Preserve Glenwood’s character

Whatever happens with the Harvest Roaring Fork proposal, it must not become Willits 2.0 — and Glenwood Springs is the last holdout of true Roaring Fork Valley character.

Just 10 miles upvalley, Willits was pitched as a “new urbanist village” with 25% deed-restricted housing. Twenty years later, those units expired, flipped to luxury, and the median price now exceeds $1.8 million. Teachers commute from Silt. Nurses live in Parachute. Basalt taxpayers still owe $20 million in bonds and TIF rebates for a project that enriched outsiders while erasing local roots.

Now, 236 acres of Sanders Ranch — Glenwood’s front door — face the same fate. But Glenwood remains the valley’s beating heart: City Market runs out of carts at 5 p.m., Coloradough staff know your dog’s name, and Mountain Chevrolet fixes your rig before ski season. This isn’t Aspen’s gloss or Basalt’s boutique drift — it’s working-class, river-town soul.

Harvest Roaring Fork can protect that — or pave it over with 1,500-plus units, a 120-room hotel and 55,000 square feet of retail space on just 220 acres, at a staggering nine units per acre.

A core demand: 50% or more of units deed-restricted at 80–160% AMI with 99-year covenants — not 30-year placeholders. A Glenwood nurse, Carbondale teacher or RFTA driver should want to live here forever, not until the deed flips and the home sells to a second-home buyer for $1.5 million.

Willits imported wealth. Harvest can recirculate it.

Some other suggestions for residents to consider: Slash density. Cap at 400–600 total units (two to three per acre). Reserve commercial space for lease-to-own local startups — think Dos Gringos. Let Valley View, SkiCo or RFTA fund staff housing via company contributions, not county taxes. Use impact fees to train tradesmen for jobs that build and maintain the project. Phase growth only as local businesses expand — think White House Pizza. Mandate an independent water audit, wildlife corridors and low-impact lighting.

Willits clogged Highway 82 with no plan while promising community but delivering luxury. Glenwood can’t afford that loss. Preserve Glenwood’s soul — or sell it off.

Joseph Claypool, Glenwood Springs