New “hybrid” county/town development proposed

Parks, affordable housing, a possible school, fire station, trails

By Mark Reaman

In what was described several times as “interesting” and “unique,” a hybrid development proposal of sorts is on the drawing board for the 44 acres of land located just north of the Crested Butte town boundary across from the Gas Café.

Originally proposed as the Slate River annexation, the Cypress Foothills LP development group and the Crested Butte town staff have come up with a new idea.

When annexation negotiations broke down last year, the developers approached the county about obtaining approval for a 19-home residential development through the county’s land use resolution. County planners asked the developers to go back to the town and see if it would work with the developers to hook up houses to the town wastewater treatment plant.

That opened an opportunity for further negotiation and a new proposal was officially presented to the Crested Butte Town Council at a special meeting on Monday, January 11. A draft agreement will be further discussed January 25.

 

Basically the proposal calls for an intertwined process where Cypress would be limited to seeking approval from the county for no more than 24 homes on the 30 acres located on the east side of the Slate River. If the idea is approved by the county, the developers and town would then annex the 14 acres west of the river into Crested Butte.

On the west side of the river would be six free-market lots on 2.2 acres owned by the developers. The remaining land would be deeded to the town and would include just over an acre for affordable housing along Butte Avenue, a site for a possible new school facility, a space for a potential new fire hall, trails, open space, and park space, including a new sledding hill.

All structures permitted in the 44 acres would be hooked up to the town sewer treatment plant, which has the capacity to service the buildings. That wastewater treatment plant is also in the early stages of being expanded.

The proposal would go through the Gunnison County Major Impact application process, take about a year to go through the review process and be subject to several public hearings.

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Some of those meetings would be held in Crested Butte. If approved, the annexation process would then kick in for the 14 acres and further public hearings would be held in town. If the county does not approve the application, the deal with the town would be null and void.

The developers have agreed to keep the primary structures on each of the 24 parcels at a 5,000-square-foot maximum. Accessory dwellings would also be allowed. Wetland buffers would be 50 feet instead of the county requirement of 25 feet. Some sections of the old town dump would be cleaned up and other sections “capped” and not built on.

The project is expected to cost between $1 million and $1.6 million. The developers are asking the town to contribute $350,000 toward the cleanup and capping work. A ten-year covenant on 3.9 acres of the “capped” dump site would be designated for park uses but after the covenant expires, the town could choose to use the land for other public uses such as affordable housing or a recreation center. The town would be responsible for ultimately cleaning up the old dump under that parcel.

Cypress vice president Cameron Aderhold described the proposal as “a little unique,” as he outlined the benefits to the town. “We think we have a pretty good compromise for everyone with this.”

Cypress attorney Marcus Lock said the developers were seeking public and council feedback on the proposal. “This process would be unique, like the property,” he said. “It is important for the town and Cypress to respect the county jurisdiction as part of the process. This idea and the process have been very productive so far. There are lots of moving parts but I think we can make something really cool happen on that piece of property.”

Crested Butte town planner Michael Yerman said allowing the houses to be connected to the town’s wastewater treatment system instead of each having a septic system is good for both parties. “From the staff position, it is important to maintain the Slate River as an annexation boundary,” he told the council.

He said there have been talks with the Gunnison School District about giving them a piece of property and the early conversations are leaning toward a facility that would accommodate pre-school, kindergarten and first grades. He said the acre for affordable housing could accommodate another rental project like Anthracite Place.

Yerman also touted the open space and park uses that would be open to the public as a result of the agreement. Yerman too emphasized that the public would have ample opportunity to comment to the county about the east side of the development as the proposal went through the review process. And there would be more public opportunity for comment as the annexation process went ahead.

The council expressed interest in the idea but also some concerns. Primary among them was the size of potential houses on the edge of town. Led by councilman Jim Schmidt, the council appeared to be pretty emphatic about limiting the aggregate building size on each parcel to no more than 5,000 square feet. That would include accessory dwellings and garages.

“My main problem is allowing accessory dwellings on top of a 5,000-square-foot main house,” said Schmidt. “Moon Ridge has a maximum 5,000-square-foot aggregate limit for each lot. The neighbors care about this. Whatever happens on this parcel will set the precedent on the nearby parcels in that corridor. When we put size limits on houses in town, the realtors screamed but property values in town show people don’t need castle-size houses and I think 5,000 square feet is castle-sized. I really have an issue with this. There are a lot of good things in this proposal but I want an aggregate of 5,000 feet.”

