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Village at Avon: What’s next?

AVON, Colorado – With one deadline – issued late at night – passed, it’s hard to tell whether or not the Avon Town Council and developers of the Village at Avon can settle their legal differences any time soon.

When the council adjourned its Sept. 25 meeting in the wee small hours of Sept. 26, frustrated council members had a simple message for Village at Avon developers. That message was, in essence: Bring us a version of an amended land use guide and a “Consolidated, Amended and Restated Annexation and Development Agreement” that’s little, if any, different than a settlement term sheet we approved a year ago and perhaps we can settle our legal differences.

Council members set a deadline of 5 p.m. Sept. 30 to see those documents. As of Monday, council members still didn’t have what they’d asked for.



So now what?

“I guess it’s ‘Groundhog Day, version 37,'” council member Amy Phillips said, referring to the movie of the same name. “At this point, we’re where we’ve been for two months now.”

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Fellow council member Chris Evans, who was the first to raise the “have it to us by 5 p.m. Friday” flag at the last meeting, said he isn’t sure what the next step for the settlement process is. He said the council is expected to meet in an Oct. 8 executive session – a meeting to receive legal advice outside the public eye – before its public meeting Oct. 9.

Meanwhile, a Jan. 7 trial date is looming if the town and developers can’t settle the case. And it looks like another deadline will come and go in the case – Oct. 12. That’s a deadline to inform bond holders – who financed the streets, roundabouts and utilities at the Village at Avon – whether they can tap a line of credit held by international bank BNP Paribas for the next payment.

If the payment isn’t made, the bonds could go into default, which may derail the complex financial agreements in the proposed settlement between the developers and the town

While it looks like the deadlines agreed to between the town, the bank and District Judge Tom Moorhead will again pass, Evans said he still believes a deal can get done.

“We’ve made progress,” Evans said. “We’re just not making progress quickly enough.”

But, he added, town officials at some point need to decide when to stop working on a settlement and start preparing for a trial.

Business Editor Scott N. Miller can be reached at 970-748-2930 or smiller@vaildaily.com.


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