Steamboat Pilot & Today

The Hayden Planning Com--mission will be presented with more details about two proposed hotels and a home center at its meeting Thursday, but plan approvals aren't likely until additional engineering is complete.

The X-West Commerce Center would encompass about 40 acres of land west of Wagner Equipment on U.S. Highway 40 west of downtown Hayden.

Town Manager Russ Martin said town officials are "generally pleased with the plan and the way the buildings look," but they have requested more engineering details, such as the size and depth of sewer pipes and water lines.

The commission is scheduled to vote on approval for site plans and preliminary plats, but planning commissioners likely will only discuss the items and table decisions until the engineering details are worked out, Martin said.

"This is really a final version of it, which is why we really want to get final engineering. ... Once you get site plan approval, it's building permit time," he said. Martin said it could be April before developers can provide the requested engineering details.

Also on Thursday, the Planning Commission is expected to recommend granting a conditional-use permit for the proposed home center. The conditional-use permit is required for a lumberyard for the Elk Mountain Home, Ranch and Garden Center.

The commission also will likely recommend the annexation of 36 acres of land for the X-West Commerce Center. About 4 acres of the proposed development is within town limits.

In addition to the home center, the development proposal from Westminster Suites calls for a Quality Suites hotel with about 62 rooms and a Sleep Inn hotel with 83 rooms. After the hotels and home center are developed, about 22 acres still would be available for future development in the X-West Commerce Center.

A group called Huntco Industries is asking the town to annex a 35-acre parcel unrelated to the X-West Commerce Center.

Martin said he will recommend that the Planning Commission deny the request because there are no proposed developments for the parcel of land.

"We don't have anyone to use this space, so it's just annexing to annex," Martin said. "It's not that we wouldn't annex it in the future."