West End project in Edwards faces its second hearing with county commissioners on Aug. 1

The Eagle County Board of Commissioners is set for at least one more hearing for the West End proposal in Edwards. That hearing is scheduled for Aug. 1 at 4 p.m.

If approved, the project, proposed by East West Partners, would add 275 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments on a currently vacant site of just less than 5 acres just west of The Gashouse restaurant.

The proposal has been in the works for about two years, and has been endorsed by a number of valley employers. The Eagle County Planning Commission in February voted for approval of the project.

But a number of Edwards residents believe the plan is simply too large for the site, and too large for the area.

“I’m adamantly against it,” Edwards resident Joanna Kerwin said. Kerwin said among other things, she doesn’t believe the developers’ claim about the number of possible auto trips per day on the proposed loop road that would serve the project.

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Questions about the loop road

That road would go through the apartment project, as well as the The Gashouse and Edwards Plaza properties, ensuring that access to all those properties would only be via right turns. Kerwin also questioned the road’s proposed lane width of 11 feet — the standard is 15 feet. Kerwin also questioned the lack of a bike lane through the area.

The narrow traffic lanes should require bike lanes, Kerwin said.

Fellow Edwards resident Chris Neuswanger is one of several project opponents who say West End violates the tenets of the Edwards Community Plan, which calls for maintaining a “small town feel.”

The county staff evaluation of the project found West End to be in compliance with the county’s land use regulations.

One of the opponents’ main complaints is the project’s size. Neuswanger frequently mentioned that the size of the single building is more than double the size of the Walmart store in Avon. That store is roughly 180,000 square feet.

In East West Partners’ latest submission to the county, the total residential square footage — which doesn’t count the rest of the building — is counted at just more than 293,000 square feet.

Opponents also question just how affordable the project will be. The East West proposal states that 28 of the 275 units will be income-restricted to those making between 80% and 100% of the area median income. For a two-person household, that income ranges between $60,300 and $104,100 per year.

Another 179 units will be deed restricted to those who meet county requirements for working an average of at least 30 hours per week in the county.

While the deed-restricted units exceed county standards, “I don’t think the deed restriction will significantly hold down rents,” Neuswanger said.

Can it be affordable?

Commissioners during their first West End hearing on June 27 also questioned the affordability of the deed-restricted, but not income-restricted, units.

Commissioners at that hearing also questioned details of the loop road, projected traffic counts and the developers’ proposal for parking at the site.

The commissioners also wanted a better understanding of just how tall the building will be. The site slopes from south to the north — from U.S. Highway 6 down toward the Eagle River Preserve — and the building gets taller down that slope.

Edwards residents opposed to the project have created a website, SaveEdwards.com, which includes a petition to change the plan.

Neuswanger said that in addition to the online petition, he and other project opponents have been putting out flyers on doors in Edwards.

“People may call us NIMBYs (not in my back yard), but build what’s in the guidelines,” Neuswanger said. “A smaller-scale building would be very welcoming.”