Public to weigh in at Tuesday’s Edwards RiverPark hearing
More than three dozen community members have signed up to speak
Special to the Daily
After two weeks of meetings dedicated to applicant presentation and board questions, this week’s Edwards RiverPark public hearing before the Eagle County Board of Commissioners will be all about hearing from the public.
The sixth public hearing for the Edwards RiverPark proposal will begin at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. The county is compiling a list of public speakers for the Zoom session.
The Edwards RiverPark is a commercial/residential planned unit development proposal from a group called Sierra Trail Investments LLC. The project is planned on a 53.7-acre parcel located north of U.S. Highway 6 and south of the Eagle River on land that was formerly the site of a B&B Excavating gravel pit operation. The proposal includes two large condo buildings and a condo/hotel building along with commercial buildings, multifamily residential and townhomes.
Plan revisions
During the course of the county commissioners’ five previous public hearings, along with a series of hearings before the Eagle County Planning Commission and review by county staff, the Edwards RiverPark development team has made several alterations to the original application.
“The applicant heard that there was a concern with the magnitude of the transient nature of the PUD, namely the overall percentage of hotel use when compared to the other residential elements,” noted planner Dominic Mauriello in a memo prepared for this week’s hearing.
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Mauriello stated that in response to the concerns voiced by the commissioners and raised by the public, there have been a number of revisions to the Edwards RiverPark plan including the following:
- 100 lock-off units have been eliminated from the condominium/hotel
- The condominium hotel density has been reduced from 182 units to 140 units
- Short term rental of units outside of the hotel have been capped at 90 of the 300 free-market units
- Overall density reduction of 54 units, from 594 to 540
“The applicant believes these changes dramatically correct the level of transient units within the PUD in direct response to the concerns raised,” Mauriello stated. He added that the development now features a greater focus on full-time residents,
“Now only 26% of the units proposed are condominium hotel units,” Mauriello stated.
As a result of the changes, Mauriello also stated that there would be an estimated 9% reduction (405 vehicles per day) in traffic generated at Edwards RiverPark.
The development team has not altered its previously revised building height proposal for Edwards River Park. Originally, the plan called out an 85-foot peak stepping down to 75 feet at both condominium hotel and at condo building No. 1. The Eagle County Planning Commission recommended a maximum peak height of 50 feet at the condominium hotel and 65 feet at condo building No. 1. The developer’s proposal is a maximum 75 feet stepping down to 65 feet at the condominium hotel, and 65 feet stepping down to 55 feet at condo building No. 1.
In October, the Eagle County Planning Commission recommended approval of the application with 39 conditions of approval. The county planning staff also recommended approval with the addition of three more conditions. As of this week, staff has stated that 21 of the recommended conditions have been satisfied, but recommended that 22 of the conditions remain if the commissioners vote to approve the proposed development.
The complete Edwards RiverPark application file can be viewed at eaglecounty.us/planning/activelanduseapplications.