Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. It is June 9th, and we are going to start with a work session tonight for our department introductions with Public Works, Recreation, Planning, and our town clerk. If you'd like to access Basalt Town Council meetings, you can go to www.basalt.net under the Agendas and Minutes tab, click on the June 9th meeting packet. And on the meeting instructions page, click the link to join the webinar. So we'll get started with Justin and our Public Works Department.

Is it somewhere else? It was right before that slide.

Hi, sorry.

Oh, you're good.

Good evening, Council. Thank you for your time this evening. I'm Justin Foreman, Public Works Director. I'm fortunate to be presenting here tonight, but the real story is the frontline public works employees who make it happen every day, regardless of the conditions, challenges, or emergencies. As I thought about Public Works and what defines our team, I kept coming back to the town's values. This part of the packet didn't make it on the slide, but you see it all throughout the room here as well.

Communication, customer service, they are the foundation of how we operate.

As a small team, we rely heavily on one another. There's always someone on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ready to respond when the community needs us. Because of our size, staff regularly step outside their primary responsibilities to help one another out, solve problems, and ensure services continue uninterrupted. Teamwork isn't optional for us. It's how we operate. With that, I'd like to walk you through our public works team and what we do to maintain, build, and sustain the infrastructure that serves our community. So we'll start first with the streets department that is staffed by 3.5 employees. Their primary responsibility is keeping people moving safely throughout the community, whether they're driving, biking, walking, or using transit. The team is responsible for our roadways, snow removal operations, sweeping, pavement preservation programs, street lights, traffic signs, storm drainage, and municipal rights-of-way. They also provide burial, excavation, and grave closure services at the Fairview Cemetery. In addition, they review and issue street cut permits and mow the non-manicured municipal rights-of-way like you see along Willits Lane and Two Rivers Road. Beyond their core responsibilities, the Streets Department plays a critical role across all Public Works and town operations. Everyone in Public Works plows snow, and Streets is the quarterback of that operation. The streets team is usually the first ones out there sanding and plowing, often starting at 3 or 4 a.m. to get ahead of the school and commuter rush. The streets team is often assisting other parts of town functions with heavy equipment needs such as setting artwork, installing traffic control for special events, sweeping for the Sunday market, and supporting projects that require specialized machinery or lifting capacity. They also maintain a fleet of 35 vehicles and pieces of equipment that support the broader Public Works Department. Much of their work happens behind the scenes, but it directly impacts safety, mobility, and the community function throughout Basalt. Next, we'll move into the facilities department that is staffed by just two employees. Our newest employee started this morning, so that's great news. Yet, facilities is the backbone for supporting a significant portion of town-owned buildings and assets. The team performs general maintenance and repairs across 11 municipal buildings, five public restrooms, 16 town-owned housing units, with eight more housing units coming online soon, They are responsible for servicing over 100 dog recycling and trash receptacles on a twice-weekly basis that is highly visible but often goes unnoticed when done well. In addition, they support operations at the swimming pool, manage the municipal compost shed, and coordinate subcontracted maintenance, repair, and capital improvement projects all across town facilities and affordable housing. They also play a key role in assisting with SIRSA and Pinnacle insurance inspections, ensuring that Basalt facilities remain compliant and safe. With a very small team, facilities covers a wide range of daily operational needs. They keep town buildings functional, safe, and welcoming for both employees and the public. Next is the water department that is staffed by three employees, including our newest distribution operator who joined this past spring. Together, they produce and deliver more than 200 million gallons of safe drinking water each year to homes, businesses, schools, and neighborhoods throughout our service area. The team operates a complex water system that includes wells, spring sources, a microfiltration plant, a hydroelectric facility, multiple storage tanks, and the distribution network that delivers water across the community. Their work extends far beyond operations. They maintain critical infrastructure, ensure compliance with state and federal drinking water regulations, support development review, perform utility locates, and remain on call to respond whenever issues arrive. Because water service is a 24-hour responsibility, weekend duties are shared throughout the broader public works team, another example of teamwork and commitment that exists across the department. The water department carries one of the highest levels of responsibility in the organization, delivering a service that every resident, business, and visitor depends on every day. Finally, we have the parks and gardens. department that is staffed by just 2.5 employees, yet they are responsible for caring for the town's public spaces and natural assets. The team manages seasonal banners and holiday decorations and oversees all aspects of irrigation across town parks, properties, gardens, and various rights away. They inspect, maintain, and repair amenities in all town parks, including playgrounds, water features, the skate park and park furniture, ensuring these spaces remain safe, functional and welcoming to the public. Their responsibilities also include maintaining and overseeing approximately 33 acres of seasonal mowing, more than 700 tree mulch circles, and over 225 garden areas. They help care for 54.4 acres of open space, 74.6 acres of parkland across more than 30 locations, and 8.96 miles of trails that are paved and unpaved. They also manage over 2,900 trees throughout the community. We're proud that the town of Basalt is a Tree City USA community, maintains a level two accredited arboretum status, and actively participates in Arbor Day programming and education. In addition, they support collaboration efforts through BPAC, POST, the Roaring Fork Valley Wildfire Committee, and they oversee the town's fire mitigation program and related projects. They also coordinate tree, branch, and leaf drop-off recycling events. With a very small team, Parks and Gardens plays a major role in shaping the appearance, safety, and environmental health of the community's outdoor spaces. I'd also like to brag how well these areas look and feel while being mindful on the type of plants and keeping water conservation in mind. So in closing, this is a small team carrying a very large responsibility for our community, often behind the scenes, outside of normal business hours, and frequently responding when the community needs them most. What you've seen tonight is not just a list of tasks, it's the work of 12 employees who operate our water system, care for our parks, maintain our facilities, keep our streets safe, and support nearly every town service in one way or another. My only ask tonight is as the town continues moving through the design and entitlement process for the future public works and police department building, I would encourage each council member and any interested resident to visit the current public works facilities. A tour provides the opportunity to see firsthand the conditions we work in, how equipment and materials are stored, and the operational challenges that come with supporting a community. I believe seeing these conditions in person provide a valuable context as we discuss the need of this new building. So thank you for your time this evening and happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you, Justin. I'm just super impressed. Small but mighty.

Yeah.

Put him first.

Well, like I started this, this is not about me. It's those 12 frontline staff. They're doing all the hard work. Thank you all.

Thank you. Pretty incredible. Really well done. Rec Department.

Hello.

Hey.

I would have come with hat swag for you guys but I need to make sure all my baseball kids get their hats first and then I will I think we should have some extras and I'll follow up that's pretty funny because I was literally just saying today that I didn't have a town of basalt hat well maybe we'll have to make an exception how to join the baseball team Hello, I'm Matt Koenigsegg. I'm the recreation director. I am the only director that is kind of a one-man department. So I kind of am the rec department except for my seasonal staff that I'm able to hire and then some umps and refs for some of my leagues. So anything rec related come to me, but not parks. So I think a lot of people, I do get a lot of emails sometimes where people are reaching out to me thinking kind of lumping parks and rec together. And I'm really just the rec side of things, not parks. So what do we do? We oversee the pool operations. That's a huge part of the job, particularly in the summer, but even in the spring and fall, and even sometimes in the winter, that can take some time. So we manage the day-to-day operations, the repair and maintenance, and all of the programming that happens there, lessons, events, water aerobics, those types of things. I put on youth sports leagues. Basketball and baseball are the main draws there. I run our summer camps, which is probably our biggest line item in terms of revenue for Basalt Rec. And then a lot of additional programming. So a lot of little kid programming that has frankly been my focus. And I'm looking, I'll speak more to kind of looking to want to branch out into other areas. But I run things like, well, actually I'll get to those, but a lot of additional programming other than just the summer camps and the sports leagues. I do kind of manage the tennis courts as well. So we have tennis courts on the Basalt Middle School property that are technically kind of ours and managed by us, even though they're on the school property. and then a similar deal at Stotts Mill. And then a lot more, there's kind of a lot of, I wear many, many hats in this job, not just this one. And some of our goals and values as kind of our mini organization within the larger organization, a big thing that's really important to me is that we're accessible. I want, you know, I don't want money or time or, well, I want to try to reduce the barriers to access whatever programming it is that we're offering. It's really important to me that we keep our programs low cost. I know if you were to go on our rec page, compare that with rec pages around the valley, and rec is generally the cheapest anyway. I think we're We're still relatively cheap in terms of comparing to other rec departments. But then if you look at something like Roan Fork United for soccer or some of the outside organizations that offer some youth sports opportunities, it's not even close. So I'm really proud of the low cost that we're able to deliver our programs to families for. And something that I've really appreciated from Gloria, as well as from her predecessor, Ryan, was that just an emphasis on wanting to deliver high quality programs that touch as many kids as possible, or many community members, not just kids, as possible. And we're not a revenue generating arm. Obviously, I need to stay within my budget. There are revenue targets that I want to hit, and I'll actually speak to those. And it's not... I'm not kind of getting my arm twisted behind my back, like why aren't you bringing in 10 more dollars here and there, which I really appreciate as well. Equity is really important to us. I think that goes kind of hand in hand with accessibility. We really want to provide opportunities for exposure and learning for whatever sport or recreational activity we're kind of working on. And, you know, we want to serve our local communities. Schools and daycares are a particularly important demographic. So a great example of that is we'll be delivering swim lessons to 80 of our youngest community members from Basalt Preschool as well as Camp Chippatooth. And we do that every summer. And that's in addition to kind of our public-facing lessons that anybody could sign up for So we do have a lot of connections with our local schools to be able to deliver things like some lessons or whatever it might be. I'll try to speed up because I'm already feeling like I'm going to talk too much. So these are some programs that I've continued from previous kind of basalt or iterations of basalt rec. I'm now basically going into my fourth year. Here I was hired in, I guess going into my fifth. I was hired in 2022 and started right about this time of year back then. So I've continued our baseball and softball leagues, as well as T-ball, our basketball leagues, little kids soccer programs, swim lessons, both public facing and those large group lessons like I mentioned, as well as our summer camps. Those are kind of the main, most important programs that I've made sure to continue. And then, next slide please. Oh, and just to share some growth, again, it's not about revenue, but I am proud of the growth that I've been able to kind of facilitate within a lot of our programs. So you can, I don't need to go through all the numbers, but you can see, you know, from 22 to 25, and this mostly does have last year's data. Full disclosure, most of these slides I used from my winter kind of council update, but also I don't have really updated revenue numbers necessarily, especially full year numbers until the end of the year. So you can see we've had growth across all of our kind of old programs as well. Go ahead to the next one. And as well as our swim lessons. So I do, one reason I do like revenue numbers is that, you know, obviously it means we're making money, but also it means that more people are utilizing the programming. So you can see our swim lesson revenue growth has really significantly gone up as well and then we've really added a lot of camp slots so we've added some additional programming for older kids as well as expanded our number of slots that we have and so we've really been able to increase the number of kids that we serve via our summer camps which I know our parents really love and our kids love even more including my own next slide please And then I've been able to build in some new programs. So some of these programs are programs that I lead. Others are programs that I find other community members to lead, and then we pay them. So I've done a hiking club, which is probably my single favorite program that I do. I get to take kids hiking for two hours every Wednesday in the fall. That is the best. It's like football, basketball, mini camps, wrestling. Garden club is one that I don't lead, but has been really successful. Basalt Elementary recess support. So during times of the year that I'm a little bit less busy, so not the spring, but late fall and winter, I try to go to BES and just make some connections with kids, support on the playground, just be there, be present, and be helpful. I'm a former educator, so I kind of know what playgrounds look like, and that has really been a fun way just to build connections with kids. They get to know me, and I run so many programs that it's really helpful to have those small relationships. And I also know that the school really appreciated it really appreciates it and the schools are probably the most important kind of organizational relationship that i have so that's been a really nice one we've restarted tennis clinics which used to happen and now we've been able to get them going again same with water aerobics and a new thing i've also added is just finding a new swim instructor who is able to deliver lessons in the afternoons and evenings which i know parents have appreciated too because it's just another option that can work for families Go ahead to the next one. So there's a picture of us all on the hiking club. That was up Prince Creek. Again, I won't read off all the numbers to you, but I did put the revenue in just to kind of give you an idea of how we've grown our programming over the course of five years. I will say 2021 coming off of COVID was probably a particularly rough year for rec in general across every rec department. But I'm proud of the consistent growth that we've been able to make. I do think we're gonna start to see that plateau a little bit here because I'm feeling like I've maxed my own capacity out for delivering programs and my next step is now to kind of gather in other program leaders as best I can. So my challenge is finding program leaders beyond myself is a real big challenge. I think we do compensate pretty competitively and pretty well. And it's hard to find people who want to deliver good programs and who have kind of their niche that they want to bring to kids or adults or whoever. So that's always a challenge. Gym space is a big challenge. So we have a really great partnership with the schools. We get kind of first priority after the school obviously gets first priority for their own space. And then we kind of get next crack at things. So that's huge to have that partnership and it's still a challenge. Pool repair and maintenance is a constant challenge. The local pool closures have been hard just with Carbondale being closed for two years and then this summer the arc pool is closed and that's just made us busier which isn't necessarily a problem but it can also mean that we're you know, going through more chemicals and that the pool feels just busier and that swim lessons are filling up faster. And so that's been kind of a tricky thing to navigate. Adding more winter programming beyond basketball is something that I'm kind of thinking a lot about. Improvements to my own registration system, which is a little bit clunky and I think can get better. And then just having a contingency plan for summer camps. I don't expect our summer camp leaders to want to, you know, kind of go to a different organization. But if they did, then we would be looking at 600 slots for kids that aren't that families were expecting to have that all of a sudden we don't. So wanting just to kind of have a fallback plan in case that were to ever happen, which I don't expect to, but again, it's always good to plan. Next one, and then opportunities. So I'm hoping to increase my programmatic reach, so I'd really like to kind of put a little more focus on adult populations, specifically seniors. I see 2E as a potential huge opportunity for us, kind of depending on how that all shakes out. Continuing to add and refine programs is something I'm always looking to do. I'm wanting to add just some more special events at the pool, which I think are just fun and the community really rallies around. And then ERW is the early release Wednesday structure at the schools. And I just think there's a lot of opportunity for programming during that time because kids are getting out of school at two. That can be hard on families. And it can be a great time to connect with kids and get them in a good program. That also helps out parents with care. I've always felt really really supported by town council by town manager. I really appreciate that It makes this job way more manageable to have that support. So thank you guys and That's what I have for you. So I'd love to have any questions you have No resting on your laurels No, not this time of year.

Awesome. Thank you. I just had one question. What's the Fafman Group? We had approved a contract a couple years ago.

So they basically are the boots on the ground people that deliver the camps. So about 15 years ago, Gary Fafman, he's a local educator. He works at the Aspen Community School. He kind of started, he built up this camp program. He was kind of doing it on his own for a while. He wanted a partner, both with kind of overhead, insurance, registration support, all those things, and space. We provide Albany Park. So they partnered up. over 10 years ago, 10 to 12 years ago. And so we basically contract with him. He delivers the programs. He gets most of the fees that are paid to us. We keep some of those fees, and we help administer the programs. But again, with programs, not revenue, that's an amazing program that we're offering to the community that we make a little money off of. But more than anything, it's that parents really love it.

And the programs that they're offering, are those the swim lessons?

No, that's the summer camps.

The summer camps. Yep. Okay. And so when you're talking about looking for more leaders, is that you or the family group has to do it?

I just mean, like a great example is our garden club. I worked with a teacher at the elementary school a couple years ago, and it didn't happen this summer, but we delivered a girls' math camp. And that was kind of a random program that and then i had built this connection with this teacher there and she approached me and said hey i have this passion for gardening we have a garden space in the middle of our elementary school that kind of is languishing a little bit can we you know what about partnering on a garden club and so i pay her i pay her kind of like a percentage of the fees that we collect we keep a small percentage she gets most of it um so she's kind of that program leader for the program um And I help with kind of administrative support, kind of overarching support. But she's the boots on the ground program leader, if that kind of makes sense.

I love it. I love all the things.

Thank you.

Thank you guys. One more comment. The evolution of watching this recreation opportunities develop in the Mid-Valley is pretty interesting because it's probably the most unifying thing that's happened between what we used to call East and West with Elgibel and Old Town. big controversy back in the day because we only had recreation programs for basalt residents. And when City Market came along and wanted to be annexed back into town, that created even more controversy. And at the end of the day, we negotiated with the Crawfords down there to take the sales tax from City Market and split it in half and fund a valley-wide rec program. So all of a sudden our population blew up and we went from a $7,500 annual budget that the Lions Club did for a baseball team to a $230,000 budget over a couple years that included IGAs with the schools and a bunch of other stuff. So it was a really great example of the community kind of getting around an initiative that gained terrific support over the years and now you know there was basalt soccer and carbondale soccer now there's the roaring fork united it's grown into these other organizations that are able to service kids in other programs it takes some of the weight off of basalt but we're still glad we're in there kicking because it's it is joyful to go because the same these kids all go to the same schools their parents all know each other they're at the pool and we've got now we have the transit connection with basalt rides or whatever Let's all connect and it's just a great thing to look back on and thank you for even moving it further along.

It's great. Of course, thank you guys on the groundwork.

It's incredible and the commitment to keeping it affordable has been really amazing.

Thank you.

Thank you represent.

Thank you good job, Matt.

Planning.

Yeah. I'm James Lynn. I'm the assistant planning director for the town. And, you know, you guys all know me because I talk at you every other Tuesday evening for three hours. But, you know, you have kind of a handle on the development review side of things that the planning department does, given that you review a lot of development applications. other responsibilities that we have include interpreting and enforcing the town's annexation zoning and subdivision regulations so that all kind of falls into development review to a great extent We also administer the town's technical review committee, which is known as the TRC. The technical review committee is made up of various town referral agencies, such as Basalt Sanitation District, the fire district and others and we get together on a weekly basis to review development applications to go over other topics that require multi-jurisdictional kind of cooperation and coordination and and just to solve problems in certain instances and So that's a weekly affair that we have. The planning staff also reviews sign permits, fence permits, building permits for compliance with the town's zoning regulations. So not as much fun as the Recreation Department items as administering programs. It's certainly necessary. We provide referral comments on Eagle County and Picking County development review applications that they're reviewing. We have intergovernmental agreements with both Picking County and Eagle County that requires that they provide referrals to the town so that we can provide comments on how These development applications comply with the town's master plans and goals, and so we administer those referral comments. We also update the town's long-range plans, so we administer updates to the Basalt Master Plan. We've done sub-area plans, such as the El Jebel sub area plan that was done probably 10 or 15 years ago now. We've done other master plans like the Willits Lane connectivity plan, which was a recent plan that the town updated and provided. We also, under other duties, we administer the town's deed restricted housing program. So we do tenant qualifications for the deed-restricted units. We also do the leasing of the town-owned units. We have 16 town-owned units and we've got eight more, as Justin indicated, coming online here this summer. So we administer the leases for those units. We also act as staff liaisons to the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Basalt Affordable Community Housing Commission, or BOC, as well as the Green Team. And we administer their work programs. We do the minutes and set the agendas for those staff and boards. Other responsibilities that the planning department has include answering zoning and development questions for the general public. We do that on a daily basis. We get quite a few calls from realtors or property owners asking what they can do with their property. We get calls from business owners. asking about signage and uses. And so we stay quite busy addressing public questions. Additionally, we do zoning enforcement. So when somebody provides a lighting complaint or a complaint about signage. The planning staff goes out and researches what's in the field and follows up with either an enforcement letter or we get back to the person that's complaining about how it either does or does not comply with the town code. And so that keeps the planning staff quite busy as well. Other responsibilities that the planning department takes on, we do zoning inspections on building permits. So when a new house is getting ready to be completed and are looking for a certificate of occupancy, the planning staff is part of the referral agencies that come out and review to make sure that they meet the requirements of their plans and the development approvals that may be in place for their properties. And so we do that before a CO on buildings or residential units. We also participate with the community events manager in administering the Basalt Public Arts Commission, or BPAC. And Sarah Nadolny in the planning office does a lot of that coordination with Brent. The planning staff also coordinates with engineering and public works on most of the capital improvement projects and post-improvement projects. And so that keeps us quite busy. We also administer the development impact fees that are required at the time of building permit issuance for various building permits. These are fees like the parkland dedication fees, the school land dedication fees, other kind of impact fees such as the south side water tank surcharge or also the water tap fees. The planning staff calculates those and assesses them. In addition, we coordinate with the finance department on administering real estate transfer assessments throughout town. There are a variety of real estate transfer assessments that were required in various development approvals. We've got them in Willits. We have Rita's in the Roaring Fork Club, Stotts Mill, and other downtown developments like Basalt River Park and the BCC development. Anytime that a property sells in those locations, the title company contacts the town, and we have to identify which RETA and how much the RETA is. And then at the end of each quarter, we make sure that we've received RETAs on each of the transactions that's taken place in each of those areas. And so we work with the finance department on that. Other responsibilities that we have, we review short-term rental applications and we administer the short-term rental regulatory fee exemptions. You may remember that council this past year approved the short-term regulatory fee And so there's exemptions related to if a person is a primary resident in their dwelling and that they're not going to rent it out for more than 60 total days in a year. So the planning staff administers affidavits on those requirements for exemption. We also review business licenses for compliance with zoning related to uses. We get quite a few of those per year and we work with the town clerk's office to make sure that those business licenses comply with zoning. And other duties, we also participate in the CC4CA as well as the Child Care Coalition. Sarah Nadolny is very active in those boards and activities. We have a small staff. We have three members currently. there's myself and then there's senior planner Sarah Nadolny and we have a planner to Carlton Henry who you see quite a bit as well so you know generally our goals are to provide accurate information to the elected officials and the public on zoning and development regulations as well as to provide know efficient and effective responses to the public when they have questions are kind of our main goals so be happy to answer questions that you guys have of the planning staff

Thank you, James. Thank you.

