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Eagle County withdraws West Eagle Housing Development application
Eagle County on Tuesday issued the following press release on its withdrawal of the annexation application for the proposed West Eagle Housing development in the Town of Eagle:
The Eagle County Government has withdrawn its land use and annexation application for the proposed West Eagle Housing development (AN23-01) within the Town of Eagle. This project would have provided much-needed workforce housing, benefiting the Town of Eagle and the broader community, by providing 113 deed-restricted housing units.
“Housing affordability and availability is a perennial challenge in our community,” said Eagle County Commissioner Matt Scherr. “Although we could not move forward with this project, we will continue seeking opportunities with public and private partners that support sustainable and equitable housing solutions throughout the county.”
Unfortunately, the Town of Eagle’s position that approval of the housing project was contingent upon the county also transferring to the town the county-owned land upon which the Eagle River Park is located and the inclusion of a real estate transfer assessment (RETA) on price-capped deed-restricted units were dealbreakers for the county. The county believes that conveyance of the land underlying the Eagle River Park has significant land-use and water rights implications and should not be tied to this housing development. Additionally, the town required as a condition of annexation that the county pay the town $7.5 million if the county was unable to convey the land underlying the Eagle River Park by a certain date. This requirement was also unacceptable to the county. The county values the Eagle River Park and wants to see it continue to operate as a vital taxpayer-funded community amenity. Currently, the town operates the park under a use agreement with the county. The county has similar agreements with recreation districts responsible for operating other parks, such as Freedom Park and Crown Mountain Park, on county-owned land.
Furthermore, applying the RETA to price-capped units and allowing the revenue generated to fund Town of Eagle operations increases the upfront cost of purchasing a home, makes it more difficult for buyers to qualify, and does not align with the county’s affordable housing goals.
From the start of the project, the county pursued a communications strategy that prioritized transparency and community engagement. In addition to public meetings that are part of the land-use approval process, the county hosted an open house in May 2023 attended by approximately 60 community members. The project was designed to conform with the West Eagle Subarea Plan, Elevate Eagle, Town of Eagle Strategic Plan, Town of Eagle Economic Development Plan, and Town of Eagle Netzero Action Plan, all developed by the town and community members. Additional communication efforts included an updated informational website with project details and artist renderings of the proposed development, direct mailings to 150 adjacent households, and an email list with nearly 200 subscribers who opted in to receive West Eagle updates.
“Developing workforce housing is complex and necessitates a shared vision and alignment of goals among all parties involved,” stated Tori Franks, Eagle County Resiliency Director. “While we are disappointed that we cannot proceed with the West Eagle workforce housing project at this time, we remain committed to finding solutions across the spectrum of housing needs and look forward to investing our limited housing dollars in other projects in 2025.”
Bill Minett
December 8, 2024 at 9:54 pm
I have followed the saga of the Eagle County planning department’s workforce housing project since 2018.
I attended the May 2023 open house; and subscribed to the email list. The, “communications strategy that prioritized transparency and community engagement,” was never enacted. The planned development was presented as a finished proposal in May, 2023; and apparently, someone misplaced the email list. The planning department never consulted with the Bull Pasture HOA or any of its member associates in the development, which would have had a severe, negative impact on our adjacent neighborhood.
The planning department, in its attempt to maximize the density of the project, facetiously attempted to categorize an on-site, open-space requirement within the development with land underlying the Eagle River Park. The Eagle River Park is located more than a half of a mile distant; and would have required parents and their children to cross a (future) four-lane boulevard and then, a bridge over the Eagle River in order to access the park, which is yet a further 200 yards distant from the Eagle County Fairgrounds. The density of the proposed development should have taken into account both the requirement for open space integral to the available land and building height maxima of immediately adjacent neighborhoods. The development planned three-story townhomes with 35′ ridgelines. The immediately adjacent neighborhood limits ridgeline heights to 20′. Additionally, parking parameters for the development wholly ignored residence, density impact on the numbers of vehicles parked on site. For example, three bedroom units are, each, typically occupied by three, independent drivers, who operate their own vehicles.
The impact of substantially increased traffic on the Hwy. 6/Grand Avenue corridor was ignored. At the May, 2023 open house, when I asked Commissioner Scherr where the main ingress/egress for the (at the time 130-units development) was, he indicated a point that would have been immediately adjacent to the Colorado State Patrol building that is located on Hwy. 6; and further, when I asked Eagle Town Mayor, Scott Turnipseed at a Town Board Meeting in November of this year if the planned Hwy. 6 re-development would have commenced prior to the Eagle County’s planned verticle development of the West Eagle project in 2025, the Mayor indicated that it would not have started. Further, and contrary to previous development agreements for townhouse, single-family and duplex homes on Shorthorn and Oxford streets, the proposed development would have provided direct motor vehicle access to Bull Run. Access to the proposed development from Capitol Street, to the south, was contingent on the future development of the wholly separate, Hay Meadow sub-division.
This press release places the reason for Eagle County’s withdrawing the annexation application on the Town of Eagle’s insistence on transferring title to the land that encompasses the Eagle River Park. According to testimony from Eagle County Manager, Jeff Schroll, at the same November, 2024 Town Board Meeting previously mentioned, whereas land title discussions have been protracted from disinterest on the part of both the County and Town – 5-years and counting – there remains a distinct possibility of a resolution agreement.
The $7.5 million might have been a deciding factor in the County withdrawing the annexation application; but in a the context of a $100 million development proposal where the County would have been selling deed-restricted units for $565K at a loss of over $300K per unit for 113-units: a loss of over $36 million in total, the $7.5 million might have represented the equivalent of an inevitable cost over-run.
The Town of Eagle has had a substantially limited tax base since the Town of Gypsum rescinded sharing the Costco tax base. Any development incurs substantial costs to a municipality’s infrastructure. The RETA was absolutely necessary to off-set costs that would have been the development’s associated infrastructure costs by the Town of Eagle.