Basalt Community Development Update

Basalt Community Development Update
March 13, 2015
Status of Developments and Development Applications:
SH 82/Basalt Avenue Underpass – Site Plan and ESA Floodplain Review. The P&Z reviewed the
application and provided their approval on March 3rd the Council is scheduled to review the application
on March 24 and April 28th.
RMI Development – Construction to build the Innovation Center is underway.
Roaring Fork Conservancy – July 22 Council approved extension of vested rights and predevelopment
agreement. Applicant preparing Application to amend plan; The Plat has been recorded to slightly enlarge
site.
Roaring Fork Club – The construction to convert administration building to a single family house is
underway. The Waterman Driveway Application for minor subdivision and Slope Review to create a new
access to Lot C of the Waterman Property was approved on 2nd reading by the Town Council on October
14th. The Applicant amended its application for the Waterman Addition to the Roaring Fork Club to
include five cabins. The Applicant requested that the application be continued to the P&Z meeting of
March 17th. The Roaring Fork Club received an extension of the sketch plan approval for the RFC
Arbaney/Kittle Addition. The Applicant has now advised that they are now again seeking the deannexation and annexation of property and are working on an amended application. The Council took
action at its meeting on January 27th and amended the pre-development agreement it approved earlier in
November of 2014 and started the annexation process by approving a Resolution stating that the
application was in substantial compliance with the requirements of State Law and set the Eligibility
Hearing for its Council meeting on March 24th. The Club submitted an application for a determination by
the P&Z of their parking requirements associated with a proposed parking lot by the sixth T-box behind
the existing parking shed on the south side of the highway. That Application is scheduled for P&Z review
on April 7th.
Real America Affordable Housing –The 2nd Reading on the Amendment to the approval ordinance to
address construction financing is being recommended by Staff to be continued until the ordinance
approving the contract for the Town’s purchase of units is ready to be approved by the Council. The
Applicant recently advised that they will be seeking tax credits and support from the Town of Basalt.
Hagman – Little Snell Amendment – An application to convert two office units to a residential unit was
approved by the Council at 2nd reading on scheduled for January 13th.
Willits Town Center – The construction of the hotel is well underway. The Town and Staff are working
on consolidating the approval documents to reflect recent approvals as required when the Council
approved the hotel plan. The affordable housing proposed for Block 7 was reviewed by BACH. The
developer will be starting the plat filing process soon in order to obtain a building permit by this fall. The
developer and Town staffs are discussing some amendments to the PUD. Staff is scheduling a
Worksession with the Town Council in the near future for the changes to be processed this year.
Wilds PUD Amendment – The Council approved the Wilds PUD amendment on 2nd reading on October
28th.
801 Pinion Drive Annexation – Council approved the Resolution establishing Annexation Eligibility
Hearing date on October 14th.
Continuing Care Retirement Community – The Applicant has until July 20, 2015 to record certain
documents associated with the Approval.
Eagle County – The Town Council submitted initial comments on the Tree Farm Application.
Cont.
Lowe Pre-Application Discussions – the presentations and Town discussions for the Basalt River Parcel
(previously referred to as the CDC parcel or the Pan and Fork MHP) have begun. Lowe Enterprises
presented their ideas for the Riverfront Parcel on March 10th. The video of that presentation should be up
on the Our Town website shortly. On March 12th a public open house was held at Town Hall.
The Council is again scheduled to discuss the Application on Tuesday, April 14th at the Basalt Regional
Library. That meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 pm.
Submitting Comments on the Lowe Enterprises Concept Plans.
Those interested may submit comments by:
- Sending an email to: [email protected]
-Use the link provided on the Our Town Planning website link to add your comment,
www.ourtownplanning.org.
BACH – Housing Updates. –
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A successful and moving ground breaking ceremony for the Habitat House with the Dory Family
was held on March 10th. See picture below.
EPS presented the Housing Needs Assessment at the Council Worksession on March 10th.
