-
The preferred design option for the proposed mall transit center that was approved by council in June. Town officials brought the design plan and a feasibility study before the council on Aug. 19 for approval to continue moving forward with this design.
Town of Snowmass Village website
-
A rendering of what the new mall transit center would look from Carriage Way.
Town of Snowmass Village website
Town of Snowmass Village officials received council approval to continue design work on the proposed mall transit center Aug. 19.
The town’s goal in bringing updates to the new transit center’s design, which was approved in June, back to council for approval was to ensure officials were still on board.
“Before we go to the next stage and step of design, we wanted to make sure we were designing for the right project,” town manager Clint Kinney explained to council. “We didn’t want to get halfway and say ‘oh geez, that’s too big, too small, not enough.’ ”
In a brief presentation, both David Peckler, the town’s transportation director, and Alex Jauch from the S.E.H. consulting firm went over the project plan and a feasibility study prepared for the mall transit center.
The study detailed the preferred design option, known as Option 4. This option’s planned development for the area adjacent to Carriage Way and the Village Mall includes a single bus platform at the mall level with four Roaring Fork Transportation Authority bus bays, and six local shuttle bus bays, along with a roughly 60-space parking area below the bus platform that will replace the existing “Lot 6.”
Public restrooms, an information center, bus driver breakroom, elevators and delivery vehicle parking will be included in the two-story mall transit center, as well as measures to make the station and parking area more ADA accessible, the study shows.
Option 4 design plans also took council member and public concerns related to potential bus-pedestrian conflicts into account, creating pedestrian circulation routes, gathering zones, way-finding hubs and planting areas to help guide safe pedestrian traffic.
After town officials rebriefed council on the design, they went into the finances and logistics of the project.
According to the feasibility study, the final mall transit project total is estimated at $8.7 million, with the majority of the money going toward the parking garage.
Just under $6 million will be funded by the Elected Officials Transportation Committee, Peckler and Kinney explained, and staff is looking at state and federal grant funding for the majority of the remaining funds needed.
Kinney said about $50,000 had been spent using EOTC funds on the mall transit design so far, and the next phase to get the design ready for the land-use review process would cost roughly $300,000, which is why he and Peckler wanted council’s approval to proceed.
“It’s a bit scary in terms of visualizing what it does to that area, but it’s what we got to work with in order to address the goals we’ve set,” Councilman Bob Sirkus said.
After a bit of hesitation from council members, who voiced their nerves over moving forward with such a large project, town officials were given the go ahead to continue with the mall transit center design work.
If all goes well with the final design and project platting, town officials estimated having 100% construction plans by May.