Minturn residents get a look at Battle Mountain settlement deal
Locals asked to weigh in on the take-it-or-leave-it deal
John LaConte/Vail Daily
While Minturn residents were informed of many aspects of a potential settlement with the Battle Mountain developers this week, one statement stood out.
“It is a yes or no proposition, we’re not going to be able to revise this,” Mayor Earle Bidez said at a town hall meeting on Monday.
The Battle Mountain developers are seeking to build hundreds of homes in the Maloit Park area of town, and the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District has agreed to provide the development with enough water for up to 700 single-family-equivalent homes. The Minturn Town Council negotiated a smaller development, 250 homes, on 220-230 acres retained by Battle Mountain. The town of Minturn would receive or have the right to purchase or put restrictions upon another 250 acres in that area.
Monday’s meeting was a special session held by the Town Council so residents could receive information to understand the agreement. If enough townspeople voice opinions against the settlement, the council will consider not agreeing to it, Bidez said.
Bidez was part of a settlement negotiation team along with Town Manager Michelle Metteer, Council member Lynn Feiger, Town Attorney Mike Sawyer and attorney Justin Plaskov, who was hired by the town of Minturn to help litigate the case.
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The town would not receive much cash in the settlement — $50,000 to hire professionals to evaluate the land before settling on the deal — and approximately $100,000 from an existing escrow agreement.
During another settlement discussion at the council’s regular session on Wednesday, Bidez said a deal involving a cash benefit wasn’t working for the town due to the way it adjusted the size of the project, so the town instead sought a deal that involved land.
“That began the process of going into some serious negotiations,” Bidez said.
Congestion concerns
While Battle Mountain’s new project, negotiated under the settlement agreement, has been significantly scaled down from the 700 homes once suggested, even the scaled-down version created concerns for residents.
Lynne Blum, who lives near the proposed development, said the 250 units negotiated in the Battle Mountain settlement, along with the 120 homes proposed in the Maloit Park area by Eagle County Schools, would result in too many cars attempting to exit the area onto Highway 24.
“How, possibly, could there be any more congestion?” Blum asked.
Feiger asked Blum to consider the alternative, mentioning the threat of Battle Mountain de-annexing its property out of Minturn into Eagle County.
“The question is, what’s the alternative?” Feiger said. “We all wish you could just take a wand and say no you can’t develop, but the alternative to this agreement is that they’ll probably de-annex. And if they de-annex and go to the county, the county is desperate to find more housing availability, and they come with 700 SFEs, and the county would be within its rights to approve a development with 700 units.”
Council member Tom Sullivan said the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District approved the deal to provide Battle Mountain water for 700 homes “with zero input from the town of Minturn, behind our backs, in closed negotiations.”
The town did its best to mitigate the threat of bringing 700 new homes to the Maloit Park area, Sullivan said, a number which would more than double the current 500-something number of homes in Minturn. The deal would also allow Battle Mountain to build a spa, which would lower the number of allowable homes from 250 to 225 under the settlement.
“As a council, we worked really, really hard to bring the number of units down as much as we could,” Sullivan said.
Lakefront property
The project will require its own water treatment plant to be built near the intersection of Cross Creek Road and Highway 24, as it will receive its water from Eagle River Water and Sanitation District and will not be connected to the town of Minturn’s water system, under the settlement agreement.
“The Eagle River Water and Sanitation District would build it, and charge (Battle Mountain) for it, of course,” Bidez said on Wednesday. “It will be an expensive project for them to build, so they’re not sure whether they’re going to be able to do it or not.”
Bidez also said the project will be subject to the town’s housing code, which will mean 20% of the units must be affordable housing.
While Minturn residents’ input on the deal is limited to take it or leave it, if the town accepts the deal, then a lot of input will be required in deciding what to do with the land it receives.
The most high-value parcel appears to be the area known as the Highlands Parcel, which is described as pristine. The town will also receive the south shore of Bolts Lake once a reservoir project planned for that location is completed, which can be used for public access.
The Bolts Lake project will displace the massive amount of dirt required to dig the lake onto an area contaminated from nearby mining, an area called the old tailings pile or OTP Parcel. The new dirt on top of the pile is expected to rehabilitate that area to safe standards. The town will have the option to acquire that parcel following the Bolts Lake project, according to the deal.
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Several Minturn residents spoke out on Monday, saying the town should accept the settlement. Accepting the deal would require action from the Town Council, and would trigger a six-month due diligence period, at which time the town can inspect the land and decide if it wants to accept the deal.
No decisions on the settlement have yet been made. Bidez said the council is considering holding another special meeting on Aug. 28.
“If council decides to go ahead and sign off on this settlement agreement, which we’d want to do soon, that would trigger the due diligence period,” he said.
