noticed that it's been demolished and um it's cleared. Um bids close tomorrow um for um constructing the improvements on that bridge surface. So, we're anticipating that um the surface will be hopefully um reconstructed this year and then the landscaping improvements will happen next spring. And then phase two of that safe routes to school project is from the intersection along Two Rivers Road towards the fire station. So there'll be some sidewalk improvements and connectivity, rapid flashing beacon, and a handful of other improvements um that will hopefully happen in late um start in late spring 2026. So that's really exciting. um on Willlets Lane. Um

can you is there any update on what else is going on on uh safe routes to school? Two Rivers Road. Oh yes. Yeah. The other projects happening on Two Rivers Road are not town projects, but I can tell you um the Picking County project um finishing the next improvements at the Whitewater Park will happen until the end of the year. They won't be finished this year. They'll have to finish um the seating and the path improvements near the Whitewater Park in the spring. Are they going to finish the road? Because batch plants are closing rapidly.

That's what they've told us. We're not in charge of that, but that's what we on the other end. That section of the road has been torn up. It is like it's like 5 feet, six feet down right now. So, they need to do a lot of work quickly and no one's working out there. That's Picking County project. It's Pig and County project. So, I I can't tell you what's going on. Was it slope stabilization? No, they're expanding the improvements to the um park that they built. It looked like stabilization by driving by. Why Why would you do that this late in the season? They're expanding seating in an ADA path to the river. Oh god. About that. Yeah.

No, no, that's gonna that's going to sit idle for seven months. Sorry. No, I I appreciate your comments. It's been a long conversation about the best time of year to do that project or not. So, the batch plants are closing that is happening. Um on Willlets Lane, what about the other side of Oh, the other side over here. So, um

CPW is stabilizing that dam. And so, you've seen the the rebuild of the um drainage and the gabian baskets there to direct the drainage. Um they are mostly done. We are requiring them to repave that section where their machinery has done damage to the road which again is based on uh available paving should be happening in the next two weeks and then that'll take a break and I believe they have to finish some improvements there next spring as well. But then we will have at least two of our entries to town. Uh construction less

construction will lane. Will it lane? Much easier. Just going to install some rapid flashing beacons by the Hooks Bridge and at the intersection of Lewis Lane and Willlets Lane this Friday and Saturday. You you probably won't even notice. So, I do really appreciate those multicolored crosswalks. Yeah, that very stylish. That's it. They're very stylish. There. I I think, you know, it's interesting. It's as planners know, just the addition of color is a thing that is traffic calming. So, it's a low hanging fruit for us.

It's very festive, too. Thank you. Um, Arbony Park in the parking lot. Um, some of you may know there's a drainage issue at the lowest corner closest to the playground. So, we're installing a drywall there um in the next several weeks. So, there'll be a little construction. It only block off three parking spaces over there, but that is the next step of improvements over there. So, that's exciting. I will let my children know they cannot play in that puddle anymore. Great. Thank you.

Yeah, sorry. I'm sure they can find another one. There are others in the area. Um moving on from parks um back to housing. Um it was a regionalwide effort to close on um the mobile home parks in Basaltt and Carbon Deal that was finally just accomplished thanks to a lot of work. Um and really I want to give a shout out to April Long who is the executive director of the West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition. um she learned a lot and had a lot to wrangle and a lot of um interaction with the park owners to understand the process and how it was going to go and the fundraising. Um so that was really huge. So we the town has purchased that.

No, all of the municipalities contributed funds to support the purchase of that to support the purchase of that. Okay. Will we be annexing that then as a part? No. Okay. they the the the land owners would have to apply for that. Okay. And it's unlikely, but the owners of those the individual tenants of those lots are now the land owner. No. Well, the the mobile home park will own it as an HOA. So, that'll stabilize their rents going forward versus having a private entity come in and purchase it and changing the rents. I I don't think the people who are currently tenants there are part of the corporation either. Correct. Um,

I don't believe they're owners moving forward. I thought they were, but I don't believe they're owners. But they have, I am told, correct me if I'm wrong, that their rents basically did not go up or went up nomally stabilized. They went up nomally and they will only go up the by the additional cost of services, water, sewer, trash. uh because they they uh financially engineered it to where they have a fund to take care of, you know, capital improvements that are coming down the line. So, it's a great place to live it for affordable housing moving forward. It's not going to go up 6% a year or something like that. It is not a profit oriented entity that owns it anymore,

right? It was a huge effort, amazing effort to get to Fascinating. Uh let's see. Do you want to do an update about the land use code?

Yeah, land use code updates. Uh we had an initial meeting of the kind of focus group of uh subcommittee and uh we have a couple PNZ members on that group. Uh Bill and Ben were part of that. Um it was just an introduction with design workshop uh to kind of go over the process and so we're starting to dig into uh the the various sections of the code and and so that focus group will be giving kind of feedback and then we'll be bringing code amendments to uh PNZ and and council as updates as we kind of go along. But we're just kind of kicking off that project and it's going to be um you know a good six to nine months worth of work.

Good. Good. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn. Second. We have first. We have a second. All in favor? Thought you might still come in on time. Even with early technical difficulties. Yeah. Let me just survive.