Provided below the picture of the Habitat for Humanity Groundbreaking picture is an excerpt of
information provided to BACH and the Council. BACH is working on identifying, evaluating and
prioritizing other Housing sites for affordable housing. BACH reviewed the design for the Habitat
House and made recommendations on changes to the Town’s R-4 MD District at their January
22nd meeting.
POST and Park Planning Activities.
 Arbaney Park. The Committee is working on Plans for Arbaney Park. They met with
representatives from the Basalt Schools on February 11th.
 Old Pond Park. The Committee reviewed changes to the Old Park Plan as part of the river
restoration efforts at their meeting on January 21st.
 Willits Triangle Park. Staff is moving forward with the improvements to Triangle Park that were
approved by the Council.
 CIP. POST is also working on their 10-year Capital Improvement Plan.
 Rio Grande Trail Management Plan – Lindsey Utter, Pitkin County Open Space and Trails
reviewed the draft Rio Grande Management Plan with the POST Committee on March 4th. the
POST Committee is drafting a letter with their referral comments for the Council’s consideration
on March 24th.
See the results from the DAAC Committee. The
final report can be found on the webpage
www.OurTownPlanning.org.
The 3000 ideas that were generated by the community were synthesized into 3 Alternative Site Plans.
57% of the voters preferred Site Plan Option 2. The Town Council then adopted Resolution No. 54,
Series of 2014, which established a Downtown Area Advisory Committee to help the Basalt Town
Council determine plausible redevelopment scenarios for the Our Town Planning Area. Check out the
www.ourtownplanning.org website to see the work done by the DAAC Committee.
Paul Andersen presented the work that DAAC accomplished the Council and P&Z in December. The Full
report and video of the meeting can be found on the Project website. The results of the scientific survey
can also be downloaded from the website and some of the findings are presented on the following page.
The Town Council talked about the next steps for the Our Town Planning effort in a Worksession on
Tuesday, January 13th. The Council approved the next steps for the Our Town Planning process by
approving Resolution No. 03, Series of 2015 on January 27th. The P&Z started its discussion on February
3rd and is examining the CSC zone district for changes to make it more applicable to the desires of the
Town. Resolution No. 03, Series of 2014 asked the Wyly to refine the program for bringing arts into the
Downtown. The Wyly presented ideas to the Town Council at a Worksession on February 10th.
Provided on the following page is the map presented by the Wyly for the Our Town Planning area.
Survey
Households within the Basalt Town Limits – Each household in the Town of Basalt was permitted to
submit a survey as part of the Our Town Planning Process. In order to get good coverage the Town hand
delivered surveys to an area of Town that is served by PO boxes. Results of the survey are on the website
for the project www.ourtownplanning.org.
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Pan and Fork: Building and Development ‐‐ A higher percentage of respondents preferred some type of buildings on the Pan and Fork Site (58.6% combined by building size and structured parking) than a park (39.1%). Respondents could only mark one Pan and Fork: Uses – Restaurants 34.7%; Retail 30.9%; Hotel 28.7%; active park no buildings 26%; Performing Arts 21.4% Respondents could mark more than one Lions Park – 34.7% of Respondents preferred to keep it the way it is or with modest improvements; 14.6% wanted to remove Town Hall and the Wyly and make it into a Park and 10% supported removing the buildings and building a new Arts Center Closer to Downtown. Respondents could only mark one. Arts – 36% supported making significant upgrades to public spaces with art installations; 34.3% Supported building new Performing Arts Center Downtown; 26.2% supported building a new Wyly arts center; 25% indicated none of the above. Respondents could mark more than one Clark’s – 32% of the respondents thought that any building size was ok as long as there was a grocery store. Generally buildings the size of Riverside Plaza or larger were ok (29.3%) Respondents could only mark one. Remember we are not trying to design by survey. The survey is a useful tool for testing the acceptability of ideas at the time the survey was conducted and what items come to the forefront on what is important to the residents of the Town.
