GLENWOOD SPRINGS — The developers behind the revamping of Sunlight Mountain Resort held an open house Wednesday night to show their intentions for the ski mountain’s future to area residents. The group’s newest plan adds 30 more housing units at the resort.

That change now brings the total housing units slated for the development to 830 housing units, of which 50 would be employee housing.

Another change for the ski area’s redevelopment since the summer when developers held three open houses about the project, is that a separate 30-acre property has been purchased and is now included in the development plan for the resort, said Tom Jankovsky, general manager for Sunlight Mountain Resort. The purchased property gives the development added security and public safety improvements by allowing circular traffic through the proposed development, developers have said.

That 30-acre purchase also allows the developers to combine two planned unit development (PUD) applications into one, which is expected to be submitted to the county in early March, said Larry Green, an attorney with the Glenwood Springs law-firm Balcomb and Green, which is representing the team behind the project. The PUD includes the developer’s conceptual plan for the development, Green said.

County staff sent a letter to the developers in October, saying the initial plan submitted to the county was “technically incomplete.” Staff outlined 21 points the company needed to address in its development plan after the company submitted it to the county on Sept. 14.

In the county’s letter, building and planning staff wanted more information about issues that included proposed changes to infrastructure during phases of the redevelopment, and details about when construction of the various stages of the resort’s two developments will start and end.

“We have been working as a team since October to provide the county with more information,” Green said.

Once the county receives the revised plan, staff will set a date for the Planning Commission to consider the project. If the commission approves it, the plan will go on to county commissioners for their consideration.

Green said he hoped that that the county’s Planning Commissioners could consider the PUD for the project in May, with the commissioners hearing it in either June or July. However, that timeline is contingent on the workload of the county, Green said.

Sunlight Mountain Development LLC, a Destin, Fla.-based company, is under contract with current Sunlight owners to purchase the resort. That company is a subsidiary of MDI Inc., a development company with operations in the southeast United States.

The sale is contingent on winning county approval to redevelop the resort.

Mike Dooley, executive vice president of Sunlight Mountain Development, said a complete build-out of the resort would probably take about 15 years. He said that first sort of building at the area would be ski mountain improvements.

Jankovsky said the start of building at the resort, at its earliest, could come in 2010.

The Sunlight project would occur on 443 acres, of which 313 would remain open space. It actually would consist of two separate developments called Compass Peak and Williams Peak.

Improvements to the ski area during the area’s redevelopment would include a high-speed lift that will operate in both the summer and winter, along with a mountain top restaurant that will also operate during the two seasons.

Contact Phillip Yates: 384-9117
pyates@postindependent.com


Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO