Mt. Crested Butte extends North Village MOU 30 more days

Priorities narrowed to affordable housing, transit, parking

By Kendra Walker

The Mt. Crested Butte Town Council has agreed to extend a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the North Village Associates LLC and Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) to July 2 to determine the feasibility of a collaborative effort in developing the North Village parcel.

The town has been in the MOU phase for the past four months and a committee of representatives from each group has been meeting weekly to prioritize potential amenities that could fit into the vision for the 150-acre parcel on the north end of Mt. Crested Butte. From Mt. Crested Butte’s perspective, the Town Council appears to have narrowed down their priorities for the site to affordable housing, transit and parking at the Snodgrass trailhead.

During the next month, Mt. Crested Butte’s goal is to establish the level of participation it would like to have with the development and determine what can be accomplished, given financial realities and scope of the project. Whether Mt. Crested Butte partners with North Village Associates and RMBL in developing a Planned Unit Development (PUD), moving forward is still in question and will be decided by the end of the MOU. 

During a work session on June 2, the Town Council met via GoToMeeting with North Village representatives to discuss the potential partnership.

“Basically we’re not asking for any assistance whatsoever, to be clear,” said North Village project manager Crockett Farnell. “We’re offering a possible way for the town to leverage our expertise and to dilute those costs amongst the parties to make a bigger vision feasible. That said, we’re perfectly fine in any direction you guys want to go if you want to participate. All we ask is that you would contribute your proportionate amount to your specific project.”

“It’s been difficult for me to say ‘This is what we want’ when we don’t know what that cost might be and when we’ll be required to spend that money,” said council member Roman Kolodziej.

The cost projection for developing the PUD design and application is approximately $400,000 to $600,000, and North Village Associates has suggested a split of the costs between themselves, RMBL and town. Town has not yet agreed to that idea.

Mt. Crested Butte would have access to certain grants that a private developer would not; however, the costs of developing any of the town’s desired amenities are still unknown at this stage of the collaboration, and therefore the amount of financial assistance that could be achieved through grants is also unknown.

Town manager Joe Fitzpatrick explained that the town’s sales tax revenue is down 27.5 percent, and estimates a total loss in sales tax for 2020 at about 45 percent. Due to the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, town is projecting its reserves to be $321,033 by the end of December. “We will need to rebuild those reserves over the next multiple years,” he said.

According to Fitzpatrick, there are two primary town sources that could fund work on the North Village. The first is Mt. Crested Butte’s new lodging excise tax for affordable housing, which has collected approximately $231,134 through April this year. The second could come from the town’s admissions tax, which typically reserves a minimum of 25 percent toward transportation—that could be allocated for transit amenities on the North Village parcel. However, council adjusted the admissions tax this year so that the 50 percent (approx. $400,000) goes specifically to Mountain Express, so Mt. Crested Butte would have to adjust that budget item to include all transportation.

Dr. Claudio Alvarez, owner of the North Village property, made it clear that he completely understood if the town is not ready to participate on any level due to financial circumstances from COVID-19 this spring. In that situation, he would go back to the drawing board and come up with a scaled down plan that includes RMBL facilities, Alvarez’s desired buildings and vacant land.

“If the money is an issue right now with the town but we still have a frame of mind, I’d like to be able to go on with the project with RMBL…and then keep the rest of the land for now…and see what happens,” said Alvarez.

“Has this virus had an impact on what your thinking has been?” mayor Janet Farmer asked the North Village team.

“From our team’s perspective right now nothing has changed from last year as far as our desired approach and planned development,” replied Farnell.

“My message to you is don’t get discouraged because this is a very long-term project… Let’s not get discouraged,” said Alvarez.

“From the beginning, my understanding of this collaboration is that with the town as a municipality, RMBL as a non-profit and the North Village team as a private developer, the idea was we could all bring unique sources of funding to this project to try to take on something more,” said council member Nicholas Kempin. “I agree with the priorities that we’ve laid out (affordable housing, transit, parking), but I would just throw in another layer that we shoot for those priorities and maybe change the priorities if one has funding more readily available that we can achieve in the short-term.”

“Does that mean that we’ll no longer be exploring options, for instance a ballfield?” asked council member Lauren Koelliker.

“The ballfield is a perfect example of that,” said Kempin. “Maybe Crested Butte is interested in contributing, or the soccer association, and maybe it’s more feasible than other higher priorities. I recommend we shift priories where and when needed.”

“I like the three priories but am open to seeing what other amenities in the future could look like,” said Farmer.

“I’d request that Dr. Alvarez drops in on the [committee] calls because the project is so fluid,” said Kolodziej. “It might be nice to hear how some of those ideas bounce off of him in the moment… I would definitely like to keep moving toward a goal.”

Council unanimously voted to extend the MOU with North Village Associates and RMBL for 30 more days until July 2, with council discussion slated for their July 7 meeting.   

“This shows a sign of willingness to cooperate and gives [North Village Associates] that comfort level to move into that design phase that you’ve all been eager to get into,” said Mt. Crested Butte’s community development director Carlos Velado.

Velado later confirmed that Alvarez participated in the North Village committee’s meeting the following day. “We anticipate him participating in the future meetings.”