Minturn council appoints locals to Historic Preservation Commission, approves new design guidelines for downtown
Daily file photo
The town of Minturn saw more interest in its new Historic Preservation Commission appointments on Thursday than it saw in its Town Council election in 2022.
The new commission has been in the works throughout 2022 and became official on Wednesday when the Minturn Town Council appointed five locals to become its first official body.
The five-member Historic Preservation Commission will decide if buildings will achieve preservation status in town, a designation that adds a building to the town’s newly established historic register.
The council also gave its initial approval to the establishment of new design guidelines for the 100 block of the downtown area, a related discussion as several of the buildings in the 100 block have been eyed as possibilities for historic preservation.
Design guidelines state that street-level space within the 100 Block Commercial Zone shall be dedicated to retail uses, while on-street level space within the 100 block commercial zone may be used for compatible retail, office and residential uses.
Support Local Journalism
Former Mayor Hawkeye Flaherty was among the applicants to the commission; Flaherty expressed his displeasure with some of the ideas surrounding the town core prior to the council’s decision.
The Town Council was presented economic modeling by Brian Duffany with Economic Planning Systems; Duffany offered his prospective as an outsider on opportunities and strengths in Minturn.
Duffany said the town is “less concentrated in retail and tourism than the rest of the Vail Valley,” and has “a little bit less seasonal of an economy.”
In looking at development opportunities, Duffany said a concept where retail is on the ground floor and residential is on the top floor is the most enticing to developers.
“The three-story prototype, where we have four residential units … looks really good,” Duffany said. “The residential generates a profit of $1.6 million, and that’s able to offset the loss of the commercial space, and the project generates about a $1 million-dollar profit, or about a 25% return.”
Flaherty told Duffany his plan would be ruinous to Minturn.
“You say Minturn has a unique, historic town compared to resort-style development, but everything you present destroys our unique, historic town and turns us into another Vail or Edwards Riverwalk development,” Flaherty said.
Flaherty said he would be “very strict” about preserving old buildings in town if named to the commission, while Minturn local Larry Stone, conversely, said he was against the formation of the historic preservation commission altogether.
In applying to be on the commission, “I come from a more pragmatic side, and if that’s what the council would like to see as a balancing point, I would like to serve,” Stone said.
Minturn local Kelly Toon told the council that July 15, 2019, was one of the saddest days of his life as he watched an old building on the 100 block get torn down without warning.
Toon, in applying to the new commission on Wednesday, said he vowed to try to never let that happen again.
“We lost a huge chunk of our history,” Toon said. “That was our most beloved building that we had.”
Toon was appointed to a three-year term, along with Minturn local Ken Holiday.
Stone and new Minturn resident Kenneth Howell, formerly of Avon, were appointed to two-year terms. Tracy Anderson, who was not present at the meeting, was appointed to a one-year term.
The applicants were voted on by members of the Minturn Town Council, which itself did not have a council election in 2022, swearing in new members on April 5 after canceling its election due to its three open council seats being uncontested.
Wednesday’s appointment hearing for the new Historic Preservation Commission was a different story, with a total of nine applicants.
“I think we’ve got a great group for this, and I’m really excited about y’all’s work,” said Mayor Earle Bidez.
