Pain and frustration… Just another day in the Foothills.

Both the proponents of the Foothills annexation and members of the town Planning Commission have described the year-long process of punching out a potential annexation as “painful.” One side says they have “whittled” it down to the bare minimum. Someone on the other side described it more like using a sander, which is more tedious, irritating and less fulfilling. Everyone involved has expressed “frustration.”
From the outside looking in, watching the Foothills process can sometimes be like watching kids on a teeter-totter. Monday, it might appear down and out and by Tuesday, it’s all blue skies and balloons. Wednesday, it could be down again but never does it appear to reach balance and equilibrium. The constant motion has resulted not so much in fun and frivolity but frustration and fatalism. Something will come of this tedious game eventually but what that will be remains a mystery even now—15 months after the process started and mere weeks before the current Planning Commission takes leave due to the democratic process.

Now, there’s not much to like about the stereotypical developer give-and-take and that’s what this has gone through. Start by asking for 400 units “because that’s the minimum that makes it work” and a year later, presto-change-o, 158 seems to do the trick. Blah blah blah. Painful.
On the other side, the town planning commissioners haven’t appeared to embrace the idea of negotiations in this process. Instead they have taken the tack of consistently telling the developers to go and follow the already in-place Area Plan and subdivision regulations. Very bureaucratic and focused on dry numbers, it was supposed to make it easier for developers to develop. So much for that. Given those stringent guidelines and requirements, the developers say they can’t squeeze it all onto the 44 acres. I believe that. The commissioners’ strategy frankly eliminated some of what should have been fun for the Planning Commission to actually bargain for specific amenities. It also kept the developers dangling on the line without demanding specific compromises.

Some perspective. After one of the lawyers for Foothills said at a meeting that the Verzuh annexation proposal probably went through similar morphing, I went back and looked. It changed slightly but not anywhere near what this has gone through. What was originally proposed is in the ballpark of what was approved.
The end result on that 79 acres includes 76 total units, of which 16 could be deed-restricted duplexes. There is 40 acres of on-site open space, 4.3 acres of park, which is where Rainbow Field is located, and 15 acres of land donated to Crested Butte. The town plans to use that land for 85 affordable housing units. There are already a lot of good, local families living in that annexation and the sky hasn’t fallen.
Boy what a difference spending $15 million and spending a lot less than $15 million makes.
Now that Foothills principal Brant Bryan admitted that the current proposal is about as good as it can get and the plan won’t change from where it is in any dramatic fashion, it is time to look at it with fresh eyes. Of course, given the history of this project, it could change… again.
Taking a breath and objectively looking at what is in front of the town right now, the Foothills does bring with it some interesting benefits to the town.
As the single person in the community to speak at all in favor of the annexation plan pointed out Monday night, if Crested Butte is to grow, that is the right place to expand.
About 40 percent of the on-site lots will be deed-restricted. It doesn’t meet the 60 percent “required” by the town but 60 percent seems extravagant…however, Verzuh hit 57 percent without infrastructure costs. The Foothills gets to 51 percent with some off-site credits. The town will ultimately set the deed restrictions. That will offer future opportunity for people who work in the north end of the valley to live in the north end of the valley. That is a big plus for the long-term stability of the town.
Just as the affordable housing requirements by the town seem over-the-top, the amount of open space required for such a development fits the same description. Under town “requirements” the developers are responsible for more than 300 acres of open space. More open space on the property itself would be preferable, but bringing in 106 acres on the ridgeline at the start of Slate River Road is pretty impressive. And buying access to Granite Basin by Crested Butte South and providing an easier access to Baxter’s Gulch just south of town adds significant community benefit in the “open space” arena. The still-mysterious details of acquiring all this open space is yet another moving target, but the concept is good.
A local Realtor said the other day that while adding homes would be good for the real estate business, she wasn’t in favor of this annexation proposal. One reason she cited was that adding more inventory to the Crested Butte market could hurt those who have already bought into the town. Home values for people we all know could go down even more, she thought.
In the end… none of it might even matter. Moving beyond the pain of this 15-month process, a smell still lingers. The old town dump remains a mystery and it is that issue that ultimately could change everything. No wonder everyone involved is frustrated.