Just one more comment.

Sure. You know, we could look across the street and see the results of the planning department's, you know, tenacity to get that property restored to a riverfront park and build appropriate buildings and all that. It's interesting. interesting again, you know, another evolution here of some of the things that have been planned for decades came to fruition here a few years ago. One of the things I thought about was Basalt was featured in National Geographic and because one of the first mountain communities to establish a urban growth boundary. Sure. And it was an interesting article that Romer also was involved in the smart growth programs that Basalt kind of bought into. At that point in time, Colorado was growing a mile wider in the I-25 corridor from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs. So they were looking at the western slope, and they looked at this little town and said, whoa, what are those guys doing? And they wrote an article about us. It was pretty funny. Nice. And another article that showed up in the same thing was the growing year school. Anyway, again, we've just had so much fortunate... So much fortunate opportunity because of the people we have working for you, and Justin, you guys, you're building the foundation of it. We can stand on that. It's great to see it. It takes a while, but it's great.

James, do you have any requests of us?

I don't really have any requests. You know, we are... effectively staffed at the current time and and we're able to handle our workload i think you know in the future it may be you know more difficult to administer the housing we might need an additional person in in the future right now it's it's not a significant impact we're able to you know kind of administer the program at its current size but it just depends on how many units we're fortunate enough to add here in the next probably three to five years I would say.

Okay great.

I would just add like I think you and Carlos and Mitch were probably the first people I met coming down here to Pasol. Sure. And like building a home down here was probably the most stressful and exciting thing I think I've like been through. It's like a lot of emotions and you were so helpful. It was such a great experience coming through. I always felt like you were kind of on my side. I can't say enough good things about how positive that experience was working with the town and going through there and had a lot of questions. You're always so responsive and so helpful. So I can't say enough good things and how much I appreciate that. It was a very tough time. Sure. And you guys were great. It was awesome.

We appreciate those comments.

And my only question for you is, talking about administering the deed-restricted housing program, they're all one-year leases.

that accurate um there's a minimum six month lease requirement most of them are one-year leases and and so for privately owned deed restricted units that are rental we do a check once per year and so for the town units that we actually own um There's a variety of leases between six months and a year. Most of them are one year. So, you know, there's renewals at the end of those leases.

And what about, do you have some sense, like rough sense about turnover, like you're dealing with throughout the year?

Well, with town-owned units, there's not very much turnover, to be honest. People that are in town-owned units pretty much stay in those town-owned units. We maybe get two or three unit turnover out of our 16 units in a year. In the privately owned deed restricted rental units, we see some turnover, but it's not significant. Most of what we do is reviewing renewal applications for people that are already in the units. And we have very few for sale deed restricted units in our current inventory. So we see those turnover maybe one every two or three years. We do currently have a unit that's up for sale that's a privately owned deed restricted unit in Valley Pines. And we've had one of those in each of the last two years here.

That's helpful. It's mostly renewals is what I'm hearing. Yeah, mostly renewals. That's helpful. Thank you.

Thank you, James. Yeah, thank you. Continue theme of punching above our weight for the number of staff and how much we do. And we'll close it out with Pam.

James is our rock. Rock for a long time. And it's amazing to sit and listen to how much all these departments do. it's uh it's amazing it's it's good to be reminded of the work that everybody does here um so i'm pam schilling i'm the town clerk for the town of assault for a while now and um lonnie and i make up the town clerk's office and we can be found in the front office i've been here since 93 and lonnie's been here since 2019. We support the community by providing information and connecting them with the departments they need to be connected with. I'm sorry. Pam's being naughty. I'm speaking to the council. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, and one of the things that we do is liquor licensing. And we work with all the different investigating agencies, like James does, referral agencies, in order to make sure that the properties that we're licensing are safe for the public. as well as clean. We also do marijuana licensing, tobacco licensing, business and sales tax licensing. Lonnie also supports the building department. She helps process the contractor licenses and building permits as well for the public. Let's see, it looks like our paper's got a little... Mixed up in here in the other direction. The love-hate part of my job is elections, of course. They're very stressful these days. Used to be a lot of fun when we had paper ballots and we'd put them in a box that had a glass canister inside. Those are days long gone. But they're still very interesting, always. Cemetery records, I work with the public works department quite a bit on issuing plots, selling plots to the public, and working to get headstones placed, getting plots open and closed for people. We do records management in my department. We have an archive across the street in the basement of the building underneath the pharmacy over there. And the first step of that was to try to get our records toward electronic coding is to get everything over there scanned. And we spent two years doing that. putting that out to a contractor for scanning all of our Council packets. So all of those are over there and and scanned at this point We are part of the Colorado open record or the we also manage the Colorado open records act those have Blown up exponentially since 2016. I don't know what was magic about that year but they seem to have grown ever since and and It takes not just my department but all the departments because I get the requests and then I send them out to all the departments and they have to take the time to find those records if it's not something I have access to. So it's not a one person responsibility at all and it takes a lot of time and it cuts into people's general workloads but it's something that we do and we get a lot of requests for things these days, strange things. Let's see, what else do I do?

You didn't say your fun fact. I'm sorry? Your fun fact.

Yeah, my little fun facts. Yeah, I just tossed those in there. I didn't know if you guys were interested in those. But yeah, we had 62 core requests last year and 43 so far this year. So I suspect we'll surpass the 62 this year. Yeah, I serve as secretary and liaison to the council. We set up the meetings, we order the food, council event and activities and travel coordination whenever you guys are going to a meeting or something. In 2005, my office, I myself took over the court processes. Everything had been done by hand and typewriter up to that point, and we got into the process. Hopped on to the modern way of doing things and ordered some software, and now we do everything through Cassell, which is also our budgeting software. We assist with posting updated information to the website. That's always a challenge. If we don't get the things, proper forms down, people end up with old forms, which happens frequently, so we're trying to clean that up as well. We process parks and town hall scheduling with planning and events. We provide notary services to staff applicants in the public. And we could not do any of this alone. We work in collaboration with all the departments in town and what with council and manager support makes what we do possible. So we thank you all for your support all the time. We have challenges, of course. The next step of electronic records will probably be the next generation, but that will be coming up. Working up at the cemetery, I see people buying massive numbers of lots. which, and many of them are just for cremains. And so I'd like to talk to the public works and planning about maybe putting up a columbarium where they can have niches and put their cremains in there, probably at a lesser cost as well. Those are the two big things that we're working on now. And then also we're doing a lot with automating our licensing processes. And I am just now starting to look into AI minutes. So getting up to the 21st century. All right.

Any questions for Pam?

Thank you.

Yeah, just quickly Pam is the one that initiated feeding us. Give us all an opportunity to come in a little early and sit down and get to know each other and it's become part of the value added. Proposition of being elected official you get fed every 2nd Tuesday and 4th Tuesday. The other thing she's always been the front door for guest visitors to come to town. My mom's first stop is always been. Town Hall and Pam would reader and they visit for 20 minutes and she used the restroom and then she could go on and enjoy the rest of us all, but she always came. This was your first stop to see Pam.

yeah and she always has treats for the dogs always have treats for the dogs yep love our visitors i really appreciate that with the agenda packets you can now go in and find like a specific item and jump to it because when i was first on council we didn't have that capability and so then you're scrolling and scrolling and scrolling so i really appreciate that these modern devices are cool

You do an amazing job and we're in very good hands. Well, I appreciate you all. Thank you so much.

Only question I had, Pam, is it the these core requests? Is there a list of those?

I'm sorry.

Is there a list of these Colorado?

I have. Yeah. I mean, the way I filed them, I have file folders for each one. I can show you, you know, and it kind of just gives the person's name and the specific request like they're looking for plans for 265 Midland or something like that.

Don't want to add any extra work. I'm just curious, like, what people are looking for, what people want to see.

Yeah, I mean, I can print out a copy of that, and if you're interested in any of those, we can.

I would be just curious to see, but it's, like, a low-priority thing. You do a lot.

Well, you know, unfortunately, it has to be kind of a priority because we only have three days to get the information out, so not something you can really sit on.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah.

All right, well, thank you. Thank you. For anyone online, we're going to take a quick break, and we will be back around 6 o'clock for the regular council meeting.

Yeah, food is here. Thanks to Jenny for picking that up.

Good evening. Welcome to the town council meeting for the town of Basalt. It's Tuesday, June 9th. Access to town council meetings can be found at www.basalt.net under the agendas and meetings tab. You can click on the June 9th meeting packet and on the meeting access instructions page, just click the link to join the webinar. We are going to start with a roll. So Pam, will you please call the roll? Absolutely.

Let us begin with Hannah Berman. Here. Thank you, Angel. Greg. Here. David Knight is present. Thank you, David. Elise Hoddle. Present. Angela Anderson. Here. And Rick Stevens. Here. OK. Everyone is present somewhere in the world.

There we go. All right. Thank you. We'll start with item two, our consent agenda. We have 2A, which is our special event activity permit, Yoga in the Park. 2B, special event activity permit, for Aspen Valley Marathon, 2C for the food truck at 122 Basalt Center Circle. Do I have a motion, or does anyone want to pull anything off of the consent agenda?

i just make one small comment on on 2c in number 10 it says the town manager may revoke the special activity permit at his sole discretion i know that's just like boilerplate language i would ask as we correct that if we could also just direct our town attorney i don't think we need to have gender when we refer into town staff at all and so if we can just try to remove that going forward i think it'd be great

Absolutely. Got to celebrate our fearless leader who's a lady. All right. Do we have a motion?

Mayor, I move that the Town Council approve the consent agenda items as presented with the acknowledgement of gender being unnecessary in future communications.

Second.

Great. All in favor? All right. Next up, we have our call to the public. A friendly reminder that if you are here to comment on a specific agenda item, please hold your comments so they can be part of that public record. Please limit comments to three minutes and address your comments directly to the mayor. Identify yourself by your name and address when making comments. they should be courteous civil and constructive and a reminder that town council will take no decision nor take action except to direct the town manager and there's also a sign-in sheet at the back so if you could also sign in there with your name and address that would be great do we have any public comments tonight Thank you.

Hi, I'm Stacy Stokes. I'm back in town. And I've been to, I don't know, three or four meetings. Much of what I started talking about was the development at 555 Basalt Avenue. I'm in favor of that. It's going to be better. It's going to be good. It's going to be cleaner. That's not why I'm here. I'm here because Few Lane is a disaster. It is an absolute disaster. It is dangerous as hell. And we need a speed limit sign of 15 miles an hour. Maybe a speed bump. We need a stop sign at the end of Few and Alexander. We need a street sign. We are waiting for four days now for a FedEx to be delivered. Phone call, phone call, phone call. There is no East Few Lane. There is. So we need a street sign. Everybody uses it as a street. If it's going to be an alley, cool. I'll deal with that. But if it's going to be a street, we need to treat it as such and make it safe. Somebody is going to get hurt back there. And my grandkids play in my driveway and I'm going to have to put up a gate so that someone doesn't fly in my driveway because someone's coming down the other way. So please, I am imploring you to order the signs and put them up. Children are going to get hurt or an adult. We're coming into concert season with people walking down that path on Wednesday nights People go flying through there at 27 miles an hour at least. I've seen it. I see it all day long. They don't stop. They fly into the neighborhood. So please, get the science. I will help you get them. I'll order them on Amazon. My husband will help you put them up. But I feel like this is not rocket science, and I've been asking for this since last winter when I started talking to Public Works. And I don't know how any of you would sleep at night if something happens knowing that this is something that has to be done, regardless of what happens with 555 and the other road things that we're all arguing about to make more safe for our neighborhood. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Stacy. All right, any other commenters in the room?

My name is Blake Griner. I live at 353 Branding Way. I'm the director of operations for a real estate firm here in town. I represent my parents who own the property in Southside. To go off Stacy's point, I think the project's great. It's going to be a benefit, but some things... Are you here to comment on the 555?

Yes. So we're going to have a public hearing here in a little while. Okay.

Any other commenters for general public comment? Yeah, come on up.

I'm Dot Walker. I live at 231 Robinson Street in Basalt in apartment 228. And I just have three suggestions. I'd like to suggest to put a flashing crosswalk light at East Valley Road and Reed Street where Whole Foods is. it's that intersection is terrible it's it's horrible it's um people cross there all the time and and in the winter time it's dark and you can't see the cars don't stop and so just like the crosswalk between willis lane and lois they're the flashing one And then could we also have a movie night at Triangle Park in the summertime? And another suggestion is parking is full in the Willits during the day. And I've spoken with business owners about their concerns of the lack of parking during the day. And now that the weather's nice and the people are outside, is there anything you can do about the parking? You know, just maybe go around, talk to the business owners and see what they suggest. And that's it.

Thank you. Thank you. Any more commenters in the room? What about online?

Yeah, we have a hand up online from FOMO Media. Yeah. If you would like to provide comments, please unmute yourself.

I'm unmuted now. Can you hear me? Yes.

Okay.

My name is Brian Sager. I live at 437 Halston Lane with my wife and two little girls. And we frequent Wildwood Park, which is wonderful for what it is, but I think it's one of the lower parks in Missoula. It is frequented by people in Southside and now Also, everybody in Stotts Mill, all those with kids in Stotts Mill, it also services three daycares that are in the area. And I believe it could use a little bit of a facelift and some love and some features for kids like three to six or climbing features. There's tons of space and there's tons of activity. And I think it would be well used.

Thank you, Brian. Any other commenters online? All right. With that, I'll close public comment period and move on to mayor and council reports and comments.

I would like to say a big thank you to the streets team for the the straight arrow and the turn arrow off of willits lane at the two rivers intersection 82 yeah um i can't tell you i spend a lot of time over there and there are people always at the last minute what do i do is it straight or am i turning which lane is it and i think that the arrows are going to be Really helpful to keep the traffic flowing. And the only other suggestion I would make is if there was any sort of signage or way that you could indicate that there's a protected right turn. I think that would also help things move along. But very well placed arrows. Thank you.

Nicely done. I went to the RAFTA board planning retreat last week and it was a good reminder that we have an incredible public transit system. It's the second largest in Colorado, the largest rural public transit system here. And there are 30,000, 34,000 empty car seats going into Aspen every day. but that's the equivalent of about more than 40 empty RAFTA buses going in. So the more we can do to get folks on the bus or out of their cars or carpooling, the more we can tackle congestion going into Aspen. So a big thank you to RAFTA and all the work that they do.

I attended a summit for recycling put on by Recycle Colorado last week. And it was just interesting to hear what all of the other communities are doing in terms of composting, recycling, C&D waste, or construction and demolition debris for people that don't know C&D. There's a lot of work being done and a lot of room for expansion too.

Great. Anything else?

Gloria may mention this, but she and I. Not together, attended a independently a meeting in. Glenwood CMC facility. It was put on by the Aspen Community Foundation and the Aspen Institute. That was basically a gathering of about 100 and 150 people, maybe. To talk about region from Aspen to parachute covering everything Cradle to career. Childcare. Regional transit. Resort stress anxiety housing. The same things that have been coming up. think and Gloria could weigh in here her report as a certain sense of let's get some things done there's also a strong identity being established in the lower i-70 corridor within those communities that I think is going to have eventually an economic impact on how many people are want to continue to drive up to the resort area in service, you know that area. It was an interesting mix because I think that more and more Glenwood maybe going West is starting to look at themselves as can be a stronger communities and that they might have been 50 years ago. It's again another evolution that we should be paying attention to. A lot of the same jargon, but one term that caught our attention was sense-making, and I haven't figured out what that means yet. It's common sense-making, if it's sensitivity-making or what we're making, but this group came from CSU. They're on a mission to publish a report in about a year, and there's actually a place to put feedback on some of the things they talked about on the foundation's website. It was pretty interesting. Lots of data, lots of data.

Awesome. All right, thank you. Manager's report?

All right, so we are currently in a red flag warning in both Eagle and Pitkin counties. And Eagle will be going into stage one fire restriction midnight tonight. Pitkin will be following suit with stage one fire restrictions at noon tomorrow. And then as of right now, US Forest Service is not going into stage one restrictions. So we will be putting out the message board with that information. I do want to remind, since we are talking fire, the chipping program is going on until June 27th. So starting this week, neighborhood pickups are happening in Sopris Village, Valley Road, River Ranch, Hook Spur, River Oaks, Original Roads, Sopris Meadows, and Willits. So hopefully everyone has their piles ready to get chipped. And thank you to Eagle County for that program. And follow up to last meeting, you all had asked staff to put more tips on how to use your water, how to water your lawn in stage one water restrictions. We do have that information on our website right now and have published it in our newsletter. So you can go to basalt.net backslash save water and that has some tips to how to water your lawn during water restrictions. And then an update on the Whitewater Park that was asked at the last meeting where the Whitewater Park is expected to be open to the public after June 23rd. So staff is working with Pickin on an IGA outlining the continued maintenance of that. And then chamber the Chamber of Commerce in the town Myself will be conducting to list listening sessions for business owners in the historic downtown and Willits areas at the end of June will be at the element in Willits on June 23rd from 830 to 930 a.m. And then library June 25th from 830 to 930 so We are hoping to give updates to our businesses on town happenings and then as well as sit and listen to their concerns and how we can all work together. Then I do want to update that we have hired our facilities technician in public works. And we've also received six applications for our chief building official. So we hope to have a replacement hired soon to work with Mitch before he retires at the end of this year. And then I will have an announcement at the next meeting on what we are doing with the community development director position, which was vacated in March. So happy to answer any other questions.

Can you just review the dates of those listening sessions?

Yeah, so this is for business listening sessions, and this will be on June 23rd at the Element, and that'll be 8.30 to 9.30 a.m., and then on June 25th at the library from 8.30 to 9.30. Thank you.

Thank you, Gloria. Gloria, did you receive the new messaging graphics from, I think it was a joint effort between RUAPA and Roaring Fork Conservation? I have not, no. Okay, I'll forward those to you. Okay, great, thanks.

All right, thank you. Our first presentation tonight, item 6A, is from the Confluence Early Childhood Development Service District. And we have Katie Kuhlenberg, the interim director, and Carly Kramer, the board chair. So thank you both for being here tonight.

Thank you for having us and thank you for making the time on your agenda to have us in. You probably haven't heard an update since last fall when it was still election season. And although there hasn't been a lot public facing happening, there's been a lot happening behind the scenes to get things up and running. And so we thought it was a good time to get back in front of municipalities and counties and introduce you to your elected board directors so that they can start to form those relationships and give you a brief update on what's going on. I know we don't have a presentation and that feels a little odd, but it's because there are some exciting things happening like a renaming of the special district. It's currently the Confluence Early Childhood Development Service District, the CECDSD, which is a mouthful and doesn't quite let people know what it does. And so we have engaged with a graphic design firm and the board voted in May to change the name to Every Child Parachute to Aspen. So we are going through the process behind the scenes to get that all officially approved and then we will be able to roll that out formally as well as some branding and logos and really be able to build a personality for this organization. Look forward to that in July. It's been a pretty big lift getting things running. This is a completely new government district. As I said, there's an elected board of directors that is responsible statutorily for managing the budget and doing a lot of the things that you all do. They are learning their jobs and figuring out what their role is. They're also going through the process of hiring a full-term director. I'm going to let Carly tell you a little bit about that. And we'll get into some of the other exciting things that are going on.

Thanks, Katie.