Green Team: The top two projects identified by the Green Team to work on were energy audits of Town
facilities and green building regulations. Other projects to be undertaken were promoting homeowner and
business energy audits and retrofits, expediting the conversion to LED for Public Street Lights and the
Regional Water Conservation Plan.
The Green Team had Worksession with the Council on February 10th where they received positive
feedback about proceeding with the Green Code Amendments. The Green Team met on February 19th
where they laid out a tentative schedule and tasks for adopting the International Green Code. A
subcommittee of the Green Team will now be meeting over the next couple months to draft the code.
Sunday Market: Sunday Market is taking applications from vendors for 2015. The market will
take place Sunday, June 14, 2015 through Sunday, September 27, 2015, a total of 16 markets
with Hours from 10 AM to 2 PM. Rain or Shine.
The market application is due in the mail by March 31st, 2015. At this time please call Susan
Philp at 927-4701 if you have any questions.
Four Rivers Historical Alliance: The second quarter meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. on March 18th
in Glenwood Springs at the Frontier Historical Society Museum and the 4RHA annual meeting will be
held in June at Ashcroft.
Safe Routes to School: The Town received a $5,000 grant from CDOT to establish a Safe Routes to
School Community Coalition. Susan, Denise and Chief Knott are attending the Safe Routes to School
Kickoff Meeting with representative from the granting organization, Basalt Elementary School, Basalt
Middle School, Basalt Police Dept., POST, and Partners in Education (PIE). This group will be working
together over the next two years to improve sidewalk and trail connections to the schools in order to
promote walking and biking to school and also to create safer alternatives for student drop-off and pickup
for those students who cannot take the bus or walk/bike to school. The Committee is working on CDOT’s
Bike and walk to school day which will occur on Wednesday, May 6th. .
Basalt Downtown Business Association (BDBA): The BDBA continues to meet and all downtown
businesses and commercial property owners are welcome to participate. The BDBA is working on their
next tasks including marketing, funding, and events. Check out the BDBA webpage at
http://www.basaltdowntown.com. Their next membership meeting is scheduled for March 9th. Provided
below is the BDBA’s annual report for 2015.
Basalt Downtown Business Association
Annual Report 2013-2014
The BDBA convened and met weekly beginning October 2013 with a focus on events/marketing,
budget/fundraising, and membership. In April 2014, the general membership elected an executive
board, charged with approving events and budget appropriation. Committees continued to work on a
monthly basis through year-end.
The BDBA developed a website and weekly e-mail communication specific to downtown events.
Shayla Groves at design finch and Bill Simon of Symbion Design worked extensively in creating these
systems for us.
In November 2013 and November 2014, the BDBA had a booth at the Denver Ski and Snowboard
Expo, offering promotions to the general public.
From October 2013 through November 2014, the BDBA presented “Moonstruck”, a monthly event
designed to bring local residents and visitors to the downtown area for skating, music, and promotions
from businesses. Moonstruck as a monthly event has been discontinued at this time, primarily due to
budgetary concerns (poor return on dollars spent).
The Town of Basalt charged the BDBA with management of Marino’s Park (former recycling area) and
the Bandshell in Lions Park in exchange for revenue from space rental. Butch’s Lobster Shack and
Butch’s Christmas Tree Lot were located in Marino’s Park from May 2014-January 2015.
Collaborating with Jayne Gottlieb Productions, the BDBA presented entertainment at the Lions Park
Bandshell and Tent, including the JGP “Sound of Music” and other music venues.
In August, the BDBA and the Chamber began to work on coordinated marketing efforts and to explore
ways in which the two organizations can work together.
The BDBA partnered with the Town of Basalt in welcoming the ProCycle Bike Race to Two Rivers
Road, providing shirts, stickers, banners and hospitality for the home-town crowd and cycling
community.
In December 2014, the BDBA partnered with the Chamber of Commerce and Town of Basalt in
coordinating the Downtown Tree Lighting, with Santa, sleigh rides, caroling, hot cocoa and cookies and
the Lions Club Wagon.