Eagle County officials pull West Eagle housing plan from town of Eagle approval process
County cites linkage with river park, other complications
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Eagle County officials announced on Tuesday that they had withdrawn from consideration an application before the town of Eagle for the West Eagle workforce housing development.
The withdrawal marks the end of a long saga for the project. After passing muster with county officials, the 113-unit project gained approval from the Eagle Planning and Zoning Commission. The proposal was also in compliance with various town community plans. The project was slated for about 9 acres of county property surrounded by town of Eagle land bordered roughly by U.S. Highway 6 on the north and the Bull Pasture subdivision on the south.
But the project ran into headwinds at an Oct. 22 Eagle Town Council meeting. Council members there wondered why county officials continued to balk at conveying the land on which the Eagle River Park sits to the town.
That complication was cited in a press release as a major factor in withdrawing the application.
“The county believes that conveyance of the land unlying 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 park) by a certain date,” the release states.
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The release also states that the town’s requirement to apply its real estate transfer assessment to price-capped units was unacceptable.
Park transfer too complex
Eagle County Commissioner Jeanne McQueeney said the town’s deadline on conveying the water park couldn’t work due to complications with transferring water rights. Those rights have to be transferred through the state’s water courts, a time-consuming process.
“We couldn’t be pressured on a deadline like that,” McQueeney said.
Commissioner Matt Scherr said the town’s requests were “outside our control.”
Scherr noted that he and his fellow commissioners had wanted to do a joint board meeting about the river park, adding that “I don’t know we were adequately able to communicate” the details about that issue. But that meeting never happened for one reason or another.
Scherr noted withdrawing the project also means losing out on a $4 million state grant that would have partially funded infrastructure on the project.
“That was $4 million of value in the community,” he said.
Withdrawing the project took Eagle Mayor Scott Turnipseed by surprise.
“It was their choice to pull out,” Turnipseed said. “I don’t quite understand it. You’d think they’d have come to (a scheduled) Dec. 10 meeting.”
Despite Town Council questions about the river park, transfer assessment payments and other issues, Turnipseed said the council and county officials “never really got into full negotiations. … It’s too bad, quite honestly.”
What about neighbor complaints?
And, while the project received its share of public criticism, that wasn’t mentioned in the release.
Scherr noted that the project complied with the town’s various community plans, adding, “If you try to satisfy everyone, you’re going to lose.”
Turnipseed, an architect, acknowledged that criticism would be expected for a project surrounded by existing neighborhoods.
“You’re not going to please all the neighbors with infill plans,” he said.
Scherr and McQueeney said they’re uncertain what will happen to the parcel in the wake of the withdrawal of the West Eagle plan.
“We’re going to build affordable housing,” McQueeney said. “We have partners in Avon, Vail, and maybe even Gypsum.”
Scherr said county officials “haven’t begun to talk about” what might be next for the West Eagle parcel, but added “We’ll be looking for other opportunities. If we sell (the land) and some other developer wants to do something, the river park wouldn’t be tied to it.”
Turnipseed, though, remained hopeful that the town and county could come to some sort of agreement.
“I believe there’s some sort of win-win-win,” he said. “We should be able to figure out the river park (the joint desire) to create workforce housing … there should be a development that should be a win for all three. I hope there is. I feel I speak for the entire council on that.”