Thanks for having us. And thanks to everyone who voted to make this happen. I think that everyone said it, but boots on the ground, it is quite a bit of work getting a new entity started. So we've been quiet fairly, but we've been busy. We've hired Catherine as our interim director. which has been great we've been going full steam ahead we're interviewing four of our finalists next week at our meeting not our meeting but we are getting together at the the 11th Katherine is one of those finalists as well as Eva Jankowski Sam Markovits and Melina Valseccia Monreal so we will have interviews and then a community engagement will be happening from 445 to to 630 at cmc it's the 1402 blake avenue location and that's in room 301 so we'll have lives simultaneous translation available as needed it's an opportunity to provide feedback in person so Kind of get to know our candidates are pretty casual settings, so we're just kind of. I think the milling about getting to know getting a feel and early childhood is a small group or a tight knit group, so I'm sure there will be some specific questions that come up from that. That feedback they're going to be able to scan a QR code and submit that our hiring firm is going to review that and. help us understand what the community concerns or questions came about from that. There will also be a link that we are gonna send out in a newsletter. Did that already go out? Oh, in a newsletter. But if anyone needs to get that link for feedback, we're always taking comment at general at confluencedistrict.org, as well as our seats. You can email your seat. I'm seat four at confluencedistrict.org. So we welcome the feedback. about a bit of what else we've been up to we are collecting tax dollars so we're on track to collect the maximum amount this year which is great we're building out our board norms with Katherine as far as work and communication district policies other things that we felt were really important to create a foundation for our district before we started or as we started on the more exciting and flashy work well on the purpose of the whole district but we wanted to know how we were heading where we were going so that we're working on that also getting everyone on our board up to speed on the early childhood Education, we all come from varying backgrounds and have a lot to offer, which is exciting. But we want to make sure that everyone has a strong foundation of understanding. So what do we say when we have one of 500 acronyms? Or just kind of understanding the basics of child development. So that's exciting. Some resources, we've been connecting with state and national leaders to help inform the systems that we're going to set up, as well as the goals that we are putting together. So let's see. Oh, as Katie mentioned, we're doing a name change, our overhaul, so that every child parachute to Aspen, a special district. We have a mission statement, which we can share, and that's that we ensure every child from parachute to Aspen has a strong foundation for success by investing in accessible, high-quality early childhood education. Our vision is that we envision a bright future where children flourish, families thrive, and local economies prosper within our sustainable and livable communities.

So that's a lot of what we've done. And it's been quite the lift. And there's still a chunk left for me to do in my initial contract with the board, which is that early childhood Education piece and getting the board up to speed early childhood is very complex and the special district is amazing in the way that it was created and Super valuable in the way that it was created and the way that it flows money to our workforce it also makes it very very complex to develop systems that adequately address the drastically different needs from Aspen to parachute and And so helping to get the board up to speed on what those needs are and what the population looks like in those different areas and what the needs of each of those early childhood communities might be. So that's kind of the next phase of the work that will happen at the end of June with the board, along with a handy dandy acronym sheet to explain all the early childhood acronyms. and other useful resources for them. Where we're headed over in the immediate future, and this could shift as a full-time executive comes on, but there has been a strong desire expressed by the community to get funding out sooner than later. As Carly said, the district is collecting tax dollars Those are in a trust account, but that is just money sitting in an account. And what we've heard pretty loud and clear from the community is those dollars would be better used by providers and families now. It's also a really big lift to develop a high quality program that gets that money out in a way that feels fair, that feels right, that is impactful. and ticks all the boxes that we needed to tick in a short amount of time. So it's these competing interests, right? Do it really well and do it really fast, which I think we all feel consistently, but we are working towards some year one funding schemes that would just get money out for the first year and would not be long-term programming for the special district, but a way to get some of that funding out and stabilize care in the region. So you can look to hear more about that soon. Hopefully that will will go to the board in a meeting At the end of June the 25th. Yep and the other kind of big thing that I'm trying to Get done and wrap up now is it's really a data gathering project and so working with all four school districts that the special district covers and utilizing their channels of communication to gather Some data that we need to inform programs and what those look like because things are shifting. We've all heard about You know declining enrollment and lower birth rates and our population and as that shifts from a younger population to an older population What does that look like and how does that impact? what the special district can provide and how it can support early childhood programs and And again, I expect and could guess that that's gonna be very different in different municipalities, but we don't have the hard data to really look at that and go from. So working on a project to get some of that data so that we can make some moves and plan out things long term.

Which will be the first of its kind in our area at the very least. Yeah. Comprehensive, how do you know if an early childhood program or support is effective? Well, where do they go after they age out of preschool?

they go to the public school or you know they go to school some public schools and some private so this collects a bulk of those those students which is exciting yeah and so we're going to utilize those those channels and those places where we know kindergartners are and their families are and partner with with schools regionally to be able to collect that data and do like an exit style interview of sorts with families and kids So we're happy to take questions. I know that's a lot. And like I said, there is a lot happening. It's just been quietly happening. So if you've got questions, feel free to ask. Things are still very squishy, so we might not have solid answers. But we'll do our best.

I think two recent things that I attended was the Northwest Cog Economic Summit over in Frisco. And the statewide demographer presented the data that you're talking about, low birth rates, aging population, the missing 35 to 45 group of future leaders, frankly, that was pretty interesting and the impact it would have on school systems and tax districts and everything else. The other one was this one that I was just at in Glenwood, and people were asked to identify what is their region? What do they consider their region? So it was different. There's a different universe, like you know, between here and Parachute. and that's another thing that they collected a lot of feedback on and so i've always been a big one for utilizing somebody else's resources instead of doing all the work myself yeah and you know maybe tap into that and the community foundation led the one that was in glenwood so they have all the discussion points and everything that was going on and it was really interesting yeah such a wonderful project yeah I was involved with a roundtable earlier in the morning but couldn't make it to the afternoon session so I'm glad to hear that you felt like it was a good good turnout and thinking back to John Bennett's efforts you know it's pretty cool but the emerging leadership down there in the parachute to Glenwood corridor is pretty impressive yeah really is it's amazing how much energy there is there

I just want to say thank you for everything you're doing and I'm fully in support of like getting the funds out in year one and maybe still like building the airplane while you're flying it and acknowledging that it might look different when it's completed yeah we expect it this is strictly year one we will assess it and make you know adjust but we don't expect to get it perfect but it is pretty well thought out and so it's exciting but

Got to start somewhere. Yeah, absolutely.

And get it to the people that need it. And we do want to be really clear that it's just year one funding. And then year two, it might look totally different. And so from a communications perspective, we want to be really clear with providers and families that what happens now is most likely not going to be what happens after the first year.

Yeah.

And how much do you expect to collect in the first year?

The max 12.1 million. Okay.

Yeah, I support your strategy and echo what Elise said. I think having a short term plan just for the first year is brilliant while you build a longer term plan. And also, I just want to say thank you so much to both of you. I think the community was just so unified around this valid measure. Getting it past the goalpost was great, but I know that if we don't have the right people in place to help manage the funding and get it out into the community, it will never reach its full potential. So just seeing the two of you here working on this makes me feel like this is going to be so impactful for so many families. So thank you.

Thanks, Angela.

All right. Well, thank you, ladies. It's a ton of work. And just to echo the comments that have been said, we appreciate it.

And Hannah, David's got his hand up.

Oh, sorry. Go for it, David.

Hey, guys. Sorry I couldn't be there in person, but great presentation. Great to hear from you all what's happening. I think the priorities that you have about you're trying to get things done quickly, but also set the stage to have this be a great program in the long run. Perfect. Just keep us posted and let's continue the dialogue to figure out ways we can work together. We're really excited about what you're doing.

Thanks, David. Thank you. Yeah.

All right. Thank you so much. We'll look forward to hearing from you again. All right. Next up, we have 6B Public Works Police Department ballot survey question results with Gloria and Bill Ray, who's joining us online.

All right, Bill. I'm going to let Bill start this one off.

Can you all hear me OK?

Yes.

All right, well, good evening, Council. Bill Ray here again to present the results of the survey that we had shared with the community about the Public Works public services facility i know that there was concerns shared at the previous council meeting about the mailer that the town had sent to basalt residents and i want to just give you an update on that i'm glad that you um identified that problem. And so we reached out to the United States Postal Service and found out that only less than 38% of those mailers were delivered. I've never in 20 years had this problem happened before. Um, who knows what happened to them? We track them basically to the town of assaults post office and from there they were not delivered. We've contacted the postal service. and have received no response, no explanation. So unfortunately about 60%, a little more than 60% of those mailers did not get received. We're putting in a complaint, a claim, a request for reimbursement. The town doesn't have to pay for those mailers. That's not the town's responsibility. I apologize for that happening, but that looks to be from the Postal Service. So when we found out about this, we did, because we still wanted to make sure community members knew about the survey and were able to take the survey, we sent out an additional text message to community members and we posted it on the town's website. website, social media. We did what we could to get the information out a little further. So starting, just so you know, the responses and the demographics of the survey. I still think we have really good information in this survey to share with you and for the public services facility team to utilize moving forward. So the survey responses that I'm going to share today represent 193 responses. They were gathered from April 29th through June 4th. And you can see here some of our key demographics. So sometimes I'm asked, was this enough responses that you're content? And I often say it's not the quantity of the surveys, it's the balance of the surveys. Did we get a good representative sample based on the demographic questions we asked? And I think we did pretty well here. You can see here we have a great variety of age ranges responding to the survey. So, you know, we were a little weak in the 18 to 34-year-old, and that's usually what we see in surveys. Younger voters don't often take surveys. But 35 to 44 year olds, very close to what we expect to be the 2026 likely voters. All these age groups, 45, 54, 55 to 64, they're all very close to their representation of the voters, 65 and older as well. The split between Eagle County and Pitkin County, also pretty close. About 70% of your voters are from Eagle County. About 63% of the survey respondents were Eagle County residents. And here you have about 36.8% were from Pitkin County. and male and female pretty close almost 50 50 and that's what they represent as proportionally to the voters so real good balance and variety of responses in the survey the first question we asked was right versus wrong track in general do you think the town's heading on the right track or wrong direction and you can see here 54% feel the town's heading in the right direction, and you can see also to the right, I broke it out by age range, and pretty well across all age ranges, there's a strong feeling that the town's on the right direction across the board, with 35 to 44-year-olds kind of having that lowest number there. We also asked folks to tell us a little more why they felt the town was heading in the direction that they were heading in, in the direction the town is heading in. And I've provided a complete report to Gloria of all the responses, the open-ended responses to the survey. But you can see here folks who said the town's on the right track, they talk about the importance of the new facilities, and they like that the town is thinking about that. support for the Midland Avenue improvements and a recognition that things in downtown and the streetscape are going well and compliments over leadership and planning and the work that Council and the town team is doing to kind of plan and lead this town forward. On the wrong track, a lot of concerns about taxes and resistance to taxes. Definitely a lot of comments about development and the concerns around basalt possibly losing its small town feel and its charm. And then housing. Either folks say there's not enough housing and not enough is being done about affordable housing or that there's too much housing. So there's kind of definitely a tug of war there on housing. Do we not have enough? Are we not doing enough? Is there too much? We asked folks what was the most important issue in the town of assault and not surprising and we've seen this in past surveys affordability and cost to housing. Then the second most was traffic and congestion but housing concerns overwhelming there in that response. And then I broke out for you folks who said other people were allowed to say other. And you can see here and you can read later. I won't go through all those, but it's a real mix of issues. Everything ranging from artificial intelligence, a comment about immigration, the need for senior housing. You know, there's quite a bit of different comments here from community members. The top issue by age, I thought this was an interesting graphic to break out. You can see here housing is a concern across all ages, but then at 35 to 44 year old group, a little more about education, that light blue bar, and then 45 to 54 year olds and older, a little more on traffic and concerns around traffic and congestion. but still housing across the board. Rating town services. So we asked folks to rate on a scale of one to five some of the key town services, and of course these relate to the public services facility and the two departments that will be part of this. So Basalt Police Department and its role in public safety, great. almost 50% gave it an excellent with another 30% rating it at number 4. The condition of the town streets and sidewalks still pretty strong almost 50% at 4 and another 28.5% at excellent. Condition of trails once again pretty strong support and approval of the trail conditions. And the parks and open space as well gets a strong satisfaction rating at almost 50%, giving it a four and almost 40% at excellent. So then we transitioned into a sample of a ballot question that folks might be seeing for the town's public services facility. So shall the town of Basalt sales taxes be increased $1,175,000 through a 0.5% sales tax increase? And you can see here that 57% of respondents said that they would support that with just under 35% saying no. And as some of you have heard from me in the past, the numbers I really like to focus on are the definitely yes versus the definitely no. So the light blue and the purple. And you typically want that definitely yes number to be higher than the definitely no. Those are voters who have already made up their mind They're not going to change their mind. When they read the ballot question, they immediately knew how they were going to vote. And you typically want to see the yes vote being a little higher there or equal with the definitely no. So that's a positive. Here we can see it by age range and by our county. So you can see support for the ballot question, actually strongest among 55 to 64 year olds, 65 and older, a little more resistant in those younger brackets, 35 to 44 and 45 to 54. And then in the county, a little more, just a little more support in Pitkin County than Eagle County, but Eagle County is still over 50% support. Remember, Eagle County does represent 70% of your electorate, so important to keep an eye on those numbers. The main reason, so anyone who said they were no or unsure, we asked folks to please give us a reason why. And you can see the top reason was the town should tighten its belt and do more with the current funds available. So just, you know, kind of tax aversion, just general not wanting to raise taxes. The second most was other, and I broke those out, but most of these comments were focused on concerns about taxes, increasing taxes, and how that would impact either the individual or the community or local businesses. We asked folks to respond to some messages, some ways we might describe and explain the importance and the need for this project. We asked five different messages in the survey. I've put them in order here of what was kind of most or very important. down to least important. And you can see that the most important at 50, almost 55% was the police and public works department provide daily services to residents, businesses, and visitors. It's important for these departments to have a modern, safe, well-functioning facility that allows the two departments to offer the highest level of service to the community. So really making that connection that these two departments have a real daily role in supporting the community and that they need to have high-functioning workspaces. The second one, very similar though, police and public works. That it's important for these departments to have modern, safe, and well-functioning facility to offer the highest levels. So a little bit different, but still kind of to that same core value of being able to provide the highest level of service. And in third was constructing a single purpose building, optimizes the town's resources, provides more value for our taxpayers. So kind of making that value proposition by reducing redundancy, streamlining operations for these two departments. The messages that were still well received but weren't the strongest here at the top is that they work together to address emergencies like natural disasters, accidents, and special events. I thought that one would be a little better received. And then the one that kind of tested at the bottom was that the town, increasing the town's sales tax by 0.5% to fund this facility would still keep the tax rate lower compared to neighbors like Aspen and Carbondale. So well responded to, but not the most important message for your community members. Finally, in the survey, we asked folks to share any additional thoughts and opinions about the information they received and the survey and the proposal. And so what I did was try and summarize. You have access to all the responses. It's good reading to do. It's kind of like a mini focus group from the community. But on folks who supported the ballot question, there were kind of three main themes. Support for the new public works and police facilities. One person said, I've been in Basalt Police Station before and they desperately need a new building. I couldn't believe how small it was. So good support, identifying, recognizing the need to support the building. Pride in the downtown improvements and infrastructure. So recognizing that the downtown is going in the right direction, the leadership, the decisions of council in the town on downtown is supported. And then once again, confidence in town leadership in future directions. So that's a great thing to have that confidence among respondents that you've got a steady hand on the town's future. Folks who were no or unsure, they talked about tax fatigue and concerns about the cost of the project. Overdevelopment and loss of the small town character and feel and basalt, it was important. And then also concerns about the project scope, the location, where there are alternatives considered. So those are kind of the general, comments i recommend going through them and reading them in detail they'll add a lot of kind of the color to the data in this survey so i'll pause there for any questions and thanks again for letting me provide this presentation to you this evening thank you bill

Questions?

I just had one question, Bill, thank you. On number two, the second page of your presentation, just curious on the numbers, what does LV,

oh yeah the great question i should have said that likely voters so when we do a survey like this because um we want to know kind of who's the who is the likely voter who's going to turn in a ballot in this election and there's ways to review the voter file to kind of see what voters are most likely to participate in and turn in their ballot so then we try and break get percentages from key demographics that match that likely voter profile.

So for like the 18 to 34 demographic, you're saying they represented 4.2% of the total responses, but 17 and a half percent of the likely voters.

That's correct. Typically younger voters don't take surveys. It's just kind of, uh, It just happens. So they are underrepresented in this survey, and they're an important voting block, obviously, but yeah, they're underrepresented in the survey.

Are they a big voting block?

Well, they're 17.5% of your voters.

And that comes from your voter rolls that you've looked at?

That comes from the statewide voter database. So what we do is you look at voter performance over the past four elections and you can research who's turned in a ballot and haven't. And then you can kind of do some different statistical measures to see what the likelihood of different demographics to turn in their ballot in the upcoming election. Of course, it's a guess. But voters are pretty habitual. And so if someone turns in a ballot in every election, they're pretty likely to turn in a ballot in this one. If they only vote in presidential and gubernatorial years, you can with some certainty feel they'll probably vote in this upcoming election since it's a gubernatorial.

Other questions?

my question is now that we have this information what are our next steps and so if council feels like this is good information to move forward and directing staff to start with a ballot language to get that on a next agenda basically for your all's approval Or if you feel like since we had the misstep of lost flyers, additional outreach or more information, if you guys need that more information, you can direct staff to get that for you before you make your decision.

How many more responses did we think we would have if we had gotten the surveys out to everybody?

I think that's probably a good question for Bill.

I mean we could have had a 100, 150 more potentially. We did send a second text message that definitely a lot of folks responded to and took the survey. That second text message had a link directly to the survey. The first time we sent out the mailer, now some people in the town did get the mailer, just one in three got it. And then they would go to the Let's Talk Basalt website and then would have to go to the survey. So in the second text, we sent folks directly to the survey. And I think that did also help increase the response rate.

Thanks. David?

Thanks, Bill, for all your work on this. And I know even with some of them not being delivered, do you feel like we have a meaningful enough sample size to have kind of a critical mass of data to make a decision?

Yeah, great question. First of all, because I do look at that there's good balance. Like, we didn't just have one demographic, you know, like, A certain age group or or just Eagle County voters only answering the survey. You do have a good. Breath of responses here, and I think that's important and. In looking at the comments as well, there's balance there. There's folks who support it and support the town. There's others who have legitimate concerns about tax burden. But in my opinion, I do not see anything in this survey that would tell me to tell you all to stop. Your Wold Construction firm that you brought on, they have community outreach and engagement as part of their tasks. So they're going to be doing that over the course of the summer, which is only gonna get more information out. it's only going to get more community members engaged in this conversation and the need and the solution and if you want to you could do another survey in august to see if opinions have changed or stayed the same on this but i i do not see anything in this survey that would say stop and don't go to the next step of the engagement that wold is going to work on with the town on here because the need doesn't go away right so if you were to postpone you still need to improve your public works and police facilities so the conversation with the community is still of value and important. That makes sense.

I'd like to move forward to that next phase. I'd also though, I'm curious what others think on council, I'd like to make sure that as we do this, we look holistically at some of our maintenance needs and maybe looking at some of the other revenue streams holistically with this and how we can kind of right size proportions with post money that goes to maintenance versus capital and things like that. and make sure that we have everything kind of balanced in that way. I know that's kind of a lot to probably unpack here in this discussion, but I think that's something that we need to do as part of this process.

I think that if we can send out more surveys, not necessarily, I think moving forward with the ballot question, makes sense at this point but i think the more i did take i did read through all of the individual comments um i think if we can collect more information so that wold and our town staff can be more effective in their public outreach right i feel like the more comments we have the more information about where the citizens concerns lie we can be more directed in providing the information to answer those questions more clearly and help them understand what the need is. Because a lot of what I read seemed to stem just from a lack of understanding and how the departments functioned and what their needs were. And I think the more we know, the better we can address those questions.

I'd echo what Angel has to say, that I think we should move forward, but getting out the rest of the surveys and getting more community feedback can only benefit what the road, what down the road looks like.

Jeff, can you work us backwards on the timeline?

That's where I was going to jump in. Thank you. So we have some statutory timelines to meet for, to have the election, that accordingly, the election fall in November. that we intend to participate in the election, so they can plan on having space on the ballot for our ballot question, with the NIGA, with the county clerks.

