Friday, February 29, 2008

Limiting Offices on Brecekenridge Main Street Debate Continues

After gathering community feedback about limiting ground floor office space on Main Street, Breckenridge Town council members decided they needed to take a deeper look at the concerns and all possibilities.

Town staff recently provided information from a recent public open house on the topic to the council.

The three options the council is exploring include prohibiting new offices, allowing new offices separated by a set distance, or taking no action.

With all options, current office uses could remain that way even if sold.

Discussions about limiting office space on Main Street first arose more than a year ago out of concern for the area’s vitality. And while everyone who attended the community open house agreed they wanted to maintain vitality, the most favorable option from those who attended was taking no action, Mark Truckey, assistant director of community development, told the council.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Keystone/Breckenridge Land Swap Moving Forward

The proposed swap of private land in the old Chihuahua town site along Peru Creek, near Keystone, involving the U.S. Forest Service and the Town of Breckenridge won’t encounter any substantive opposition from Summit County, commissioners indicated at their recent work session.

Forest Service land specialist Paul Semmer presented the board of commissioners with the particulars of the swap, which will allow his agency to acquire about 40 acres of undeveloped land from Keystone-area developer Gary Miller, who owns the Chihuahua site along with several partners, in exchange for Dercum Dash, a little more than 20 valuable acres directly east of the River Run Gondola in Keystone.

The proposed swap also includes two parcels of Forest Service land in Breckenridge: the “Wedge,” about 42 acres in Cucumber Gulch, and the “Claimjumper,” about 10 acres along Airport Road.

If the swap goes as planned, the Town of Breckenridge will buy both parcels, with the intention of maintaining the Wedge as open space and developing at least a portion of the Claimjumper as affordable housing. Semmer emphasized that years of planning have already gone into the swap proposal, and the commissioners agreed.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Highway 9 Improvements on Tap for this Summer

The improvements will widen the road by adding two additional lanes, a raised median, as well as a curb and gutter system.

The new road will also include a school zone in front of Summit High School.

"The construction is going to be broken into three phases," said Angelo Mancina with Zak Dirt construction. "Traffic should move pretty easily during construction but we have to have room to do our work."

The first phase of construction will add a traffic lane to the east side of the road while working on adjacent side streets. Next traffic will be split down the middle and construction crews will install a raised median and drainage pipes. Lastly, construction crews will move to the west side of the road and, if everything goes according to plan, construction should be completed by November.

The total budget for the new expansion is $5.35 million.

The new construction project is just one of the phases involved in the ongoing road expansion that will run from Breckenridge to Frisco. Other projects currently in the design process will continue the expansion of Highway 9 from Valley Brook Road, to Coyne Valley Road, Coyne Valley Road to Tiger Road, and Tiger Road to Agape Church.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Keystone Mountain House Re-development

Building heights, employee housing and parking were listed as key issues during a recent review of a Vail Resorts proposal to redevelop the Mountain House base area at Keystone.

Similar proposals by Copper Mountain and Vail Resorts have met similar questions from the Board of County Commissioners, who recently gave its first look at the Keystone's proposal to amend development plans for the Mountain House.

Commissioner Thomas Davidson, who previously worked for Vail Resorts at Keystone, said the neighborhood needs updating, but still has questions about the plan. Davidson said the upcoming discussions should give the county and the resort a chance to work on critical countywide issues like employee housing.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Limit Office Space in Downtown Breckenridge?

The public is invited to an open house discussion about the possibility of restricting the location of new offices in the downtown commercial area of Breckenridge.Breckenridge

The Town Council has discussed the topic occasionally throughout the past year with mixed opinions and is looking for community input.

The idea would be that restricting office uses would ensure Main Street vitality by retaining pedestrian-friendly commercial uses such as retail shops and restaurants.

The open house will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 20, in the Council Chambers of Breckenridge Town Hall. There, the public will be able to share their thoughts about a series of options.

For more information, contact Mark Truckey in the Breckenridge Community Development Department at (970) 453-3184 or markt@townofbreckenridge.com.