Company plans to push forward with ambitious sketch plan

By Phillip Yates
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
February 23, 2008

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GLENWOOD SPRINGS Colorado— The company behind the development of the former Sanders Ranch property plans to push forward with its initial sketch plan for the land after the 282-acre property was zoned to a lower urban density than the developers sought earlier this week.

That sketch plan calls for 979 housing units and 25,000 square feet of commercial space on the property, which is between Carbondale and Glenwood Springs.

The development is now being referred to as Cattle Creek Crossing. It is owned by Related WestPac, which has said it intends to designate at least 10 percent of housing units on the property as deed-restricted affordable housing.

Jeanette Darnauer, a spokeswoman for Related WestPac, said the company is planning to take that sketch plan through the county’s Planning Commission, which is a non-binding, non-required process. The company expects a public hearing on the plan to occur either in March or April.

The company wants to go through the planning commission process so it can “get a sense of where the Planning Commission” is and find out whether they like or dislike about the plan, and what developers need to do to tweak it, Darnauer said.

“It’s a good tool to gauge the sentiments of the planning commission and the county,” Darnauer said.

After that, the company plans to use feedback from that process to submit a planned unit development (PUD) and a preliminary plan for the property, Darnauer said.

Garfield County Commissioner John Martin said Related

WestPac could submit a PUD that includes a plan for more housing units than are allowed by the current zoning regulations that the commissioners approved for the property on Tuesday. However, any PUD or other plans for the property would require commissioners’ approval, Martin said.

The future of the 282-acre spread was the focus of an intense debate Tuesday as commissioners considered whether urban-density zoning is appropriate for the property.

After nearly three hours of debate, commissioners voted 2-1 to revoke the majority of the Sanders Ranch PUD for the 282-acre property and rezone it to a suburban zoning designation. That move potentially stripped away hundreds of housing units from the development.

“Do (commissioners) want density and affordability? That is what we heard,” Darnauer said of the heated commissioners’ meeting Tuesday night.

She said commissioners placed a zoning designation on the property that allows multi-family units on 396 half-acre lots. A single lot can have multiple housing options like a single home, two-family or multifamily units, Darnauer said.

“We see the commissioners’ decision as a victory for the people who live and work in the lower Roaring Fork Valley,” Darnauer said.

Commissioners Trési Houpt and Martin voted in favor of the suburban density designation for the property, while Larry McCown voted against it. He wanted to see high density for the property because of the area’s housing crunch.

Many people at the Tuesday meeting spoke out against the development and high density on the property, arguing that it wouldn’t lead to affordable housing.

“If we think density means affordability, we have learned absolutely nothing,” said Tom Stevens, who was one of the many speakers who spoke before the commissioners on Tuesday.