But the main deadline, the deadline on the decision point for council,

as to whether or not to refer the question to voters is is essentially by your last meeting in august so we would submit the question through an ordinance so that we could we could do it through two readings so set it up for those august meetings um but that's essentially the timeline and so once this is not working so once we Get to August, we'll continue to work on that ballot language and present it to you guys then. And if you wanted to have an opportunity to review that before then, at one of the July meetings, we could do that as well. one of the main issues on the timing for when you submit the ballot question or approve the ballot question is when the fair campaign practices act then kicks in and essentially once you've referred the ballot question that kicks in so there can't be any campaigning by any money spent by the town for any campaign purpose At that point, the only real campaign activity that the town could do is the council could pass a resolution encouraging people to vote in favor of the ballot issue, but that's it. So often it's favorable just to wait until kind of the end of that timeline to approve the ballot measure or to approve submitting the ballot measure to the voters. But those are basically the next steps.

So does that give us time to play with the language.

I think it does. I mean we've essentially drafted the ballot question already. I have a couple of questions of my own to discuss with Gloria and Bill and probably Doug just on some finance related items and I don't know Gloria if it would be helpful for council to see how this tax fits within an overall and I know you've seen this before but an overall funding plan for the PD public works facility if that's you know more information to present the council between now and submitting that ballot question to the voters I feel like I'm missing that as a new counselor that came on board in well technically in April but really my first meeting was in May so I would love to see that because I feel like that's a missing piece for me

Great. Angel?

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to raise my hand again.

From my point of view, last April there was a CML monthly magazine that came out that talked about how municipalities are returning to fundamentals and providing solid basic services. In part, I think this is important because a lot of the health and the sustainability of our community is based on a solid police force and a solid public works department. that people have places they can go at the end of the day and relax and get together. There was an incredible presentation from Justin tonight and police last week or two weeks ago. And I've been thinking about the survey. We missed a lot of people. I was the only one. in about nine houses on my street that got one, that got the flyer. And the beauty of the flyer wasn't so much the survey. The beauty of the flyer was the information that it had in it. And I think that's where we need to go and get out there and, you know, beat the sidewalks or whatever, boots on the ground like these guys were doing, talking about earlier. take the opportunity to use this as a hey let's push restart I'd love to see a ballot question framed by the next meeting and we can discuss it and redraft it and things like that we have time but we can't lose momentum on this issue because if we do it'll be like a lot of other stalled issues it's just bring more anxiety

Can you help me understand why would we like the risks of putting it this ballot measure? Is it just that voters would say no? Is there other reasons to not put this on the ballot?

basically it if they would say no um i mean maybe there's a perception that if with by submitting this does it create some fatigue for future ballot measures but really it's getting a no yeah yeah well if it doesn't go on the ballot it's dead period so just I mean no alternative there's no issue in meeting the statutory deadlines for getting for getting this thing on the ballot there's from a staff standpoint there will be no issue with that if you want to see the language sooner than later we could do that we can do that without you guys actually taking action on it if you just want to see it and chew on it and maybe I'll maybe try to comment on how the language might resonate there's only with a tabor question there's really only so much you can do um in terms of how the the ballot language is is phrased so but just so you can see that we're happy to bring it sooner than later i don't see why we would need to rephrase it it feels like it's very direct and easy to understand

to me I would I would just like I'm a wordsmith there so I like to chew on things I guess one general question for the ballot language in the in the voter survey and for it is if the building kind of has a time frame in which it would be paid off why is there not a sunset on the tax because presumably at some point you've refilled those coffers

I think that's something that we can present to you all with that funding so we'll put that together you probably won't see that until July the first meeting in July because Doug is out right now but we do have kind of a funding plan for it and that does include the maintenance and ongoing maintenance so we had that discussion and we would happily have that discussion with you all on on kind of the pros and cons of sunsetting it

Thank you.

And I would love this presentation. I feel like the quick glimpse that I got at it, I didn't see it in the packet.

She emailed it this afternoon.

Oh, shoot. I haven't been on my- Yeah, we just finished it up. So it is in your email. I apologize. I've not been on my council email.

Yeah, no problem on that. And so as far as next steps go, I'm hearing support for moving forward with the ballot initiative generally, and then working out the kinks in the next couple of meetings. want to set some expectations that you know we do have Jeff will be out our next meeting so I wouldn't I would recommend that that not happen until July the first meeting in July as far as the ballot language and then the presenting of the funding model for you all and then I heard of wanting to keep survey open or how I guess what Bill and I could kind of go back and chat about that to see how we could get possibly more information I'm not sure about another flyer because we don't know what happened with the first flyer so we want to make sure that that that we don't spend our money and then those get thrown away or wherever they went so we want to make sure we have the answers of what happened to that first set of flyers before we throw some more out there again. So we're a little nervous to put that out there without knowing what happened to the first batch.

One of the things we did the same time we were framing a ballot question and campaigning to get a bond pass, was set up a storefront kind of place. And we have that to-cost space that we share with those guys. Maybe there's a way to, listening to someone earlier about all the cars that are parked there, maybe they could be a good window shopping opportunity for people that want to know more about it. And maybe there's a space here in downtown that we can utilize and find some people that might be interested in sitting in there for an hour or two a day but that proved to be very helpful in terms of getting people's understanding of what we were trying to do and wrapping their arms around the issue and you know and then we talked earlier too about the mid valley community that benefits from basalt police and basalt public works on all these amenities that they take care of and protect And I think, you know, there's folks out there that would like to see this happen because they know when they call the police department, they get a response. So I'm like pedal to the metal on this. It's just there's opportunities like this only come around once in a blue moon. And if we don't seize it and be successful with it, we're going to be on the eight ball.

Are you comfortable with Bill and I kind of brainstorming on some ways to get the survey out there without another flyer, but maybe some other ways?

We have the, you know, because it is the summer season, we've got the farmer's market and we've got the concert series and the local vocals. And will it. I think we can gather so much data and get more information out there to people because it is summer and we you know is there an issue putting information booths at those events.

No we were we were planning on it. Yeah.

Yeah. As long as it's done before you guys refer a ballot question. But once that happens the town can't participate in that. Political committees could be formed to advocate for the tax question, and they could do that, but the town wouldn't have a role at that point.

I just want to acknowledge, to Rick's point, I think the advantage of that survey is education. I think this is an education piece for me, because for me, recently having toured the police department, I'm looking forward to tour public works next week, I think I would have it scheduled. I wouldn't have understood the problem right a month ago and felt the pain. And I think sales tax can be a really aggressive tax and like property taxes have gone up a lot. I just I see people hurting. And so I think this is super important and it's really important that we get this right. And I would like to see this get passed, but I can see it being a challenge for folks. I just think that messaging is going to be important. And the more that we can just educate people and let them know that this is a problem because it's easy to not see it, I think.

Yeah, one of the brilliant things I think you guys did with the early childhood effort was to have ambassadors in the communities with information in their pocket, and they could contact their friends and their acquaintances and peer groups. I think that was pretty successful when you were getting the petition.

That's what we're relying on you for, Rick.

All right. I'll be happy to go out there. Excellent.

All right. Do you guys have what you need to keep moving? Yes. Okay. Yeah, were you going to say something?

All set.

All right, I'm going to move us along in hopes of staying a little on time here. We are going to move 7A from the agenda tonight to the next meeting as one of the applicants can't be present. We want to make sure that they can both be interviewed at the same time. So we will move on to 7B, which is the continued public hearing of 555 Basalt Avenue. Basalt Avenue re... development application for special review, PUD amendments, and the associated development review actions for 42 commercial storage units and 30 residential units, 12 work-live units. Do we have the applicant here?

Coming in.

Come on up. Welcome. Thank you.

Okay. Is Justin...

I'm not alone. I'm not alone. Let me go. I don't think they're realizing that.

So maybe... Is it the same as you sent me earlier? Yeah. I can just run it from here.

Thank you.

Okay, so this is a continued public hearing on the 555 Basalt Avenue application. We do have the applicants here this evening. We've got Marika Blodgett and Justin Freese representing the applicant group, and it's an application submitted by MREH LLC, and it's to construct commercial storage, multifamily residential, and live workspace. on the 555 Basalt Avenue property, which is the Myers and Company property. As has been discussed at prior meetings, the process includes land use requests requiring a review by the Basalt Affordable Community Housing Commission, which is BOC, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Town Council. And they had public hearings at both the P&Z and Town Council levels. It also requires a subsequent subdivision review by the Town Council to condominiumize portions of the project. At the last meeting in April, at the end of April, staff and the applicant presented application materials and discussed items that were for discussion. THE COUNCIL CONSIDERED PUBLIC COMMENTS AT THAT MEETING AND COUNCIL ALSO CONSIDERED A PRESENTATION FROM JIM CHARLIER OF CHARLIER AND ASSOCIATES ON THE FEW LANE IMPROVEMENT ALTERNATIVES THAT HE HAD COME UP WITH AS WELL AS THERE WERE PRESENTATIONS FROM THE APPLICANT'S TRAFFIC ENGINEER who is also on the call this evening. Council ultimately expressed concern about the need for an amendment to the master plan typologies, given that the residential and commercial storage components were not integrated in the original application materials. And so the applicant has amended the application materials and they're in your packet. So this evening, staff would suggest council hear comments from staff and the applicants on the changes that have been made to the application since the last meeting in April. And then council can ask questions of staff and the applicants. And then staff would suggest taking public comments and having council discussion. And similar to the last meeting, staff would suggest focusing discussion on items of the affordable community housing benefit, the traffic, the few lane alternatives, as well as the amendment that is proposed to integrate the commercial storage with the residential in the project. So to begin, as I noted, the applicant made adjustments and they're in your packet materials. Specifically, they provided a letter and they provided a revised site plan. And I don't know why it's so big though. And the proposal, as I indicated, integrates the commercial storage and the residential. The applicant removed one of the residential buildings that was adjacent to the park and ride on the north end of the site. And then at prior meetings, the council also had concerns about the level of affordable housing that was being provided. And so the applicant has adjusted the project to include both category and primary resident units to get to a total of 50% of the total dwelling units being deed restricted. which is in the realm of what the other projects that have recently been reviewed include, such as the Jadwin and the BCC project. Additionally, it was identified that there were concerns about the storage being used for other more industrial-type uses, and so the applicant has identified in their traffic report and their proposal that a certain percentage of the storage spaces could be used for industrial businesses as a secondary place of business. And the applicant can talk about that further as part of their comments. There has been a revised traffic study that's also included in your packet materials. And it still has the same conclusion of the prior versions of the traffic study, which is that the traffic that is generated by the current Meyers and Company operations would be greater than that anticipated to be generated by the proposed development project. And so the applicant's traffic engineer is also on the call to answer questions if council has them. And as was noted, Jim Charlier had provided certain alternatives for the few lane. And I will briefly go back over those. There were alternatives that were recommended or that were studied that would include a basically leaving the way it is now under the current circumstances and not making improvements. which was alternative one. There was alternative two, which was basically to rebuild the intersection where the Meyers and Company project is, but leave the rest of the scenario as it is under the current conditions. There was alternative three, which was to widen all of View Lane to make it a full two-way vehicular access that would be the width of a normal street. There was alternative four, which was to convert the Few Lane area into a one way, because currently it's two way traffic, and then open up the Somerset pedestrian path to be both one way access towards Few Lane with a pedestrian path with it. And there was alternative five, which was to open the north, I'm sorry, the east side of the development project to a two-way street and have access there, but change the few lane to a one-way going towards Alexander. And there was alternative six, which was considered, which was basically Turning it into a one-way scenario with a path or emergency bike lane that could also be used as an emergency access as well. And so Charlia ultimately recommended that there were three of those options or alternatives that would be acceptable to the fire district. And they were alternatives four, five and six. So we put those out there for consideration. Staff would suggest if council has feedback on those alternatives, providing that feedback so that the town could study those alternatives and get more stakeholder feedback on those specific alternatives that would be of interest to council. And then as staff identified, staff would suggest taking applicant comment and getting more detail from the applicants on their revised proposal this evening, and then taking public comments, and then focusing the council's discussion on those four items that I identified, the amended development programs, consistency with the master plan, the level of affordable housing community benefit in the project, the traffic generation and revised study, and then the few lane alternatives. And then ultimately staff would recommend continuing the public hearing to a future meeting at which the staff could provide an ordinance for consideration at that future meeting. So I will stop sharing my screen here and get the applicant's presentation up. and turn it over to Justin and Rebecca.

Great. Thank you, everybody. so we are back with revised plans from our previous discussions with city council and since our previous meeting we've also had a couple of neighborhood meetings and circulated those updated plans and and solicited feedback from the neighborhood organizations in the area as well and so want to share the changes with you So the development is still at about 54,000 square feet of industrial storage mixed mini warehouse space I guess is how I'll say right now and I'll explain a little bit further and then we've reduced the Multi-story residential from three buildings to two buildings So A lot of the changes that we tried to address was feedback from not meeting the current master plan and the future land use identification of this site, which was a mixed use commercial. and the typology that was called for for those buildings was a work mix a work live or a work commercial live typology so in doing this we've created a little bit more landscape area on the site we have room we have we are still looking at improving fueling along the southern portion of the site. We've also, there was a component to this about the building height. That was really a discrepancy between the zoning code and what the PUD allowed. And so those combinations were combined and we lowered the heights of the building and are no longer requesting that additional height. And so in doing all of these things we feel this proposal is more aligned with the master plan With the future land-use map and with what's allowed with the current PUD zoning on the site as well So you'll see on the site plan at the top of the site is the residential buildings they are situated on the site closest to the raft of park and ride to try and take advantage of We've also eliminated the middle building, creating a larger green space in the area. These buildings were also modified to receive a small commercial space in the bottom of each building that could be utilized by any kind of general commercial or retail user within that. It's currently an industrial zone district, but that allows for professional office space, a small coffee shop, a small shop of some sort. that area those are about a thousand square feet each 880 square feet and they are provided with parking for those individual commercial spaces then there would be residential above those of those units there would be 30 residential units each building would have a two-bedroom each building would have a studio and then the remaining would be one bedrooms 15 of those units, or 50%, would be affordable housing. Nine would be deed restricted for affordable housing. Seven would be deed restricted as primary resident. Then on the remaining buildings, and you see I've got two shades of pink on this site plan. The darker pink is what we have termed lived work, And so those would be a warehouse type space that would be 16 feet tall and then above that would be a space for a one or two bedroom apartment. The space could warrant that type of area. We haven't fully laid out a floor plan for that, but that sizing could fit into that space. So there are 12 live work units, trying to take advantage of the corners because they would have additional glass and just a better living space. And Five of those 12 would be primary resident, deed restricted. So that would be of the 42 units, 21 total would be deed restricted either by affordable housing standards or by primary resident standards. Then you'll see along a few lane the lighter pink. Those are the units that we've determined and we've had some discussion about this last time and it factors into the traffic study. That could be business industrial use which is considered light industrial. That classifies at a little bit higher traffic rate and so those units would be deed restricted to those uses. The remaining white units would be identified as more either personal garage storage units, or a business could use it but couldn't do business out of that, as in bring customers in, have events, anything like that. And that would be, bless you. I'll jump to the next slide. So on this slide, these are the eight main components of the master plan. The strong sense of place, sustainable, resilient, community, complete and balanced community, connected and accessible, thriving local economy, healthy and active, safe and prepared, and collaborative and inclusive. We've kind of touched on each one of the topics in there. I don't want to read. this to you verbatim because I know there's people that wanted to speak tonight. But we think through the changes by adding in some more of the live option but also some more of the commercial and industrial option. This truly does create a mixed use commercial development and it creates the work mixed use neighborhood typology to this. So here's the breakdown again of the residential units. So again, 34 sale condos, 15 deed restricted, and then 15 market rate units, and then the 12 live work units, and five of those would be primary resident. Meeting the 21%, 50%. Of the total number of units, the town current requirement is 25%, so we are doubling that. And across the top, there's a note that the Basalt Master Plan also identified back in 2020 that the Basalt had a goal of trying to create 500 new affordable housing units by 2030. To date, 53 have been built. There are currently 51 in the pipeline, but not imminent. is my understanding. And so we feel the addition of both the affordable housing units and market rate housing units is a benefit to the community from both sides there. Next slide. One question that we had come up was the live work. How does the live work factor into this? Which part of that was the work mixed use typology that we found from the master plan. What we saw is and what we've seen people use similar type units is contractors or tradespeople artists or makers. I think we've discussed in the past caterers or food trucks possible storage there. We talked about small business owners that could utilize this as their house in their office and You know, we have seen in other jurisdictions and other development projects I've worked on that are similar, people use these as professional office spaces, so it wouldn't be out of the question. The numbers that we have historically and we've provided to Planning and Zoning and Council is we've seen typically 20 to 30% of these get used by businesses, but we have allotted for, it's right at about 50, 52% could theoretically with the live work and the industrial be used by business owners. I will say I just did a recent kind of market study. The current units for sale or for lease in town, there's a 380 square foot office space across the street here for lease, and there's a 7,500 square foot industrial space for sale on the south side. Having a thousand square foot warehouse condo space kind of provides to the missing middle of business owners. The next one. So this is the updated traffic study. We do have Curtis on with Kimley Horn. He has done all of our traffic studies to date. A lot of our calculation and where we've looked at what we need restrict or what we don't need restrict is in looking at the numbers. The Myers property as part of the Southside traffic study had a number of trips it generates daily and so that's been factored in and the Throughout this whole process, we've been trying to keep that number at what it currently creates or less. Based on these numbers, even with the live work and the industrial trip generation, it is showing a decrease in morning traffic by five trips and a decrease of afternoon traffic by two trips. Now, that's just an hourly peak generation. And the way that was factored in for the live work was a morning unit was taken away in the morning, because if you live there, you're not going to commute to work. You're going to walk downstairs. And then a morning trip was taken away in the afternoon. And that's how that was balanced out, because you're already there. That is for the resident of the unit. If someone comes to work there, that's factored into the number that the trip generation manual And I can let her speak to that.

And then I will jump to the last slide.

So the last discussion topic, and I know this is a very key discussion topic to the neighbors, is few lane and that improvement. We went through the process of having Jim Charlier do options the last meeting. The applicant and the neighborhood have shown support for the option D, which is creating a one-way in. The red arrows on the screen show that circulation pattern And then we would need and it also brings together the intersection at Somerset Creating more of a It would create a one-way in with a stop sign at our proposed development and then also a stop sign at Somerset exiting versus kind of the five-way Intersection that's on-site right now This would remove The fence on the site, it protects the current landscape by protecting about 50% of the existing trees in that. Right at the intersection. It also steers high school traffic towards Southside and Basalt instead of coming through the neighborhood and creates a pedestrian path both for fire safety and neighborhood users. That path also wraps around the east side of the site and up to the raft of Park and Ride. And we think overall just would generate better safety, better visibility, more walkability overall on the site. And so we would be in support of proceeding down this route with construction drawings to show those improvements if approved on the project in the future. I'll jump to the next one. So I mentioned neighborhood outreach. So there were two neighborhood meetings. And then I think from that, there was probably 10 or 12 emails that also came in that the applicant personally answered, responded to, looked at different options and ways we could try to provide within the design some additional options as a part of this plan. And I think we have some neighbors that have either emailed or are here to speak to that this evening. So just to wrap everything up, you know, we've removed the need for a building height exception. We've removed the need to amend the master plan based on the building typology. And we've basically almost maintain the same number of residential units available, both affordable and market rate, but distributed it through the site and reduced density by creating the green space. So this plan is more aligned to the overall master plan of Basalt. We are asking for one request to amend the master plan, and that is to provide housing in this zone district. So currently the PUD has to follow the industrial zone district of the town of Basalt and that district allows for housing as long as it's reviewed under a special use. And so that would be the one amendment but that amendment is kind of forced to us because housing is linked to any new commercial development. So we feel that that is aligned with what the master plan is requesting to say create housing with any new commercial development. And all of those align with future land use and the mixed-use commercial zone district From there we are here to answer any questions we have the applicant and we have our traffic engineer and I'll close I Think we'll go ahead and open the public comment Unless you wanted to have the traffic

person go now. Okay, great. He can be available. All right. It is 7 44 p.m. And I'll go ahead and open the comment for item seven B. Come on up. And just a friendly reminder, state your name and your address.

My name is Blake Reiner.

