Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Two Steamboat Springs property owners are petitioning the city for a zone change that would allow the construction of as many as five duplexes and four single-family homes in the Fairview neighborhood.

City Planner Jonathan Spence said the Emerald Village Investments proposal would convert 2 acres at Evans Street and Saratoga Avenue from industrial to residential zoning. The site is part of the Miller Frazier Addition to Steamboat Springs off 13th Street.

The idea will be presented to the Planning Commission on March 9 and is scheduled to go before City Council on March 21.

"The advantages of rezoning the property include removing an inappropriate zoning designation within an established neighborhood and adding to the available housing stock," Spence wrote in a memo to the Planning Commission.

Single-family building lots within the city limits are in short supply.

The conversion to residential zoning requires that three sheds on the land be torn down.

"Our intention is to construct housing for local individuals and families, which will be a great benefit to the neighborhood as opposed to the industrial/storage buildings," Emerald Village Investments' Thaine Mahanna wrote in his application.

Mahanna has one piece of the parcel under a purchase contract with the Allen Living Trust. He also is making the rezoning request on behalf of Harris Greene and Joe Armstrong, owners of an adjacent parcel.

Greene said the most he and his partner would build on the land is three duplexes. There also is a possibility that they would sell the lots instead of building on them.

Spence said Mahanna could tentatively create four single-family and two duplex lots on the site.

The Planning Commission denied a request to rezone the two parcels to permit development of a multi-family housing project.

Greene said he understood why neighbors objected to the multi-family zoning.

"We want it to look good and fit in with the rest of the neighborhood," he said.

Mahanna promised in a letter to the city that he would be sensitive to the nearby Lithia Spring park and recreational uses in the area.

-- To reach Tom Ross, call 871-4205

or e-mail tross@steamboatpilot.com