“The 5,000 feet is based on county regulations,” countered councilman Paul Merck. “They could go larger. It’s hard to tell what will go there. I assume it will be tasteful. The county allows more than 5,000 and it is their land, so what’s our say on that?”

“I agree with Jim,” said councilwoman Erika Vohman. “People will build as big as they can. That will come with a bigger carbon impact and bigger sewer impact. Give more thought to building smaller.”

“It is something we will take back to our team,” promised Lock.

“The thought of 24 5,000-square-foot houses directly north of town alarms me,” added resident Jim Starr. “Especially on the border of the cemetery. It would drastically change that area.”

Starr also brought up several other concerns with the idea and he suggested the entire 44 acres be annexed to town so that town had control over what is ultimately allowed and gains more benefits. “This is a hybrid situation where the developer is asking for town approval before county approval. That will diminish the impact of the public input. If the town signs off, the county will approve it. There are concerns like not dispersing the affordable housing on the east side at all. The lot set aside for affordable housing is small at about an acre. Having an early childhood care school facility would add a lot of traffic and congestion to that area. If Sixth Street Station goes in, that will exacerbate the situation more. There is a lot more discussion needed on this,” Starr said. “I’d strongly encourage the council to not walk further down the path and sign off on this beforehand. It should be annexed to town.”

Former town planner John Hess agreed. “This is very interesting,” he admitted. “This is a lot of information in a short period of time. Why not annex the whole thing?”

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Yerman said the original proposal to the county was for 19 lots. “I don’t think 19 lots is a town development. It’s not enough density. If they proposed increasing density it would be a different conversation. Remember, it would have probably been close to 140 units out there. So there are definitely some trade-offs.”

“There are pros and cons to both sides for annexation,” said Lock. “We are trying to bring the town a compromise proposal that balances the benefits for everyone. This is a hybrid with pros for both sides.”

Hess cautioned about allowing any development east of the cemetery. He said many of the old families with plots are adamantly opposed to the idea. He too voiced concern with the house size limitations and lack of mixing in some affordable units on the east side of the river.

Resident Sue Navy wanted to make sure the county would be open to public comment. Lock said, “Everything in the proposal is contingent upon county approval and that is a big if. Lots of public input will be taken.”

That was confirmed by Gunnison County assistant community development director Neal Starkebaum, who was at the council meeting and said meetings would be scheduled for the north end of the valley to take public comment.

Schmidt agreed there was a lot of information to consider in a short period of time. He also was concerned about the amount of dust generated through a clean-up of the dump but thought a sledding hill was a great idea that helped keep the skate park in its current Big Mine Park location, thus saving everyone a lot of money.

“There can’t be a gate out there over the bridge to the east side,” emphasized Vohman. “That would be a travesty. People should be able to walk and bike there and maybe connect with the Rec Path.”

Councilperson Roland Mason said he thought Moon Ridge handled the situation well with a private road but a public rec path through the subdivision. He was concerned about traffic congestion increasing because of a school site, wanted to make sure there was good trail access from town through the development, and was not on board with more than 5,000 square feet of building on each lot.

“I know the annexation process ended with the dump issue and this seems like a good way to get past that,” he said. “The density seems reasonable at 24 and there are benefits to the town on the west side that will last 15 or 20 years.”

Councilwoman Laura Mitchell wanted to make sure if the dump clean-up turned into something more major than expected, the developers were prepared to handle it. They assured her they were. She also was an advocate to make sure boaters would not be impeded by a new Slate River bridge.

“Cameron [Aderhold] and I spoke and we both felt it would be a shame if this went solely to the county,” said mayor Glenn Michel. “There are some good things here and some concerns with this negotiated compromise. Right now I’m comfortable with the town going forward.”

The council all wanted to give the public time to think about and comment on the proposal. So it will hold a special meeting on Monday, January 25 to go over a term sheet of details being proposed as part of the deal. The town and developers will address some of the initial concerns brought up by the council and public at the January 11 meeting.

Council will consider a draft pre-annexation agreement on January 25 and possibly vote to move ahead with the proposal. If that passes, the developers will begin the county process.