Address is 353 Branding Way. I just want to touch on the traffic study first. If I have time, I'll get to some other stuff. But in my opinion, what looks questionable is the most significant issue is what the study doesn't show, and that's the daily trip totals. It shows peak a.m. and peak p.m. The existing use generates roughly 193 to 204 daily vehicle trips, adding to the proposed use worksheet with 30 multi-families, 15 deed restricted, 15 primary market rate, 12 live works, and the storage units likely produces 400 to 500 daily trips. The study buries this by focusing on the peak hour comparisons where the numbers look favorable. The internal capture assumption for the live-work units is very aggressive. The study treats every live-work trip as entirely internal. So again, meaning the resident walking from their upstairs unit to their downstairs unit. But in practice, we know that life goes on and you leave your unit. And that unit might have customers coming to it or deliveries. Or clients coming to the business or that owner of the business needs to leave to go get supplies, gas or food. So those trips are not counted. The baseline is also worth scrutinizing. There's two count days and they produce very different results. The February 2026 AM peak was 42 trips. nearly double the May 2024 figure, which was 22 trips. Averaging these two outlying data points to produce a baseline is favorably against a methodology choice that benefits the developer. And then lastly, the study also acknowledges that it's uncertainty noting the industrial units could be used by facilities generating higher traffic volumes. That's a significant caveat buried in the methodology section, sorry. And really quick, while I have 52 seconds, I think the few lane thing needs to be looked at. I think it's a very important topic. I believe that the fence should stay there because it creates a separation from the neighborhood to the mixed use industrial commercial side of Southside. It kind of gives the residents a sense of I've arrived, I'm in my neighborhood. So that could be looked at. And also, I think it just needs to be considered south sides crippled by in one way in and one way out entrance, whether that's for wildlife or wildfire dangers in the future or something that happens at the school district. I think it's pertinent to the town, the council. And everybody in Basalt considers other entrance methods to Basalt Southside, whether it's through Cody Lane at Southside Drive under the highway or Cody Lane entering the Valley Lanes of 82. But those are my thoughts.

Thank you.

Thanks.

All right. Come on up.

Hi, my name is John Fitzpatrick, and I'm the president of the Basalt Business Center East Association. some of my talking points um on this cody lane will receive a hundred percent of the traffic of the residential development we're currently coming out of that meyers property nothing comes down cody lane cody lane is a substandard road it's narrow than narrower than most normal developments it has no sidewalks curbs or gutters We want people to walk safely to town or bicycle to town. We'll have families living in these residential units with moms and children and strollers and little bikes and kids walking to school. The portion of Coding Lane that development exits onto also has an ongoing drainage problem with standing water after storms and ice, and it's ice all winter. And this was caused when they built the raft of parking lots. They raised the elevation. and which caused the drainage problem. This has been complained to prior town boards, administrations, CDOT, RAFTA, but it always gets kicked down the road. This has to be done. We need to make improvements on that section of Cody Lane before we can move forward with this. This mix of added traffic, pedestrians and bicycles, and the large park and ride that comes in and out of there is going to really cause a lot of, I think, dangerous situations for pedestrians. But it's going to be a big impact on existing businesses. Now we're adding all this traffic on that road. that goes to a short intersection. The planned roundabout at Cody Lane I don't think is an answer for the congestion on Basalt Avenue and the 82 intersection. We need another egress to the south side. We already have 60 units that are approved but have not been built yet. That's going to be taken into effect. That's going to add also to this intersection. I think the town needs to get serious about this problem also with the counties and CDOT and needs to get up to the front burner. That's really going to be the answer for the problems that we have here at the intersection. So I say a minimum Cody Lane needs to be improved before any approval can be granted. We were invited by the Blodgetts and they gave us their development plans and we did raise our concerns there. Thank you.

That is three minutes. that is three minutes if you have more to say someone else can say it for you but i'll keep us on time well i had a few more things to say but i guess my time's up that's my time so thank you all right i see some hands raised online but if we have more folks in the room i'll take them first anyone in the room or we can move online Come on up.

My name is Maureen Fitzpatrick. I'm also on Cody Lane. I'm the treasurer of the HOA there. So I'm going to reiterate what both these guys said. Number one, it has to be a second egress out of there. Being at all the high school activities, I am so surprised nothing has happened. That you get a fire truck in there, you get an accident in there, and... boom, nobody can go in and out. Yeah, you got Rio Grande, that's not so great in the winter. So my huge concern is the Cody Lane intersection and the proposed roundabout and the pedestrians, bicyclists, baby strollers, we got response coming in, got people, we got more people going to schools. That's my huge thing. There are no sidewalks. There's open ditch on either side of the road right now that the Cerise run water whenever they feel like it. And so those are huge concerns of ours. And then I'm kind of bummed that Cody Lane wasn't even talked about in your presentation, but that's the exit and entrance of all the residential. Few lanes talked about, but never Cody Lane. And that's where our concern is. Just a month ago when we had a meeting, it was flooded the road going that little road that's not even used but five times by cdot allows so that is our concern and then people will walk through a parking lot there's no sidewalks they may build a sidewalk but then to the underpass there's no sidewalk to there um

That's it. Thank you Maureen. Anyone else in the room. All right.

We'll take Brandon online if you're ready to talk.

Uh, thank you. Good evening. Mayor night members of the council. My name is Brandon wine stock. I'm a property owner at 336 Allison lane unit B in the South side neighborhood. I want to be clear from the start. I support housing development on this property. Our value is short on housing for local workers and families, and I welcome that conversation, but I have serious concerns. About this specific proposal, and I hope the council will consider them 1st, the storage and undefined commercial uses. This proposal includes 42 mini warehouse units and units and 12 live work warehouse units whose commercial uses have never been clearly defined. These live workspaces could accommodate any number of uses auto repair, fabrication, music, studio, small manufacturing. Each with its own noise profile, its own traffic, and its own impact on the neighborhood. We do not know what we are approving. Our neighborhood already has a large storage facility to the west on Southside Drive. Adding another to the north would leave Southside flanked by storage on two sides with undefined industrial and commercial activity on the northern boundary. as well i would ask the council to strip out the storage and commercial components entirely and approve housing only second and this is my biggest concern the fence on few lane in my written correspondence to the council i asked that the existing fence be preserved i want to expand on that position tonight the existing eight foot fence along the u lane is not just a screen it is the boundary of our neighborhood it is what gives south side Its identity as a distinct private community, removing it does not just change the view. It physically connects our residential neighborhood to an industrial and commercial development, erasing the separation that has defined Southside for years. This proposal replaces that fence with a 25 foot landscape setback. That sounds pleasant on paper, but what it actually means is that every time a Southside resident enters or leaves on the lane, they will be looking directly at the exposed backside of a row of storage units. That is a significant degradation of our neighborhood's character. I would ask the council to treat this as a non-negotiable condition of any approval, that the existing fence must be either retained or replaced with an equivalent barrier upon completion of construction, regardless of what else is built. And third, Somerset Lane. I understand there is support for converting Somerset into a road but i want the council to think carefully about what that means right now the challenge on somerset is occasional e-bikes and scooters moving too fast the proposed solution is to make it the primary exit road for the entire neighborhood every vehicle leaving southside residents gardeners contractors plumbers amazon ups fedex would turn from Alexander onto Somerset, traveling directly past the daycare on both roads before exiting onto the Salt Avenue. I'm not sure how that is safer for children in the current situation. Feu Lane has its challenges, but it functions. Targeted safety traffic improvements are needed at the intersection of Feu Lane, Somerset, and the entrance to the new development that can address safety concerns without converting a quiet neighborhood path into a through road. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Brandon. Next, we'll have Jenna.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can. Whenever you're ready.

Great. Thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is Jenna Alfredo, and I am a property owner at 304 Somerset Lane in the South Side neighborhood. I'm here to share a few comments on the 555 Basalt Ave project. I support the housing component of this project, and I think the addition of affordable housing units to Basalt is great. However, I have concerns about the proposed live-work storage units. I think it is important to distinguish whether these are housing units or storage units, because it'll help make it clear how these units will be used and how that use will impact our neighborhood. The lack of clarity makes it hard to understand and hard to support. My primary concern, though, are the proposed changes to Few Lane and the Somerset bike path. I strongly support safety improvements to Few Lane and the Somerset bike path that are the addition of sidewalks along Few Lane, crosswalks, stop signs, and speed limit signs. However, I do not support altering the traffic flow on Few Lane, and I firmly oppose converting the Somerset bike path into a roadway. Southside has grown into an area that is filled with local families and people and dogs who are out walking, playing, and enjoying the parks. Changes to the Somerset bike path would remove a neighborhood asset that is heavily used by the community and would drastically increase car traffic into our neighborhood, resulting in huge changes. So in closing, I just want to thank the council and the mayor and the town staff for the opportunity to comment tonight. I support the housing portion of this project, and I believe it can be a positive addition to our community. However, I do have concerns about the live work storage units. Their purpose isn't clearly defined. And given that Southside already has ample storage, I'd like to see a stronger case for how additional storage benefits our neighborhood before it's approved. Finally, I fully support safety improvements along View Lane, but I would ask the council to preserve the current traffic flows in the Somerset bike path as it is. The Somerset bike path is a cherished part of our neighborhood, and I believe changes to it will alter our neighborhood drastically. So thank you.

Thank you, Jenna. Thank you. Any other commenters online?

No, I'd like to say something.

I'm very concerned about.

And if you'll state your name and your address, that'd be perfect.

Joe Forrester, I live at 326 Allison Lane in Basalt. These multi-use habited or occupied storage units are a bit of a concern. because I can't conceive of who is going to live over a storage unit, commercial or otherwise, in an apartment of don't know how many square feet that could possibly be. And they're gonna look like pyramids sticking out of the other storage units, I would imagine. I think you said, both of them said, the fence that lies there today has got to be rebuilt. No question about it. Because I imagine somewhere in the documents, I read 35 foot heights. I don't know what that is. I couldn't conceive of it. A storage unit is maybe 12 feet high, normally. Now, these occupied ones are going to be 35 feet high. That's probably as high or higher than some of the houses in Southside. I don't know what's going on. Originally, I thought the big issue was going to be just keep the fence on full lane Keep the separation No walkthroughs up to you know, the bus stops You have you know, the one-way road I think is a great idea one way in one way out But the height of these units is very questionable Thank you.

Thank you Any other commenters BOMO Media, I see your hand is raised.

Excuse me, this is Brian Sager again at 437 Allison Lane. I also am concerned about the height. I think one thing that's interesting is people speak of this fence somewhat lovingly. If you look at the fence, it is hideous, but it's only 10 feet tall, and we're about 10 feet tall. So if we notice it at all, which it's hard to do from most of Southside, it's a non-issue. But I believe what the proposal is saying is that we'd potentially be going from 10, 15 feet structures to potentially 35 feet right at the edge of what's currently the Southside residential area. And it's something I'd like to hear more about. If it is, in fact, 35 feet, staring out at the Southside residences, I would think that it should be a non-starter. The residences closer to the highway, existing at 35 feet, I don't think is terribly concerning. But instead of looking at what really is just a 10 foot high ugly fence, we're looking at lights and structures that create a new barrier to a residential area that already has storage units bordering on one side, I think that it would be a very tough sell to anyone that calls this outside home. Thank you.

Thank you, Brian. Another commenter in the room?

I could talk. Well, first off, good evening. My name is Mark Blodgett. I actually own Meyers. And as many of you might have observed, I've owned the company for 10 years. I usually sit in the back of the room, and I'm usually quiet and let these guys do all the talking. I thought tonight I'd share a few thoughts. As many people in the room are listening who are long term residents know, Bob Myers was instrumental in developing Southside. He originally owned the Rafta property before selling it to facilitate the expansion of the bus service. As Marek has mentioned and Justin several times at both P and Z and town council meetings, we are not developers sitting on a bare piece of land. We are business operators. And due to a growing, and everybody knows this in this room who's listening, we're dealing with a growing shortage of skilled workers. We pay the highest wages imaginable to attract workers to Basalt. And we're dealing with a mega shortage of workers. Even though we pay higher wages, they don't want to commute to Basalt. Forget about driving on to Vail or to Aspen, that type of thing. So two years ago, we made the decision that we need to move our business to be a viable business. So we're moving to the I-70 corridor. We've already made that decision. That's a decision that's already been made. We've already located a nice facility to move to. So that's already in process. Basalt, like other local communities, of course, has a mega housing shortage. Justin shared his remarks in terms of the shortage, so I won't go through that. We've listened to a lot of comments over the last 18 months from neighbors, P&Z, and town council, and we've made every effort to adjust our development proposal accordingly. But we've reached a crossroads in terms of the future of 555 Basalt Avenue. Our property is one of the last significant parcels that allows for housing right next to a bus stop. There are very few parcels, maybe one in Carbondale. As the town planning department knows, we're considering two offers to purchase our property from large construction companies. With large amounts of heavy equipment, but actually probably double the number of employees that Myers currently has. What does that mean? That's going to generate much more traffic than what we've shared up here with the traffic study. If we sell to one of these two companies, it's going to be substantially more traffic in Southside.

All right, thank you.

You don't want me to finish.

We everyone gets three minutes.

Yeah.

So we're in public comment. If you guys want to speak as the applicants after you've wrapped up public comment, you can do that. Yeah.

Speaking as a public commenter. Can I speak at a public commenter?

I was going to say, I would let him just go ahead and speak for the, as an applicant.

I can speak as an applicant then.

Okay. We'll just finish the public comment. Okay.

All right. Any final public comments online or in the room? Hearing none, it's 8.06, and I'll close the public hearing and open it for applicant comments and council discussion.

Maybe I'll just finish what Mark touched upon, which is you know, that we're at the crossroad. It's not an option that we just stay. The livelihood of our business depends on moving, and we are moving. So we can either go down the path and pursue one of the offers that we have, which, if you think about it, our site is only attractive to a business that has a lot more traffic, unfortunately, because everybody else would be in rifle. But if you have about a fleet double our size, it makes sense to pay the premium to be where we are. So unfortunately, and I'm just sharing this with you because I think you have a right to know this. Or you can move ahead and think, OK, there's maybe an opportunity to develop some housing next or after bus stop. But for us to stay there, is impossible. So I just want to share this with you, that this is the choices that we're currently facing. And that's it. And I think maybe Curtis, I would love to have Curtis maybe comment regarding Cody Lane, drainage problems there. We've asked James about that.

Yeah, Curtis is our traffic engineer if you want to know any more about how we calculated the live work or discussion on those. So I don't know if you want him to jump in now or if we want to discuss and bring him in.

We'll let counselors ask their questions first, and I'm sure there'll be some questions on traffic you can speak to.

And yeah, again, I just wanted to go back. I'm not sure if this was clear. Traffic, I understand traffic, but if we move, traffic will be unfortunate. I'm just being really candid here. It'll be through the roof, because that's the only alternative that we have, which is what the site is. It's not what I want either, but I'm a business operator. As I said, I'm not a developer.

Then why are you developing?

Oh, I don't need to.

I would love to. We can't have a discussion between public comments and the applicants. Who asked that?

I actually would love to answer it. I believe it's the best development for the site.

All right, Angela. Yeah. Your comments about who would move in after you, just the traffic comments, they're coming across kind of like a threat. I don't know if that's how you mean it, but it doesn't look well. my major concern with the development and i do appreciate your updates i think that you guys have done a lot of work and you've really listened to the feedback you know you can tell that from the green space from integrating the housing with the commercial i think you've done a really good job over overall but i do not understand why you would have 12 live work spaces and only three of them be ro because Why would you have live workspaces that aren't for people who live and work here? Can you help me understand the choice to only make three of those RO?

So it's five of them are RO? Five out of 12.

I don't understand that either.

And so we looked at it from a standpoint of if there was a company that wanted a warehouse space here but maybe had a primary business in Denver or Salt Lake or something like that, they could utilize that as a next stop warehouse, but also use that as either employee housing or if somebody wanted to utilize the space just as a work and wanted to rent it out to subsidize the ownership of the unit, they could do that then. And it didn't have to be primary at that point. and so we asked we also reached out to James for some clarification just on deed restricted live work and there's zero examples of that in basalt so that's been we've been trying to figure out exactly who that would be the person that would live there and that is also why we skewed to putting resident primary resident occupancy on live work and putting the affordable housing units in the multi-story because we figured it was more likely a business owner that would want to live and work would be a primary resident and wouldn't be a deed restricted affordable housing type. So that's why there's more over there. I think we've discussed entertaining, increasing that number.

We're not sure either, to be perfectly honest. We were debating it a lot. Who would be interested in it? We just want to make sure they're being used. I think we're probably open on this. We're not entirely, we haven't perfectly figured out. We thought, okay, let's make some of them and leave some of them for other possibilities of use.

It was, the live work with the deed restricted was, as you can tell, a bit ambiguous because that is that typology of Could you own a business but use it for employee housing? Could you own the business and live there as well? And so we wanted to keep some flexibility there, but we envisioned it kind of what we settled on was we thought it would likely be someone locally as a trade person that then would use the upstairs for their apartment.

Okay, thank you. Mm-hmm.

I'll just say, so I try to read these packets pretty closely. I had a tough time following the numbers in the packet, and I see things are changing, right? Even it says here three, and now it's five. That's fine, right? So just stepping back, I'm brand new here, right? And so I suppose the details, more philosophically how I feel about it, I really appreciate all the changes. And I remember when you were here last, you asked for specific comments, right? About like, why don't you like this project? That kept me up at night. I felt really bad that we didn't give you enough comments. I see like, there's a lot of reasons I think the town should be engaged with you. And I see that you're like a willing partner. I see all the changes you've made to your project from the last time you were here. And I appreciate that. And I appreciate you reaching out to all the neighbors. it is clear that there's infrastructure problems all around you. We have to deal with Few Lane. We have to deal with Cody Lane. There's a lot of problems that are being voiced that frankly is not really your responsibility to solve when you're just talking about your parcel and we're talking about high school traffic. That is the town of Basalt. And I appreciate you being a partner in that. You're right next to transit. There's a lot of reasons to be engaged in this project. With that being said, the problem is the storage units. And I'm just totally honest with you, I don't like the idea of storage units. But I understand my role here is not to just base off of what I like, but to evaluate the public benefit. So I'm trying to get there, and I'd like this to be, as brand new, I'd like this to be a project that I could vote for, even though I personally don't like it. And I could see us getting there. But my challenge with these storage units, when I think about who's using it, I think of like there's three groups, right? There's the local resident who needs extra storage. I think that person's needs are probably met. There's a lot of local storage around. So we're talking about business owners who need this commercial unit, and they're gonna want that unit to be as profitable as possible. And that's why last time I was asking a lot about foot traffic and people being able to walk into that traffic. And if this is something where the local residents and people living in Southside have a new coffee shop or a yoga studio, where all of a sudden this is a business that me living next door, I walk to, I appreciate that. Right. And it's not just something that somebody is going to drive to pick up a toy and drive somewhere else. And that kind of goes to the third user group where I basically it's big Aspen with big toys and big budgets. And when I see that local business owner who's trying to build a business competing with somebody with a huge budget who's looking for a place to keep their toys and have their you know, I hate the word man cave because I think that gives it a bad rap.

But that makes it really hard to support.

And so I guess where I'm trying to go with all this is I would like to support this project. I really see how much you're working with the neighborhoods. As it is now, I see you're working. You're here for some feedback. It's not quite there in my view. I think it has to be something that all the folks who have written to us and stood up and spoke against this project, I want to be able to go back and advocate on your behalf to them and say, hey, I don't like storage units either, but look what the town's getting out of it. And 20 years from now, it's not just like today, this is the benefit, but 20 years down the road, we're still going to be using this and saying, hey, this was a tough battle. It was a lot of back and forth, but look what the town got. And this was a big win. I think this is a parcel we could have that conversation. So that's just kind of my feeling, my thoughts on where we're at with it.

And I guess to just kind of touch on that briefly, it's, you know, when we started planning this out, traffic was one of the key items. And so that led us down the road of storage. But we did plenty of market research and market study. Mark and Marika actually were connected to me through a storage development group that I'm a part of. It's storage, yet it's a different type of storage that has market demand. And so part of it is a response to market demand because of just FAR rules and of people having toys and the struggle of putting them somewhere in a place. But then also, and kind of over time creating and looking at how do we blend both keeping some industrial uses in the south side, because it's industrial in nature, but then also introduce that storage because it helps to mitigate traffic in there. Any more intense commercial use other than Some of the storage in light industrial is going to generate exceedingly more traffic plus housing, and so it's that balance of those items. So it is storage. It's just a different type, and there appears to be, from all of our research, a market demand for it.

yeah i i just see that market demand being up valley and that's just not what makes basalt super special and like looking forward and one of our things it's just you know the other nights i just want to note like for the staff asking us to direct our comments we're talking about the alternatives so few lane and all these infrastructure like that's the town right like yes you're next to it there's parts that you'd be you know the pedestrian when I see the alternative just to throw some feedback we were talking about feedback on that I like alternative five where it's got a road going through your parcel seems like a good one I can see how that could be a challenge but I can see there being benefit to it the one that was four I think seems like a decent one I share the concerns about turning turning Somerset into a road Currently, it's a bike lane. I think it works well as a bike lane. Turning that into a road, I think, has some challenges. I appreciate it. I've never felt that that fence, I go by that fence almost every day when I go by it. I have never appreciated that fence, but I hear people saying how much that fence means to them. Something to consider, but I don't know if that's the be all end all. Then just the last, the traffic generation study. We can get into the traffic. I think that's sometimes really hard to kind of debate back and forth. I see your variables you put in there. What I don't see in there is just the tolerance for traffic and tolerance for the road capacity is 100%. I don't want to see it at 100%. So where's that variable that says, I don't want to have a road that's used to its full potential. Let's dial that back. That doesn't seem to be the variable. And I think that's the pushback with this traffic study. When we're really talking about numbers in and out, challenging because nobody wants to see you really busy heavily used what i do see and i do understand is the traffic patterns change and so it's not like just coming in in the morning and leaving the afternoon having a project where people are leaving throughout the day changes that traffic pattern and i think it probably does make it better so as far as like the traffic study part i think it's really hard to get behind and buy those numbers of less or more like it's just so hard to say with those numbers but i do see how that changes the traffic patterns And I personally would like to see stuff that has more walk to traffic and that's something that some we would walk up to a bike to or something like that it's not just somebody driving in going on the storage unit and driving out.

