{"id":2452441,"date":"2019-12-19T23:25:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T06:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=317983"},"modified":"2019-12-19T23:25:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T06:25:00","slug":"basalt-officials-start-hard-look-at-growth-potential-as-part-of-master-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/basalt-officials-start-hard-look-at-growth-potential-as-part-of-master-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Basalt officials start hard look at growth potential as part of master plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
A woman cruises through downtown Basalt on her bicycle in this file photo. Town officials are working on an update to the 2007 master plan to determine the amount and type of growth desired.<\/strong>
Aspen Times file<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Basalt officials are getting ready to take a long, hard look at how many more residences the town should accommodate \u2014 in essence, how much it should grow.<\/p>\n

Basalt currently has 1,745 residential units within its boundaries, according to its planning staff. The Basalt Planning and Zoning Commission is pondering how many more units to allow and where as part of an update to a master land-use plan. The Town Council also will soon weigh in.<\/p>\n

In addition to the existing units, Basalt has 375 residential units approved or planned, the planning staff determined. Future land-use designations would allow another 53 to 137 dwellings within its boundaries.<\/p>\n

Basalt also is looking at the existing, approved but not built and potential units outside its boundaries but within its Three Mile Planning Area \u2014 all areas within 3 miles of the town\u2019s boundaries. That stretches about 10.2 miles east to west on the valley floor, from Old Snowmass to the Waldorf School, and 9.6 miles north to south. When those numbers are added to Basalt\u2019s, there are 4,132 existing units, 927 planned or approved but not built, and between 974 and 1,194 possible through zoning and land-use policies.<\/p>\n

Those numbers caught the attention of Basalt Planning and Zoning Commission member Rob Leavitt at a meeting Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re adding 2,000 units to a (region) that has 4,000 units,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n

He questioned if the infrastructure can handle it. Highway 82 is already overwhelmed, as anyone who must commute on it knows, he said.<\/p>\n

Given that there are nearly 1,000 units planned or already approved within the Three Mile Planning Area, Leavitt said, he wants to look at curtailing additional development in Basalt.<\/p>\n

He believes the majority of Basalt residents share his view. In open houses organized by the town planning staff and consultants, residents were asked to weigh in on the type and amount of development they want to see on key parcels in town. In three out of four cases, they picked the lesser density. Only on the former Clark\u2019s Market site in the heart of downtown was more density favored.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a significant finding,\u201d said David Dixon of CTA, which is consulting the town on the master plan.<\/p>\n

Leavitt said he believes residents might have favored even more restrictions, if given the option.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou only gave them two choices \u2014 density or sprawl,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat if we asked them (if they wanted to see) nothing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Total build-out in Basalt and within its Three Mile Planning Area was estimated by the Basalt planning department to be between 6,033 and 6,253 residential units.<\/p>\n

Planning commission chairman Bill Maron said the numbers can paint a skewed picture of the development future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at it in a data-driven way, you can freak yourself out,\u201d Maron said.<\/p>\n

The units that are approved but not yet built won\u2019t all get constructed, he said. Some places that were designated for development in the town\u2019s 1999 and 2007 master plans haven\u2019t been developed, he said.<\/p>\n

Land and construction costs push developers toward fewer and more expensive homes, so not all the approved units will be built, Maron said.<\/p>\n

He and planning commission member Tracy Bennett said they want to see the master plan encourage development in places where transit and other urban services are within walking distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where things are supposed to happen,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to see stuff going way out in the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Basalt can only control the amount of development within its boundaries. The Eagle County and Pitkin County commissioners preside over areas outside of the town but in its Three Mile Planning Area.<\/p>\n

The master plan is looking beyond numbers. The community blueprint is also looking at the type of development and facilities wanted as well as the types of projects that citizens want to pursue.<\/p>\n

The Town Council will dive into the town master plan debate starting with a joint meeting with the planning commission Jan. 14. The goal is to approve a master plan before the town\u2019s April election, when four seats on the seven-seat board could potentially turn over.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman cruises through downtown Basalt on her bicycle in this file photo. Town officials are working on an update to the 2007 master plan to determine the amount and type of growth desired.Aspen Times file Basalt officials are getting ready to take a long, hard look at how many more residences the town should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 01:19:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}