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Avon seeking public input on hotel plan

AVON SPECIAL MEETING

WHEN: Monday, Dec. 5, 5 p.m.

WHERE: Avon Town Hall, One Lake Street

WHY: Voice your opinion on a new, 142-room hotel proposed for West Beaver Creek Boulevard, and the $90,000 in funding its developers are seeking from the town

AVON — Town officials are encouraging you to voice your opinion Monday on new hotel planned for the town center. The hotel would contain 142 rooms and a gym, and would be located between West Beaver Creek Boulevard and the town’s “Main Street Mall” pedestrian walkway, which was constructed in 2014 as a way of bringing a downtown feel to the area, known as Lot B.

The hotel development plan was unanimously recommended for approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission at its Nov. 14 meeting; the commission had been working on the plan all summer. Kenneth Howell joined the commission in May and said the hotel plan was a great project to work on.

“Ultimately it came down to just being a great use of dead space,” he said. “The other part that I really thought was exciting about it was this project will fulfill legacy agreements between Lot B and the Avon Lodge, the fact that they’re going to conjoin to that and gain a recreational facility — the gym that they’re going to put in there — I thought that was a great thing for the area and will help solidify the town center.”



Many residents and stakeholders got their first glimpse of what the new town center could look like at the recent Beaver Creek Boulevard streetscape improvement meetings, which showed illustrations of a narrower West Beaver Creek Boulevard with the hotel abutting the roadway.

“We heard that with the Skier Building when it had a $3 million price tag — I fell for it then — and we heard it just the other day with the Sun & Ski, which asked for a half a million dollars and then ended up opening anyway without it. I just don’t believe these claims anymore — that taxpayer money needs to help fund development.”Jake WolfAvon Town Council member

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“The public hearings represent an opportunity for anyone in the community to provide comment on the application for this project,” said Mayor Jennie Fancher.



Monday’s special meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Avon Town Hall.

ALSO ASKING FOR CASH

In addition to review of the hotel design, the Council will consider a request from Treadstone Development – the group who submitted the hotel application – to fund landscaping in the public right-of-way totaling $40,000 and extension of the town’s heat recovery infrastructure to Lot B at an estimated contribution of $50,000.

That part of the plan, says councilman Jake Wolf, is bothersome.

“I’m sure the argument here will be that if we don’t give them this money, we will risk losing this project altogether,” Wolf said. “We heard that with the Skier Building when it had a $3 million pricetag — I fell for it then — and we heard it just the other day with the Sun & Ski, which asked for a half a million dollars and then ended up opening anyway without it. I just don’t believe these claims anymore, that taxpayer money needs to help fund development.”

ACTION ON DEC. 13

If approved, the additional funding would be appropriated from the town’s urban renewal fund budget. Increased tax revenue from the hotel is expected to help pad the urban renewal fund and offset the cost of the taxpayer investment, Wolf acknowledged. Nevertheless, he assumed the project will happen regardless of any investment from the town.

“It sounds like an awesome hotel with close access to the gondola to Beaver Creek, so I really support the project itself,” he said. “I think the only help they should need from (town council) is approvals, not cash.”

The Dec. 5 public hearing will be continued to the town council’s Dec. 13, meeting, where more public comment will be solicited. If you can’t make the meeting, you can email comments to Town Clerk Debbie Hoppe at dhoppe@avon.org. Comments are requested by no later than 1 p.m. on Dec. 13. Action on the development plan will be taken at the Dec. 13 regular meeting.


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