So in previous iterations of planning and zoning before surely a did his options. We presented that we would provide a 20 foot setback. or 20 foot easement. That way the lane could be widened if it was made an option. There was concerns about that becoming a two lane road and then speed and safety on that. and then also creating more of a walkable natural landscape there. The fence, we would entertain putting a fence back in there, but the fire department, just getting access to any development into that, you would either need like exit gates or breaks in the fence. So that's preventing us somewhat from saying put or replace the fence in the same way. That path serves a purpose of both pedestrian, but also fire safety access.

We're thinking maybe more like trees along the instead of the fence that would be, you know, still a clear division for the neighborhood. But again, that it's also up to say, you know, emergency services.

David, you want to jump in?

Yeah, I have. First off, I just have a question for James. During the presentation. I think Justin talked about a special review for a PUD amendment, residential, but in the packet it talks about a, I'm still having, needing a master plan amendment for that. So I wonder if you could elaborate on that for us. Just want to make sure I understand that.

Yeah, sure. As part of the prior application version that did not integrate the housing with the storage and commercial, that would have required a master plan amendment to amend the typologies for the project. um in that the typologies required integration between the residential and the commercial storage piece of the project staff does believe that there would still be a master plan amendment that would be needed to the future land use map because the applicant is proposing to redevelop the entire site And the site is currently existing land use on the future land use map. Now that is not unique to this property. We've got some other properties that are also proposed for redevelopment and we've got applications in on them. that are shown as existing land use and they're proposing to redevelop the entire sites. So that would still require a master plan amendment. The use of residential in the development in the industrial area is a special review use. So they do require the special review approval to do residential. If they were just adding residential to the site and keeping the existing facilities, that would simply be a special review and not a master plan amendment. But because they're redeveloping the entire site And the current master plan future land use map has it as existing land use that that still requires an adjustment to the master plan. But as I indicated, you know, that's not unique to this site.

Okay, thanks. That helps clarify some quick comments. I just wanted to thank the applicant for their presentation and the public for all the comments are a lot more Public comments lately, both written and people showing up, so that's great. And I also appreciate the updates to integrate housing commercial to better align with the master plan and all those points there. And that 50% of residential being affordable resident occupied. I'm still, in looking at the application, I'm still reluctant to do a master plan amendment, even with that explanation from James because I just don't feel like this development in and of itself would greatly enhance the quality of life of the community and some of the things that the master plan calls upon for amendments. I would be supportive of looking at something more broad for this neighborhood. And I think that's what we probably need to do in the long run is figure out from an ingress, egress, transportation standpoint, traffic, all of the elements around here, how would we do this right rather than one parcel kind of trying to make it work there as far as approving and adjusting master plans in order for that to fit in there without looking at the bigger picture in the area so that's those are my concerns with this i think since the master plan was written circumstances have changed it talks about the jobs housing balance and some of the things over in that area and i I do think that this parcel being so close to mass transit would have a lot of benefits from a housing standpoint. But again, I think we need to look at that more comprehensively as far as the neighborhood and traffic and transportation versus just, well, this is what's in front of us right now. So take it or leave it. We're going to, you know, we need to do something with this. I think we need to, you know, think about this. Like Greg, I believe you mentioned it, you know, how are we going to feel about this, you know, decades from now? I don't know your exact words, but that's kind of what you insinuated. We're going to feel good about this. And I think in order. be in that state that we're going to need to look at this more comprehensively as far as the master plan for this neighborhood, not just for this site. So that's where I'm at at the moment.

Can we comment on this? Can we address this?

Of course.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's my understanding that the very amendment we're really seeking relates to the housing component of it. So it's, I don't, I have a hard time understanding how we're supportive of the housing component, but not of the amendment when the only amendment we're asking for is for there to be housing because we're allowed to develop industrial as is. So all we're asking for is for there to be housing because we're next to transit. So I'm, I'm not sure how we can do both create housing without triggering that very specific master plan amendment.

An individual amendment is too narrow in my mind for this site. I think we need to look at the neighborhood more holistically.

In what specific way? Because unfortunately, that's hard for me as I'm trying to figure out next steps to figure out how to work with a comment that says we need to look at it holistically. I'm a business owner. I got to run the business. It's not you.

That's not a you thing. I'm just not supportive of a master plan amendment for this application for one side. I'd be more comfortable looking at an amendment to the master plan for the neighborhood.

I think the dilemma that Marika's pointing out is we followed a PUD zoning and a master plan with a mixed-use commercial and a work-live typology that prior to that, we weren't following that in hopes of providing a better development. We're steered towards following that more closely and now we're being told that actually an amendment to the master plan with additional thought and time might be the right thing. And I think we have shown our willingness to work and change and evolve it. And so that's kind of where the plan has gone in our P&Z meetings and council meetings at this point. And so to say steer the plan one way and then steer it the other way and then we need to look at it further is kind of giving us ambiguity.

And you could make the very clear argument that the master plan goal of 500 affordable units by 2030 is 396 units short with no plan. You could clearly defend making this the one amendment. It's such a, if there was will.

I want to tell you about the last three months I've been trying to fill just three deed restricted units. I've been helping my husband to fill three deed restricted units, a category one, a category two, and a category three. They're all two bedroom, two bathroom units. And I thought that It take me weeks, you know, because everybody wants housing. It took me months. And I don't know exactly what that's about, but I think that we're learning a lot of lessons right now about affordable housing, about who really wants it, about if people actually want to live in this community or just work in this community. I'm only sharing that with you because I think it is something to consider and it has made me look at developing more affordable housing and it's just given me more of a pause. Not that we shouldn't do it, just that if we're missing any of the marks, that make it desirable or attractive for people, like what are we not doing that we could do better so that the affordable developments that we have come up in the future are more successful. I personally want to figure out what that is because I want these units to be used as they're intended for. And so I think that like what David is saying is we don't want to make a decision just based on this one development. We're trying to look at this neighborhood as a whole and figure out what is the right thing for the whole neighborhood. And your development, honestly, as good as it is, and I'm really impressed with how it's evolved, it's a little bit the cart before the horse. This neighborhood has some real infrastructure problems. I don't feel comfortable, honestly, hanging that on your door. Like, I don't like the town being dependent on a developer to fix a problem that I see as our problem for our citizens who pay taxes here, who drive on those roads. That's not really your responsibility. It's our responsibility. And we have a situation now in this neighborhood where people feel unsafe walking They feel like their roads aren't being maintained. And you're just here, you're asking to do this development, but it feels like there are some issues that need to be thought through and remedied before we could make an educated decision about what you're proposing.

See, the issue with that is that you have guidelines and rules and regulations. for that purpose so that people can't suddenly say, oh, I feel it needs to be broader. This is why we're following all the rules. And this is why a town has rules, so that we feel, OK, we know the guidelines. And just saying, oh, broadly, there are so many issues, that puts us at a relative disadvantage to anyone else anywhere else wanting to do something. As a property owner in this town, arbitrary, for lack of better words. And I'm not saying you to say, well, there's so much going on in this. We've done two years of studies showing that what we're proposing is not using up any more infrastructure than what's currently there. And that's the whole point of traffic, engineering, flood plain, civil. This is what we've spent two years on showing that. Do the issues go away? No. Do we contribute to fixing them by the fees that are being assessed? I believe so. But this is all I can do for a solution for this. Again, I'm going back to the point. I'm a business owner needing to move. I wish I could wait three more years until the town has figured out how to amend the master plan to make all this. I can't, as I've said. And as I've said, we're just trying to create this housing. And this goes back to your point, filling these units, are they for sale? We've made it a very point to have every affordable unit for sale, to allow people to build that long-term. Because I think people are not that keen on renting long-term and having these affordable housing units. And then their income goes above the threshold and, oh, they got to move. And this is why we made them for sale, so that they're tapping into a market. I don't know how many units there are, James, but I think...

There are eight, no, there are 10 regular for sale units, and then there are the Basalt Vista units in the town's inventory that are 27 units that are managed by Habitat for Humanity.

Yeah, so basically we're doubling the pool of open market and affordable housing that's available to all the people, and we feel like it's a real difference between the rental pool, hopefully. allowing people to build long-term equity in the community.

Thank you. Angel has her hand raised online, and then Rick.

Yeah, thanks, Rick. James, sorry. One quick clarifying question before I go into my comment. Kind of plain and simple. Could the Blodges develop this parcel into all storage units under their current zoning with no amendments?

The storage use is a permitted use. They would still have some affordable housing mitigation, so they would have to go through special review still to provide the affordable housing with it.

Okay. So we have to create housing.

Yeah, yeah. But that's a requirement that we would be the zoning allows for all industrial with the exception of course the requirement that we are placing on them as a town through our codes to mitigate and create affordable housing.

Yes, correct.

OK. It's not something we would entertain and I can go into the reasons if you're interested, but.

No, no. I appreciate that you let us know about what your alternatives are. I didn't see that as threatening. I think it's important information to have. And it kind of speaks to the old adage of the devil we know versus the one that we don't. Not at all trying to imply that y'all are the devil. But to me, this proposed development has really highlighted a lot of existing concerns, particularly with the traffic and the safety and the drainage and that aren't your doing. And as other counselors and mayor have pointed out, aren't your problems to solve. And that's really, truly unfortunate for you all because To echo some of the other comments, I do want to commend you for your patience with this process and how you've listened and how you've adjusted your plan. And you do seem to be invested and concerned community members that want to try and do the best thing for the community. And I appreciate that. think what I'm seeing here is that we're having a hard time sadly you know kind of differentiating between what clearly needs to happen in Southside which seems to be that we the town need to address some infrastructure and traffic and safety concerns and how do we Proceed with this and that together and separately, you know, it's kind of the question It's It's tough because then at the same time, you know, a lot of the pushback seems to be about the storage units so it's okay well if if we want the housing, which I think it's pretty well determined that everybody does and What's the alternative you know it trying to nail down like what are some specific. Directions we can point the budgets in to try to help you know if we can say the town that we're committed to the South side South side residents and addressing their concerns. That have arisen because of this you know development or at least brought to the forefront I'm sure they've been screaming about for a while now. Then then what do we. Where do we go with this development, I guess, is where I'm going. If storage is the concern, what would be the preferred alternative? Is it just mixed-use commercial with small businesses and small business operators? Would it be preferred to allow them to just sell it and it be continued to be used as purely commercial industrial with a large construction operator? I can understand that we can't just ask them to wait and wait and wait while we figure out those other issues. They have to make a decision. We have to help them make that decision. So it begs the question of, you know, what's the better alternative here?

Thanks, Angel. Rick?

Yeah. Besides all the other comments that have been made, the one that I take to heart is the one that you made earlier about getting calls from people who wanted to buy it and maintain a similar use. And I think that that, and we've also touched on the small town character topic, which you ask anybody in the room what their definition is, you'll probably get a lot of definitions. so that that in David's comments talking about the character of the south side and understanding that unfortunately infrastructure deferred was a way to defer growth 30 years ago and now we have some deferred consequences from those infrastructure improvements that should have been made to accommodate what we were trying to build within the urban growth boundary The other thing that I'm interested in knowing more about is what benefit will it bring to the local economy? We don't, I don't know, I can't say we, but I don't particularly like the idea of a global construction company that's gonna build an airport for the next five to seven years. Or another expansion of the resort amenities up there that are gonna attract someone that will utilize it as a staging area for their billion dollar contracts. I'm not exaggerating lumberyard and airport and then abandoned it in five years and we're still stuck with the same conversation I think there's a way jointly to address a phasing approach to infrastructure improvements some other traffic management issues have come up I don't know what your phasing looks like I'm warming up to the you know the idea a little bit of this project I like the way you presented it in the context of what's around it. We see more of that. I also think redefining the work. One of the reasons I think Angela's running into issues with finding people to occupy units is people that had that need for the last five or ten years have figured out that they're not going to be able to stay here anyway, so they've left. that out migration is one of the data points we saw at a cog Northwest cog convention or a summit so I think there's promise here I think that I also appreciate that counselors have mentioned that some of these infrastructure improvements are on the backs of the town i mean there's a lot of shared impacts that are out there schools development that exists you know we we don't have any place to go with our tiered ugb approach because it's all been conserved So we're locked down with what's there for any kind of housing. We can develop it within our boundaries I think if we can get a few more housing units and really define What these work live workplaces look like there was a lot of conversations about that. There's a couple people here That understand that better than I do And try to accommodate and build an incubator type environment over there where a small business can grow move on to a bigger space and uh we my business experience the same thing we were at a small office in the aspen business center we got we didn't have to go as far as rifle but we had to go to carbondale at the end of the day which put more trucks on the road and did a whole bunch of other stuff that was kind of impactful so i think if if we get our arms around what we need to do within that footprint that includes few and somerset and the access to the schools then we have to get our hands around i think the roundabout that's been proposed there is a band-aid personally um i don't see it being functional this this one that's here is it's okay i guess but don't see another one on the other side of the highway doing much for the development over there it still has one way out and so i i'm warming up to the idea that we can find some reasonable answer to your issue here or solution i don't know what it is yet but those are but i do know there are probably people out there that would like to get a hold of that piece of property to do something that would be a lot more impactful than what currently goes on there or what even may be proposed in terms of traffic generation thank you go for it

one clarifying question first you mentioned option D when you're talking about the traffic is that is that alternative for we have mismatched terminology okay so I'm going to start with something concrete and then I'll go into more emotional response I like alternative for my question would be is it possible to make Somerset a fire access only so it just stays a bike lane for the most part and then but it allows fire truck access as needed you know we could have that conversation with the fire district and PD we haven't had that conversation with them it might be an alternative that still gives

you know, in an emergency situation, in and out traffic. It could be something we could look at, sure.

That's my thoughts on that. So there's something concrete. There's a lot of emotions in this. And one thing I just want to say for the record is the Basalt Master Plan, which I worked on at a previous firm, was done 2019, 2020. So we are experiencing some of the same hiccups with that master plan that you're experiencing as a business owner with your employees not wanting to do the commute and just sort of changing demands for the use of that property and that sort of thing. So we're really on the same page here with regard to that. um we're realizing that some of the things that were built into the master plan are not as practical now that covid has sort of shifted the environment and shifted the economy in this valley so please bear with us a little bit as we sort of like externalize this conversation a little bit um I love the idea of using this brownfield, which is essentially what it is, not using greenfield space for, you know, I know there's some proposals in Eagle County for affordable housing on greenfield space and people are pushing back on that. So I understand like the value in using a brownfield space for whatever the next use is, but just like conserving the land um and we do need affordable housing it is close to a bus stop i think the issues of the sidewalks and the safety and all that is stuff that we can work through um i think the area itself is changing it's there just aren't as many industrial uses necessary in basalt anymore i think just the the The landscape is changing. One of the first things that came in front of me when I was on council the first time in 2020 was a car wash that is on the parcel across from Big O Tire over there. It's still not built. It's six years later. And I think that just goes to show that they're just the demand for those sort of industrial uses is changing. With that said, we do have rules in place and we do have to figure that out. And that's on us. I think that the safety piece is like I just want to acknowledge to the folks that commented that we hear you and we understand. I do think it's a little bit unfortunate that you followed on the heels of Bill Ray's presentation about trying to talk about ballot language, because one of the things that always comes up is that small town character. And how do you define small town character? And so that's really fresh in our brains right now because we just had that presentation. And I think for me, that's the glitch. is when I think about all of the different ways that we could use that brownfield space, the one that I feel like basalt does not jive with is these like special toy housing. And I think that's where I'm struggling the most. I love this idea of maybe a business incubator. I'm thinking about like the south side industrial area and like there's like little businesses in there like the whole empanada and I think there was the gym in there for a while and things like that. I could totally get on board with that. What I'm struggling with as a representative of this community is this visceral reaction to this idea of being somebody else's toy storage. I think that. Oh, one question for you. Based on the previous use as a iron, metal. Steel fabricator and erector. Does the property need remediation?

What do you mean by remediation?

As far as we know right now, it does not. You had your phase two.

Oh yeah, we had phase two, we had phase one, no. Okay, I was just curious.

Nope, the phase two came back with minor comments and so we didn't see any issues on that as we were working through all the floodplain engineering.

We actually have a pretty recent one. Okay, great, thank you for that.

Just in response to that, I think, you know, as we've evolved these site plans and actually I got involved with the Blodgetts in 2024. Prior to that, they actually had another development proposal that looked at making the whole site residential, making it mixed use commercial, making it retail pad sites, you know, different layouts like that. And to me, I think part of this, it always goes back to traffic, right? If you make... 50 units of business incubator or coffee shop or professional services, now you can't have as many houses because of that demand just based on the numbers, how they factor out. And so how do you create the commercial use that kind of supports the building of the houses and the affordable housing? And how do you maintain that traffic in and out of the neighborhood? to the standard of what it is today or less. And so in just looking at all the different business uses, business possibilities, that's what we've had to factor in there and informed us in some ways along with just the market research and talking to commercial brokers as well.

Would you have considered instead of removing one of the residential buildings, remove one of the storage buildings, go back to your, the original had high density residential, and then the storage, is that something you'd consider?

I think what we looked at was just maintaining the same number of units for deed restricted and primary residents. We think that there is a market for live work and actually in the master plan there was a proposal going down Southside Ave up to the high school of live work. But we felt that there would be higher demand towards the multi-story type units and also they would just by construction cost and valuation be more affordable in those category buckets that BOC has. We have also looked at revising the site plan in different ways that would reduce some of the units down. It's really kind of an economic sliding scale there. And the industrial uses or the business uses help to build more housing, essentially.

It's also from the outside, you couldn't really tell if there's one more or less. Do you see what I mean from the outside? And given that it almost generates no traffic, it's kind of removing one. you wouldn't get so much benefit from it in terms of density. Like you get from removing one of the housing units where you can, because you couldn't create a green space in there because it's gated. But removing a residential one, we were able to create that green space, which we thought made more sense. That's, I think, how we approached it.

Yeah, I appreciate the green space. I don't really like the fee-in-lieu kind of thing. I see how the green space was kind of a requirement for the residential. I just mentioned it. I'm just looking for ways. I want to get there with you. I want to be able to support this project.

And I'm just sharing with you how we kind of thought about where we got to.

James I have a question for you but you may or may not know the answer to I know there's a project in I'm working on a project in Glenwood Springs with habitat where they have a percent of the units that are for sale to employers but they still have to rent them as RO sure is that an option here so that the

Yeah, that could be an option. We've got other development that has been approved and is in the development pipeline where that's kind of the scenario.

That would sort of address what you were saying like if you had a Denver business owner and then they were using it to store equipment or something for job sites here and then they had they could have their employees rent it as long as long as the employees were living here in the valley that sort of marries those two concepts.

That's interesting because there's two firms I know of that one has 80 employees and 60 of them are working out of state, but they all work in the Colorado environment. And the opposite is true of another firm here that is opening in Denver and other locations out of the state that are still doing work here and performing work in Denver and everywhere else. So there's this... you know new technology where you can do that and i think that's a really good idea to to see you know who's bringing in who to do what and maybe talking to them because there's going to be a lot of resources that are going to be imported here in the next 10 to 15 years that aren't going to have to have big offices or big spaces or

anything else yeah we were talking about like traveling nurses in glenwood because of valley view hospital but i think like a similar of course the timing's off but for the sake of argument a similar example would be like if you had folks here coming into the valley to work on the airport construction or something like that yeah we've seen in other similar communities that you know the specialty trade contractors you know typically

it's large warehouse going to smaller warehouse, whether it's lighting, lumber, iron, something like that, where it's fabricated, but then you can bring it closer and work there. But also if you're on a job site for months at a time to be able to give the employees a place to stay while they're completing work, it would bring those trades closer to town with that type of ownership.

All right.

I was having a listen to the conversation, kind of help with the path forward here a little bit. I think we've heard kind of a variety of viewpoints on the application, but we are reviewing this application under our code and the PUD and the master plan. and ultimately there need to be action of counsel on the application and for us to counsel to take action the best way for us to do that is to tee up some kind of ordinance now the kind of the different areas that I heard kind of the different threads that were pulled through the conversation that I think staff could explore further with the applicant and that could inform some conditions for an ordinance that could be brought back to council for consideration. I think I heard some general consensus on taking a look at the housing proposal to see if there can be tweaks to that, particularly as it relates to those RO units and some of the live work units. I think there are a lot of questions related to, well, what public improvements would actually be triggered by this application? Help us understand what those might be on Cody Lane, on Few Lane. On the Few Lane, it would really be tied into, well, what's the traffic alternative that would be preferred by council? We had the three guess alternatives that were in that recommended option from the town's traffic engineer the applicants prefer number four and so you know maybe that's a place to start for evaluating some of those improvements and then if it comes back and councils like well I like four but maybe I need to see these tweaks that at least is kind of a stepping stone within this discussion I think there were some Questions about buffering of the site to the neighborhood. So staff could maybe explore that with the applicant a little bit about what might that look like. And maybe restrictions on how to address some of the impacts from potential commercial uses. And then maybe some further discussion with the applicant on kind of, as they mentioned, that sliding scale of, well, if we reduce any of the commercial aspect of this, we're going to have to reduce the resident... If we cheat, well, there's essentially a cap on what they're, I think, willing to propose here based on the traffic impact. So depending on how you slide that scale, there can only be so much housing on the site because of the additional traffic generation from it. think that was kind of those are the issues that I heard that were just you know kind of pulled on by council and in James I didn't know if you had anything else but it could be direction for us here is to continue the public hearing give staff an opportunity to work with the applicant on a draft ordinance try to address these issues as best we can in them and then and then there's something in front of council to further deliberate on and potentially then take action on.

I think the one other thing I would suggest is if we're looking at things as like sliders and sliding residential and industrial uses, whether there is an opportunity for a trade off of these storage units for more of the live work or incubator space. I think there's more of an appetite for that.

I think we're open to that.

And is there a mechanism to ensure that that's serving local residents? That's the competition of, if we have somebody with big toys competing with that, I think that could be really a challenge. I love that idea, but is there a mechanism? I know Aspen's got commercial space that's gotta go to local serving businesses. And I don't know if Assault has a similar program, if there's a way to do something similar.

We have a similar program downtown. Nobody's really ever taken advantage of it. So we could look at that and how it might work. It's basically a deed restriction on the commercial that has limitations on how it can operate.

Angel, go for it.

Yeah, sorry. I was actually just going to echo What was just stated that I didn't feel like Jeff captured was that a lot of the public pushback and negative sentiment seems to specifically be directed against the idea of storage units. And so I would like to see further exploration of, if not storage units, what would be acceptable forms of commercial use and Is it viable? I can understand that the budgets have done years of market studies, and we may want to see something else, but it is possible that the market doesn't support it. And if that is the case, I'd like to see those studies as well. And then my only other second point is I think it would help the South Side residents if we could you know, make a statement as a council and say, look, we hear you. No matter what happens here, we are going to prioritize addressing the, you know, our direct staff to come to us with some options and, you know, all of those steps that have to be taken, these infrastructure and traffic concerns that you have there at Southside.

Yeah, I think that's important.

just one quick one is maybe james can uh sometime in the future present the south side impact these look like and what they can be used for seems to me we're talking about a neighborhood within the south side part of town that would receive infrastructure improvements that would benefit the adjacent neighbors and community and school and so on with pedestrian improvements. I'm wondering if that's eligible for the funds that we've been collecting, I guess, over the years or if there are still any left.

Yeah, staff can report on that and give you a kind of magnitude of what we've got in the coffer. All right, thanks.

And is there any Brownfield grants?

I'm not sure. Staff hasn't looked into that. I don't know if the applicants have.

Yeah, I don't know if it's a brownfield either. It's always worth a shot.

David, go for it.

Was that for me?

Yeah.

Yeah. So yeah, storage units, I just want to pile on that. That is a detractor in this application for sure. I think there's other benefits that you guys have going on. And that's a lot of what I see as far as if we're going to make changes to the master plan and do things kind of in a non-comprehensive way at some point here, it's the storage units are working against that. It's not enough of a community benefit to do that in my mind. Just being very candid with you.

Do we feel like Jeff's list is the right thing to have applicants take a look at and come back with or does anyone have any other threads they want to make sure are addressed?

Yeah. So, you know, ultimately, this is the applicant's application. So they're going to bring it forward in the form that they want to present. But we can discuss these issues with them and see there's any changes it might be able to address council's concerns and you know then needs to be again reviewed and decided on by council under the code so I think that's that's our next step so to try to tee up a motion it would be or I will tee up a motion which would be that council could move to continue the public hearing to June 23rd you want to 23rd to June 23rd 2026 with direction to Council to discuss with the applicant the issues that that I've identified and to prepare a draft ordinance for Council.

The motion.

So you could say so moved. So moved.

So moved. Do I have a second?

Second. All in favor. Does that give everyone enough time? That was my only question.

Well, if it doesn't, then we can continue further.

So second.

Pam, we do need to do a roll just with people remote.

All right.

OK. Let's begin with David Knight.

Yes.

Elise huddle yes. And a Berman yes. Angela Anderson.

I feel strongly that the South side residents are owed an update to their infrastructure for their own safety. And for that reason, I'm a no.

No, no. OK, thank you. Rick Stevens.

Yes.

And Jill do pray to chart. And Greg chaffin yes. Motion carries 6 to 1.

Thank you for your patience, willing to work with us. Thank you for all of your feedback.

Thanks for coming out tonight. Thanks to all of the Southside residents for chiming in as well. We're going to move to item 7C, public hearing and second reading of ordinance number 10, series of 2026. Carlton and James.

Hey, Hannah, sorry, real quick. It's midnight where I am and My all my devices are out of battery and I'm going to hotel lobby. So I apologize profusely to everyone, but I'm going to fight off.

Thanks for being here. Thanks for staying. All right.

Make sure I got the right stuff up here. Good evening, Council. Carlton Henry, Planner 2 at the Town of Basalt. Here to introduce a public hearing and second reading of ordinance number 10, series of 2026 to create article 23, expedited review for affordable housing in accordance with state proposition 123. For a little background on this, Colorado voters approved Proposition 123 in 2022 to create a state affordable housing fund, which funds the construction and preservation of affordable housing in the state of Colorado. In order to qualify for funding from Proposition 123, the town is required to provide proof of affordable housing development, which aligns with the number of units as identified in the town's housing needs assessment. In addition to proof of affordable housing development, the town is required to adopt an expedited review process for affordable housing development as required by Section 2 of Colorado Revised Statute 2932.105 to remain eligible for future Prop 123 funding. We talked a little bit at the last meeting and first reading of this ordinance about why we've split this apart from the land use code update process and about some of the processes available for acquiring grant funding. We were instructed, we being staff, at the last council meeting to provide a little bit of background on Prop 123 funding. I have Jess Garrow here with me from Design Workshop, who's assisting staff in updating the land use code as well as providing the local amendments which address expedited review for affordable housing in accordance with Proposition 123. The proposed code amendment requires review by Planning and Zoning Commission. Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed this ordinance and provided a recommendation to Town Council for approval in accordance with Town Code section 16267. Planning and Zoning Commission approved the ordinance by a vote of five to zero on April 21st of this year, and that recommendation to town council as well. You guys reviewed and unanimously approved the draft ordinance on first reading on May 26th of this year, and as mentioned, council directed staff to provide some additional detail on the Prop 123 ordinance.

uh program uh at this time i'll pass it off to jess and um then i'll be available for any questions or comments that you guys have great thanks um so hi jessica garrow with design workshop glad to be with you um prop 123 as carlton said was approved by the voters a few years ago there's about 300 million dollars available across the state for communities through prop 123. The program is split between DOLA, which includes funding such as local capacity grants. That is some money that the town of Basalt has received for code-related work related to ADUs, et cetera. And then there is kind of 60% of that money is for more of the creation of affordable housing or the preservation of housing, and that's through the Office of Economic Development. And so those are the funding sources that are available through Prop 123. There are essentially two pieces that are really important in terms of adopting the guidance within Prop 123, which is adopting a specific goal related to the amount of affordable housing, deed-restricted housing that you will increase in the community, and then adopting an expedited 90-day review process for projects that are 50% affordable housing, which is what this code amendment would do. um the proposition identifies specific thresholds related to ami and there's an option for basalt to have some higher ami levels there's a kind of rural resort exception that can be included if desired right now what we've recommended is to adopt the state limits which is Rental housing at 60% AMI or below and for sale which is 100% AMI and below. And so that is what is included here in the proposal. And then the really important piece in why I think this is in front of you now is jurisdictions who adopt this prior to the end of this month are eligible for additional funding through DOLA. So you're eligible for an additional $45,000 essentially kind of capacity planning grants, et cetera. So that's the kind of high level piece. Happy to answer other questions if you wanted to dive more deeply into Prop 123. But it's an exciting program from the state and is continuing to be funded despite some of the other changes that are happening at the state budget level. So happy to answer any questions.

How is the 90-day triggered? Is that after BOC, after all those, or if it goes live when the applicant is submitted?

It's from the date the application is declared complete. So there's a process that we've included in the code that really encourages people to go through a pre-application process. order to understand what are the various requirements that they have the town then has 15 days to do their completeness review and then once it's declared complete that's when that 90-day shot clock kicks in we've shared the draft language with the state and they've done kind of an initial review provided some comments and so this language reflects their feedback to make sure we are tracking The state has provided some guidance related to applications that are maybe just bad, right? They don't want communities to be in a situation where you have to accept something with insufficient information or that isn't matching what your code says. And so there are opportunities for kind of delays, I'll say, in the process. You have to follow some specific rules about that. But if we need an additional study, there's an opportunity to pause wait for them to submit that and then your kind of shot clock starts again there's also multiple shot clocks so land use is one and then building permit is a separate is there any is this all staff to determine that the applicants complete yeah and that's currently the case with land use applications as well public hearing

yes do we have a public hearing on this one yes okay all right it is 9 13 and i will open the public hearing hearing none i will close the hearing at 9 13 and open it up for more comment thank you i just have one question would parcel 9 meet the applicability requirements for this

It would not. The AMIs that are being targeted for parcel 9 to be able to make it constructible are higher than these limits.

So nobody's going to do this?

We're checking a box.

Checking a box. We're checking the box. Let's check the box. Okay.

I was just going to say, I think staff and the working group really wanted to keep the AMIs at the state level so that we could kind of meter it in to see how it works. Love it. Great idea. Yeah.

Great. And thanks for staying attentive to that. So if we're not getting applications, we can adjust things as needed. I would entertain a motion.

Mayor, I move that the town council adopt ordinance number 10, series of 2026. Second. Second.

All in favor? And we'll do a voice vote because we have folks online.

Roll call.

Roll call.

OK. Let's begin with Rick Stevens.

Yes.

Angel Dupree-Bouchard. Oh, she's dropped off. I'm sorry. Greg Schaffran.

Yes.

David Knight.

Yes.

Elise Hoddle.

Yes.

Anna Berman? Yes. And Angela Anderson? Yes. Motion carries.

Thank you.

6-2-1.

Thank you, guys. Moving on to item 7D. Hey, Hannah.

I'm going to excuse myself as well. I've got to kind of get going here with the day. But if you guys, Gloria, would you text me when we get the parcel nines? I'd like to rejoin that if I can.

Yes, I can do that. Thanks, David. Thanks. All right.

See you guys.

All right. Starting item 7D, public hearing and second reading, ordinance number 11, series of 2026, Carlton and James.

all right still me uh carlton henry planner two at the town of basalt here to introduce uh public hearing and second reading of ordinance number 11 series of 2026 for adoption of the midland avenue district design guidelines and associated code amendments Staff recommends that council hold a public hearing and second reading for this ordinance to adopt the design guidelines and reference the guidelines in chapter 16 of the municipal code through code amendments to section 1629, which is the C2 downtown business district and 1630, which is the CSC zone district. For a little background on this, back in summer of 2025, Town Council passed Resolution 29, series of 2025 to approve a contract with GM Shea Architects in order to perform consulting services and establish a set of architectural design guidelines in the historic commercial district of Midland Avenue. Fast forward to this year, on May 19th of this year, Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the draft ordinance and held a public hearing in accordance with Section 16267 of the Municipal Code. Planning and Zoning Commission approved the ordinance unanimously with the condition that staff address public comment given during the public hearing. Staff addressed that public comment and presented that to council at the May 26th meeting of town council. At that meeting, council reviewed the ordinance and held public hearing in accordance with that same section of municipal code. Council approved the ordinance on first reading unanimously with the condition that staff changed the name of the certificate of appropriateness to the certificate of acceptance This change has been reflected in the guidelines and shown throughout including on that certificate itself Council also directed staff to research properties that may be affected by the historical orientation section of the guidelines. Staff has conducted that research and is happy to discuss that further this evening. The orientation and placement of structures adjacent to Luxinger Lane, placement of Mod's Thai House, the placement of the Salt Mountain Inn are all examples of open space patterns that could or should be retained through redevelopment. Staff has determined that the guidelines enable historic structures to remain in their existing location. However, relief is provided for applicants through the waiver process and relief is also available for applicants wishing to bring structures closer to the street. GMJ Architects has provided a final draft for review by town council, which has been attached here with that certificate of appropriateness amended. as i just discussed um town staff has also included the associated code amendments for consideration by town council as was the case at first reading happy to answer any initial questions otherwise as mentioned this is a public hearing all right we'll go ahead and open the public hearing at 9 19. come on up

I continue to question the accuracy I continue to question the accuracy of the guidelines in particular to start with the designations we discussed this last time I was here the guidelines indicate that the inland Midland hotel is pioneer vernacular, I received through James and Carlton a letter from Jessica Hubbard dated May 26th, identifying that because these landmark properties are not formally registered, it's a period of significance that remains to be open to interpretation. And I really don't think moving forward anything should be open to interpretation because what I am now learning is that the guidelines are being somewhat adopted into the code, which I'm a little surprised by because I didn't think they were rules. I thought they were just guidelines. So I emailed James and we have now gotten the language that I didn't see before, maybe I missed it, that the guidelines are being added for new development, redevelopment and renovation in the C2 downtown business district and they shall comply with these guidelines.

And I would like to read the definition of comply.

Comply is a verb meaning to act in accordance with another person's wishes, requests or demands or to obey a specific set of rules, laws or regulations. So it's my opinion, just as somebody that has to deal with guidelines all the time. And if these are not rules, I think the word comply needs to be eliminated entirely. I don't think this is something that anybody wants to sign a document that says they're complying to if for one, they don't agree with it. And there are questions about some of the designations. I still have concerns about the orientation of some of the buildings. A lot of the buildings, the commercial buildings on Midland Avenue align with Midland Avenue, and that's in the code that you're able to do that. I understand that you have a waiver process, but I also remember maybe one or two of you had mentioned maybe we're going to be up to our ears in waivers. So I'm really concerned about some of the items that are listed in these guidelines, and I think they need to be revised before that they are adopted. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other folks? Come on up, Laura.

I thought I had a late work schedule. So yeah, I'm a little confused because I came to your work session, and my main question was, do these guidelines change the code? And I was assured that they did not. And so this specifically says that approving the amendments to the Basalt, you're voting on approving amendments to the Basalt Municipal Code Chapter 16 zoning. So it seems to me that this is in fact a zoning change. And so I, it seems to me that this would be a much bigger process. Jessica assured me everyone assured me. This is just guidelines. This is just a wish list This is but it's got a lot more teeth than I was led to believe So You know, and there is this appeal process, but I would hate for you to rely on an appeal process and waivers and that kind of thing that's going to bog down any, you know, bog down the council, bog down staff, bog down a homeowner or property owner. And I would encourage you to get it right the first time. same questions about the compliance to say in there that if you submit an application you have to comply with these guidelines seems to be a disadvantage where you're saying yeah I'll do everything you say but you don't have a process you know you don't have an opportunity to to appeal Anyway, so as I mentioned in my letter, I'm better at just reading. As I mentioned in my letter, there are too many problems with this document. I think this document is a bit of a knee-jerk response to some things that were going on in the town. And I just... think it's happening too quickly there's parts that are inaccurate that are misdirected and some that could be considered punitive which could cause problems down the road I ask you to send this back to the drawing board and at the least or consider scraping it entirely I think the c2 code is pretty comprehensive and I I just don't think you should put forward a document that seems to me to be kind of thrown together and not entirely accurate and maybe not the best benefit for our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other commenters in the room or online? Perfect timing. Michael?

all right hearing none i'll close the public hearing at 9 25 and open it up for council comments um i'm happy to respond to the public comment i'm going to take these kind of in reverse actually first i would note that one of the public commenters had noted this was a knee-jerk reaction the direction for this Effort actually dates back to the 2020 Basalt Master Plan and efforts that directed staff to consider additional policies for the preservation of historic structures and places. It's a direct quote from the Master Plan. Additionally, this process began towards the beginning of 2025 with discussion related to residential and commercial design guidelines. Several of you who are sitting in front of me here today were part of those extensive conversations related to the creation of residential and commercial design guidelines. Through those conversations, it was determined that there was not a political will locally for residential design guidelines, but there was a political will for the establishment of commercial design guidelines. Then for approximately the last year, staff has worked with GM Shea Architects and hand-in-hand with members of the public through extensive community outreach to develop these guidelines. There's been ample opportunity for input throughout that process, and so staff would just emphasize that this has not been a knee-jerk or a hastily approach process. I'll address the mention of the zoning code. There's no proposed, as I've mentioned, the code language is included as part of the agenda packet this evening. There's no change to things such as the dimensional standards or setbacks in the proposed code language. The proposed code language would adopt the design guidelines by reference. similar to other guidelines that the town uses to direct development within the town.

Can you just dig in on that really quick? If we're adopting a guideline through code, where is that on the spectrum of a rule to a guideline?

If they're adapted into the code, applicant has to follow the guidelines got it it doesn't i'm not going to opt out of the guidelines have to follow the guidelines within the guidelines there's uh flexibility and discretion it's not pers there are a lot of shoulds related to architecture there are some i think There are some shells, but it's the process itself and following the design guidelines and is is a a flexible one and not, you know, for example, you know, if you're building new there's not like mitigation requirements in there. And so it's, I think, designed and Carlton, feel free to add to this, but I think it's designed to be somewhat of an interactive process with the count, with the staff and working through those guidelines with the new application. Because the other thing I would say is I think the guidelines are intended to kind of to work particularly We're can't in hand particularly with structures that are designated already as historic structures. And so there's Requirements or elements of the code that address preserving structures that are designated as landmark historic structures so I think some of the issues that maybe the site development elements of the guidelines as opposed to just like the architectural features, they kind of go hand in hand in that these things are gonna have to be resolved together because of the existing historic landmark structures of the code to get design guidelines put a little bit more of a suggestive direction on that. I'll try to describe it. Is that fair?

I would agree with that. I would also add a couple other items. Because the design guidelines are not going in the zoning code, the ability to change them will be a little bit more flexible in the future for council, for planning and zoning commission, should problems arise, right? Or should... best practices be approached after these design guidelines are applicable for five years, 10 years, whatever that may be. Additionally, the ability for flexibility for applicants is easier. Currently, if you approach the zoning code and want a variance from that, you have to prove that there's a hardship Through the waiver process, there is a less demanding ability for applicants to find an easing of the requirements should they come forward and propose redevelopment. and so the hope is that this again acts in tandem with the zoning code it doesn't overwrite the zoning code but it is a set of design requirement or design guidelines that are yeah then there is a compliance aspect to them as well we've discussed that at length but i hope that answers your question yeah it does thank you

Is this something that we should set it and forget it? Or is this something that we should review every few years? Is that an option to say we're going to adopt it, but we're going to review it at a certain time and date to see if we're running into any issues?

Yeah, I'm not sure how that could be written in. I'm sure there could be a condition added to the ordinance. I can't see why not. And a lot of the documents that we do return to on a regular basis are already prescribed to be returned to you on a regular basis things like the master plan or something like a trails master plan or a transportation master plan but again because of its flexibility i see the ability to return to this at a future date particularly if there are you know individual problems that arise did you have something there

Yeah, this is a legislative process. You guys can revisit this anytime you want, but within the ordinance to approve and adopt the design guidelines, you wanted to have a condition of we want a future council to see this again in two years or whatever the time period might be. That's fine. It can be brought back. That's not to say that there'd be actual action or a requirement for council to do anything, but it's at least something to say, no, we'll make sure this gets back in front of you then.

not attached to it but I just think it might be a good idea just because this is our first foray into design guidelines and we're you know frequently talking about unintended consequences so I just thought it might be good to have a mechanism to check back to see if we're causing anybody a hardship or the guidelines are making more trouble than they're worth.

I like getting the policy out there than being able, I mean, we've already got some reactions, but being able to make some tweaks.

I had one question. Go ahead. On page 44, it's 3.3-4.

The very last paragraph where it says building, it's about the determination of non-contributing buildings. And it says, buildings in this category are encouraged to be restored and may be eligible for preservation incentives. Just curious, like, what are those incentives?

We do have some historic preservation incentives in the historic preservation section of the code. Most of them are actually more geared towards residential for the most part. There are incentives in there in terms of reducing your minimum lot size for a lot split. There are parking reductions, which could be a commercial component. There are ability for residential to be able to add ADUs Even if they're under the minimum lot size, there are floor area adjustments that for historic structure, you can get more floor area allowed. For commercial? For commercial or residential, yeah.

And then the only other thing I'll mention for this is... I feel like there's a lot of in here. I'm just not qualified to comment on all these design guidelines. I've been on my local, the HOA, our design review committee. There's a lot of stuff here that's like very architecture speak. And the intent behind it, I'm on board. I think that Basalt is a beautiful community and I want to keep it looking the way it is. So I think the intent behind it, I'm fine with. I like reviewing it, like the waiver process. that there's two parts in it that I have a really tough time with and I don't think I could agree with as written. It's on page 52 under 4.3 when it talks about the key goals of this. And so we talk about a waiver process like going back to the key goals of this document. I like all of them except for this protection of property values. I feel like all of these things will protect property values and having that as a distinct goal. When I think in the future in a waiver process and an applicant coming saying I need this waiver because of property values. I just have a tough time with that. I feel like I'm here to represent people. I think profit will speak for itself. and often speaks very loudly and so i just would rather not i don't want to see that in there i think that's a real challenge i also don't like the one on 54 page 54 4.4 in the parking where it talks about um fee in lieu of parking and basically saying to preserve historic character discouraging parking there's been a lot of comments already about parking challenges and i think that anything that's a fee in lieu i'd rather see the public benefit than a fee in general that part you know i think i can defer i'm see how everybody else feels about it but for me at least i would want to see removing that part talking about a goal of these design guidelines associated with property value

Yeah, I heard two things. I heard Jeff say that this will go into the code. It'll be under the guidelines, which an applicant would have to comply with. And then if you needed a variance or wanted to appeal, there was a process. And I think you said that this is not going into the code. So I want to make sure that I'm hearing the same thing from both people.

They're incorporated into the code by reference.

So it's not like you have to electrify your house.

No.

Or is it you know or F.A.R. Well code says currently we're adopting codes building codes that require electrification.

Yeah.

And I guess the distinction here in the code here this is a guideline that's right.

So just say what you said. So that's incorporated into the code. So there's it's not. Person that the properties that are now subject to these design guidelines through the code There's not an option to just not follow them They have to be followed because they're part of the code and the property subject to them But within the guidelines unlike a building code a building code is black-white prescriptive. There's a lot of much of this is focused on architecture and design and the limited extent kind of site development. There are shoulds and shalls, but there are guidelines in that there's a process to work through in how those get incorporated into a site, and there's a process to not have to comply with some of the guidelines that is not a big prescriptive process like seeking a variance from a from a you know like from a setback requirements it's part of kind of the interactive process of working with staff and how these design guidelines will that will that then replace the variance process yeah no sorry what's the process called for options it's a wait so i use the wrong word waiver instead of variance sorry yeah but it doesn't replace variances for a variance to the zoning code

the waivers are related to the things that are within these design guidelines okay the other thing i think i asked for was just some visuals i mean there's a lot of architectural illustrations in the packet that gm shape provided but they didn't look at the footprints of existing buildings kind of the layout of downtown what what the redevelopment scenario might look at alpine bank and the back side or potentially somebody mentioned mods or modes you know Clayson came in and did a great job with three bears I wonder about Heather's I don't know which buildings are sort of in which category but redevelopment is really what potentially given our restraints, the development that's going to occur is going to be redevelopment, whether it's in Elk Run or up on the Salt Ridge or in downtown. I'd like to see how it plays out with FAR, below-grade space. Is that a possibility?

I apologize. I think staff, didn't necessarily completely understand. What we looked at for redevelopment scenarios is we were looking at those properties that had buildings that were set back and didn't really have the street frontage. So when Carlton was talking through his staff presentation about Mods Tie House and the Luxinger Lane adjacent buildings and the Basalt Mountain Inn, those were the properties that we were looking at in terms of would they require a waiver through a redevelopment scenario probably for that orientation requirement to the street. So we didn't do redevelopment scenarios on various properties. We were looking specifically at those properties that didn't really have a street frontage at the current time.

I think that's fine. What do those look like if they are they. We have to go through a waiver.

So what to come to the street. What would be. The answer would be no is that there's a preference for their historic orientation. However, there's also the ability to orient buildings towards the street as well.

So in terms of they should have some sort of street facing frontage, but the guidelines kind of direct to kind of keep the current orientation towards the street for the most part.

Well, you remember the Cottle-Grable issue with the backyard, those property lines that go up to Sopras and what the nature of those are. Yeah. So, okay. I'm still kind of stuck in the, haven't made up my mind. Okay.

Do people feel comfortable to make a motion? Do we need more information?

I appreciate staff looking at which buildings that that particular rule would apply to excuse me guideline I yeah I would have definitely been opposed to it if it was just a single building so I appreciate understanding like that there were more buildings that that applied to I'm happy to make a motion If I can find it. I would note that the

Café Bernard that is adjacent to Luxinger Lane is historically designated. So there's a variety of applicability there. I would just recognize Greg's point in case there was any further discussion on that as well.

Yeah, so where I fall on this is I'm 100% on board with the intent behind it. I think that we have a beautiful town and we wanna keep it that way. But for me, that one point about the goals of this design, it's enough for me to say no. If that point was taken out.

Do you wanna make a motion amending it to remove that one point?

I mean that's just how I feel I'm curious like if you all are on board if you agree with that I mean the other one I don't like the parking the fee in lieu but that to me is not as important as like the goal high level what is the goal of this document why are we doing this all those other points I'm 100 on board I think those points will increase well like they talk about property values but just having that as a standalone goal of this document for me is enough to say no you remove that and I would say yes

Greg, I would just note as well that the fee in lieu for parking is, as noted in that portion in 4.4, is already located in the municipal code. So that's just a reference back to the code. So we do already provide some relief there for applicants with site constraints or other constraints. But yeah, I would just make note of that as well for the right.

Yeah. And that's why that to me is not like a fundamental yes, no critical thing. I can see how that makes sense for some things. But yeah, the key goal is a challenge for me.

I think that these design guidelines may not be perfect, but I don't think we can let perfection be the enemy of good. I like Angela's idea of revisiting them in two years or whatever. I'm amenable to the change that you would like to make because I think that the design guidelines are more important than that one small change. If that's really important to you, then I support you as a fellow counselor.

All right. I'll make a motion with that as well. Yeah. To move along. Do you have something you want to add?

Yeah. If you're going to make the motion and include removing that language, then would you also add the two-year review? Yeah. Thank you.

Does that sound like two years? Sound like an appropriate time to do it?

Let's do it.

Okay. Mayor, I move that. Where are we at? We're on number ten. Oh, we're down here. Yeah. I move the town council adopt ordinance number 11 series of 2026 with the amendment of removing the protection of property values as a key goal of compatible infill design and adding this comes back on council revisits in two years.

Second.

All in favor, we'll take roll call. Do we need a roll call since we don't have anyone online? Oh, actually, they're not online anymore. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.

Opposed?

Any opposed?

I just can't. I don't have a warm fuzzy about it, so sorry.

all right thank you motion carries moving on to 7e public hearing and second reading of ordinance number 12 series of 2026 james and there is still here you want to come on up please

Thanks for being here late, Mr. Make sure you have a microphone. Yeah.

So this item is a public hearing and second reading of an ordinance that would extend the vested rights for a single family residence with a home daycare at 400 Alexander Lane. The application is submitted by Mary Wolfer or Miss Mayor, who we have here this evening. As discussed at the last meeting the approval was granted in 2023 for a PUD amendment for the kinder cottage daycare at 400 Alexander Lane to be converted to a single-family residence and a single-family residence with a home daycare The kinder cottage has continued to operate as a commercial daycare to this point. I And the vested rights for the conversion run out at the end of the summer. And so Ms. Mayer has asked to be able to extend the vested rights for that flexibility until the end of 2027. staff is supportive of the extension request as was noted at the last meeting the draft ordinance has the standard conditions for an extension of vested rights they include a requirement to satisfy the building code and life safety codes that are in effect at the time of a permit for conversion and And the ordinance would extend the vested rights until the end of 2027 Council approved the ordinance on first reading and there have been no substantive substantive changes So staff would recommend hearing from miss mayor if she's got comments Taking public comments and providing council discussion and if you're comfortable you could approve the ordinance on second reading Do you have anything bad?

This one makes a whole lot of sense to me giving flexibility and support for a local child care owner. Any other Council comments or questions or I'd entertain a motion.

I'm sorry yeah, my God, I'm sorry.

At 9.48, I will open the public hearing. Any attendees in the room or online? I will close the public hearing at 9.48. Thank you, everyone, for keeping me honest. And now I will open it up for council comments, questions, and any motions.

Mayor, I move that the town council adopt ordinance number 12, series of 2026. Second.

All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All right. Item 7F, public hearing and first reading of ordinance number 13, series of 2026. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Mayor.

Ms. Mayor.

You guys want to come on up?

Do we need to text David? Did he want to rejoin? I texted him. He's still awake. Oh, okay. Everybody now. We're on it.

So this is a public hearing and first reading of an ordinance on an application submitted by the town for a application for the construction of a 16 two-bedroom unit residential project on parcel 9 of the Sopris Meadows PUD. The Sopris Meadows parcel 9 is located just to the north of of the lakeside townhomes and it's adjacent to the Willits rugby field. As background, as I noted, the town is proposing to construct 16 two-bedroom units and they're proposed to be de-restricted. The town received sketch and preliminary plan approvals for the development. The site, as I noted, is a vacant parcel. It's located within the urban growth boundary, and it's designated as a future land use as community facility with an affordable housing overlay. So during the review process at Sketch and Preliminary, staff identified a series of discussion items, and you can see the building here proposed and the applicant design team will go over that in more detail. However, during the review process, staff identified a series of discussion items. They included consistency with the master plan. They included some other review requirements such as compatibility with the neighborhood as well as parking and traffic. In reviewing the consistency with the master plan, The P&Z and town council determined that the program and design is consistent with the master plan in that the project is in the urban growth boundary and that it satisfies the goals of creating affordable housing near transit that are outlined in the staff memo. With regards to compatibility with the neighborhood, P&Z determined the design to be compatible at the sketch and preliminary plan. The height is consistent with the other multifamily in the area and it's consistent in form with the other multifamily in that it has parking on the first floor and then two stories of residential up above, similar to the lakeside townhomes, similar to the other projects such as Park Modern in the area. With regards to parking There was a change between the preliminary plan and the final plan that was directed by council The council directed the two of the parking spaces be moved from the south side of the building over to the north side of the building to lessen the impacts on the lakeside townhomes and So the design team made that adjustment per the council's direction Other discussion items included the traffic There was a traffic report provided as part of the sketch and preliminary plan reviews. The traffic report was confirmed by CDOT not to require an access permit for the project. The traffic that is identified for the site was identified in prior traffic reports for Soper's Meadows as it was previously identified as a daycare site. Other topics included green building and wildfire protection. The conditions are requiring that those standards be met as part of the permit. And generally, the referral comments, the fire district required it to be sprinklered, and they believe that the site layout works for their purposes. Public Works provided some comments related to replacing the shed and nursery on the site, and some other comments related to the trash being a concrete access instead of asphalt. So those have been included as conditions in the draft ordinance. Staff this evening would suggest hearing some additional comments from the design team and then taking public comments and providing council discussion. Ultimately staff would recommend approval of the ordinance on first reading. So we have the design team here with us this evening. We've got Darren Durox from Lionheart. And Darren, do you want to introduce your team and provide comments? Yeah.

um we've got jay instrum with crystal river civil engineer and then we have evan weller from z group and then i believe scott mckale from z group is virtual um he may be just listening in as he's uh on east coast time i'm here we got scott all right thanks james so I think there's a few new faces here since the last time we presented this project I'm familiar with the project she has anyway so we we've worked with James and staff to go over some of the comments from the local jurisdictions and staff about the few items that they mentioned um we are continuing to work through some details with public work staff and some of the parks for relocating the shed in the nursery where that can be in the some of the more technical criteria based on their needs for that piece and so um We we will continue to to refine some concepts and get their kind of buy in for for what they need and not create a hardship for their continued use and so. know as we continue to advance specifically the the storage shed and the tree nursery um we have a few um options to consider that we would we're working through to present with staff before we bring it to council but we we appreciate the the ability to continue um developing those with the what's the word sorry I don't know it's late with the potential before we go into the second reading to establish that basis of design to make sure that all all of the staff feels comfortable with this before We just want to make sure that we're meeting all of their needs by access, how do they grow the trees, what kind of water they need, their space, the storage facility itself. and this was something that came out i think this most recent round of staff comments and it wasn't something that was brought to our attention as a need at the beginning of this project so we're we're happy to help find a solution for this and we would appreciate the ability to continue working with staff prior to the second reading

but it is set up as a condition to figure that out.

I'm just curious. I'm really glad that you guys are working with the town and are going to create a solution where everybody feels heard. Thank you for doing that. I just wonder why, because we've been in this process with this development for quite a while now, and I'm just curious why it's just coming up now. Have town employees, have they been...

involved through the whole process are we just kind of asking them now at the last minute and that's why it's coming up like what happened no they were involved through the whole process I think at the sketch and preliminary phase there was a request by Public Works to look at keeping the The shed and the nursery, I think originally the staff thought that was probably going to get pushed over onto the new public works police site. But as they've kind of got further along in the planning for that site, they're thinking that they're going to need most of that site and there's probably not going to be room for the nursery in the shed. So now we're looking at how we can accommodate it on site as well. Right.

I'd like to also add just that a fair amount of those comments will also just be addressed for the building permit. It's just a little early for a lot of those comments to be addressed at this point but they will be addressed.

Thank you. Thank you. If you guys have more comments go for it otherwise we'll open the public hearing.

You know, we don't have anything additional to update since nothing other otherwise has changed to this design.

All right. Thank you. All right. It is 9.59. And if you'd like to make a public comment in the room or online, now's your time. Hearing none, we'll close the public hearing at 9.59 and get back into council comments. Questions?

Yeah, I was remind me. Along with the. Tree yard storage area there wasn't some of that parking going to be sacrificed as well for the development. I think he had the landscape plan up there earlier.

Yeah, so I'll go ahead turn. Oh you can add your piece. I'll bring it up here so yeah so. The. The designated parking. for the development is taking some of that space but there's also flex spaces in there for guest parking at postal service parking and i believe there's a flex space for one additional like us staff space one staff space. So we had a surplus of parking with some of these being flexible with guest or um you know uh out like off hour parking for town staff or the postal um things like that so there should be i think that it wouldn't be the same amount of parking as they currently have but our understanding is that the um I can't remember if the staff person is still going to be based out of the restroom building or they will be Do you know, James?

Yeah, I think there's going to be some relief from town vehicles being parked in there. But I also during the sketch and preliminary plan phases, the idea of the town budgeting in future years for the ability to create additional on street parking in the area by widening the shoulders on both sides of East Valley Road.

that's the point i'm trying to make is on summer nights that place gets packed and people are parking on the grass along east valley along there and i don't know if it's the striping or the width but it is uh getting more used to it never has and these are just little things that people have brought up but it's initially it was um annexed into the town of course it was going to be a baseball field and we needed a full-size regulation field for other sports so it got converted to what it is it didn't get the goal posts there are not allowing for full-size regulation soccer or lacrosse at this point so lot of people have mentioned can we get those moved back so we can have a full field and those are just a couple little things but the opportunities there and I think there'd be some people to be very happy about that the other issue that's popped up over time is that there's a notion that it's covenanted for rugby And I don't know where that came from. But there was a deal struck a while ago to put those posts in with Holy Cross. There was some money available. And somehow it got misconstrued into rugby only. And that's how it went from the Phillips or Willits field to Willits rugby field. So I just want to make sure that the documents reflect that it's a multi-use, all community use, park registration, because we do have some conflicts once in a while with other users that believe that they have rights to it. We don't want to drag that out, but just so it's understood that that's what it's for. The other it is a dog leash Park to sort of that. There's into it, but there's a lot of people that are using it just as a regular dog park so yeah, most.

I'm wondering if that could be adjusted as this the both parcels are being re like a replat as part of this project so that we could we could actually investigate the actual terminology.

needed we'd have to do a code amendment to change the leash laws there because the the leash but you know that could be something that could be considered maybe separate from the development application

Small stuff, but yeah, that's fair.

I would also like to add just from this previous iteration that we did since the preliminary plan, we we not only did we move some parking spaces to the northern side and reduce the size of one of those Planting islands. We also have created an access that goes from the park up to the bike path and there's gonna be a stairway and there's also an ADA compliant access so Yeah to the we cycle and just to the bike path there so there's a little bit more connection With these improvements to the park so some public improvements as well I Want to note Catherine had her hand up earlier.

I

Yes. Catherine, do you have any comments you'd like to make? We saw that you had your hand up.

Yeah. Yeah, thanks, James. I was just going to say what you said regarding, you know, our intent to study East Valley Road for some additional parking in the future, but you covered that, so thanks so much.

Okay, thanks. I had a question that maybe. Catherine could answer just like to assure me I read through the Kumar soil study and it talked about the sinkholes concern for sinkholes. Is that something that? We feel like we need to investigate further. How do you feel about that?

Um, I that'll something that'll be something that will have the structural weigh in on when we're kind of further down the line, but. If I remember correctly, the soils report wasn't divergent from a lot of the other reports we've seen in the year. And I don't think that it will necessitate any peer foundations or anything above and beyond our standard construction techniques. But we'll make sure the structural and geotech are well-coordinated prior to building permit.

I'm sure. Yeah, no doubt. And then my only other two questions was, do you envision envision there being designated parking spots with this project?

You know, we're probably not that far along, to be honest with you. So I know there are pros and cons to designating the parking spaces for residential. We can study that further before second reading and maybe try to give you a better answer. That's fine. I was just curious.

Then my other question was, it talks about compact parking spaces. Is that standard? Like, could anybody...

So the... The compact nature of the stalls is the width only and not the length. And that's just due to the constraints of the site and allowing. So the town code allows a certain number of compact spaces, which are dimensionally smaller. So it would be for a sedan or a smaller vehicle versus like a truck. would have a hard time parking there. Sometimes they're signed as compact, right? And they'll say like, your car can't hang over this line or whatever. I think the intent, with these is to maximize the amount of spaces that we could in this in the kind of smaller footprint but still allow for a vehicle to have a bike rack at the end or things but it could you could have like a Toyota Prius could be small but it could be long with your you know four-person bike rack or whatever right so That's the intent for the compact.

No, it makes total sense. I just like that's standard. Yeah, the amendment or the standard thing that anybody could do.

Yeah, the town code allows for I believe it's 10% of the parking spaces to be compact and and the proposal is within that tolerance.

I like the project on a big fan, big supporter. Thank you for all your work.

The motion that the town council approved ordinance number 13 series 2026 and continue and set the public hearing second reading for July 14 2026.

To have a second second all those in favor we have to include that they need to do the yes. Sorry. Do you want to amend your motion to include the working with staff conditions? Yes. So moved.

So moved.

We have a second. and then do you second her amendment wait i don't like yeah second what has to change yeah i second it thank you i love this project you guys are doing a great job keep up the great work town staff all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye aye any opposed all right thank you guys so much for being here tonight appreciate it yeah thanks everybody that's leroy

See you guys. Well done, Hannah. You did a great job. Thanks, Jay. You did your best, you know.