Photo by John F. Russell
Routt County Planning Director Chad Phillips said Monday that one of the Steamboat 700 property owners contacted him about a month ago to ask about options for the parcel including splitting the land into parcels of 35 acres or more.
Options remain for Steamboat 700 property that residents voted against annexing
Updated July 12, 2011 at 10:58 a.m.
Steamboat Springs — Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that city voters denied the Steamboat 700 annexation in March 2010.
There’s been no activity with the land west of Steamboat Springs once intended for the Steamboat 700 development.
Routt County Planning Director Chad Phillips said Monday that one of the property’s owners contacted him about a month ago to ask about his options for the parcel that could have included about 2,000 homes and 380,000 square feet of commercial space to accommodate an additional 4,700 Steamboat residents.
City voters overwhelmingly denied the Steamboat 700 annexation by a 61 percent to 39 percent margin in March 2010. The vote, a result of a citizen referendum process, overturned the Steamboat Springs City Council’s October 2009 approval of the annexation.
Phillips said that was the last he heard from the owner, who he wouldn’t name.
“Has there been action?” Phillips said. “I would say no.”
Steamboat 700 Principal and Project Manager Danny Mulcahy didn’t return a cell phone call seeking comment Monday. His local office phone number was disconnected.
Attorney Bob Weiss, who represented Steamboat 700 during the annexation process, said he couldn’t comment Monday. Weiss said he would contact the owners so they could be in position to answer questions about the property by the end of the week.
Steamboat 700 includes four parcels that total 536 acres, Routt County Assessor Gary Peterson said. Another 160 acres at one time were under contract but didn’t close.
Phillips said options included splitting the land into parcels of 35 acres or more, which wouldn’t be subject to the county’s planning process, according to state statute. And because the lots all fronted U.S. Highway 40 and Routt County Road 44, the county didn’t require a road review to make sure fire and emergency services could access them.
Phillips said another option is for the Steamboat 700 owners to create a land preservation subdivision and break property into 5-acre parcels similar to Maribou and Alpine Mountain Ranch. Phillips said that would require them to enter the county planning process.
City of Steamboat Springs Planner Jason Peasley said the Steamboat 700 land, sold by Steve Brown and Mary Brown for $25 million in March 2007, was broken into 35-acre parcels before it was sold. He said the parcels weren’t combined through the city process.
Peasley said the Steamboat 700 owners haven’t contacted the city since the vote. He said they could re-enter the annexation process but would risk denial by the City Council or another citizen-led referendum.
Tom Leeson, the city’s former director of planning and community development, said after the March 2009 vote that Steamboat would need to revisit its growth policies. Such a step will be included in the update of the Steamboat Springs Area Community Plan, which started in April, Peasley said. The plan, which will amend the version drafted in 2004, will be presented to the City Council and Routt County Board of Commissioners during a joint meeting Aug. 1.
The first phase of the four-phase update that will take 12 to 18 months is complete, Peasley said. He said it recapped how the plan was implemented and included getting community feedback about how it should be changed to reflect the community’s priorities.
Peasley said the update was intended to find out whether the plan still was what the community wanted for Steamboat’s future.
“I anticipate that’s going to be one of the issues we’ll be focusing on — land use and growth — not looking at separately but jointly,” he said. “How do we want to grow, and what does that look like?”
— To reach Jack Weinstein, call 970-871-4203 or email jweinstein@SteamboatToday.com
Comments
freerider 1 year, 10 months ago
STICK A FORK IN IT !!!!!!
Scott Wedel 1 year, 10 months ago
Well, if a proposal for annexation of a modest number of acres (say size of Silverview) of a well designed development was submitted then there is no reason not to consider it.
Whole problem of SB 700 was that it was annexation of the entire parcel and thus development rights for the entire parcel and the claims that it was somehow providing affordable housing was not credible. So it made no sense to approve such a huge annexation to be built out over several decades when the public had no idea if the promises of the wonderfulness was true or cynical lies.
The WSSAP made a huge mistake stating there was only one area of growth (as compared to having a couple of options such as along Twentymile and then stating there would be a maximum annexation of some number of acres per year). So there was no annexation activity and then a request for the entire area.
steamboatsprings 1 year, 10 months ago
Steamboat 700 was pretty close to what the WSSAP actually asked for but to meet the requirements of the plan in regards to improvements it had to be too big and thus it couldn't get approved. It's now worth up to $4m divided in to 35 acre parcels if purchased by one party compared to well over $30m invested. The buyers were brought by Chad this year's Entrepreneur of the Year and Pam. At this point their only choice is to hold it and hope a plan can be worked out to develop some portion of it under a different community plan that strikes a better balance. The Browns struck one of the best land deals we saw during the boom.
kathy foos 1 year, 10 months ago
freerider, your caps button is stuck dude.
Fred Duckels 1 year, 10 months ago
The voting intervention was a non event. It probably helped the developers by voiding all the promises made. The market is in charge here and if the project had been approved they would have been expected to move in a number of areas. From a developer perspective they can now work in a more sober atmosphere compared to the demands of the past. These folks responded to our desires and they deserve some respect, and they deserve a chance to salvage some of their investment.
kathy foos 1 year, 10 months ago
freerider=steamboat bus passenger freewriter=poster with the caps lock stuck on and a bad attitude freerighter=ex-democrat freerideher=free pony ride on a mare free willy=oops shoudn't be on the list
Put state of the art internet access out there ,expand this area for the professionals that can work anywhere if they have top world class internet.Make some new shops to service the industry, if you put that server access out there "they will come".Sounds like they are already here .Throw in encouraging alternative energy building incentives,hire American builders that hire American and it would put people back to work.When this project was stopped ,it hurt everyone that works construction.Steamboat is not done growing.I also think that South Routt should install this internet access.We are so fortunate to have the great Zirkel(finally) but what ever can be done ,should be done.That access in South Routt might be the needed push for new industry; seems to be getting less business's than ever in this area.Its natural for the worker's to move here because they don't have to commute every day,and can enjoy a more laid back life style,but the city of Steamboat is nearby.Along with that maybe a Post Pet in South Routt and a bus for workers to go to Steamboat(saves gas).The building department needs to push alternative solutions and energy devices.Get progressive in this town ,alternative energy ,housing, protect nature and water,protect year around residents and not just tourist(I think you have more than covered the tourist thing).The closing of Yampa Ave.is a good idea even though I love to drive it myself),the cyclers are great and should be made a large safe crossing of downtown (they save gas).Become known for a up to date society in all progressive ways,tone down the tourist influence and hire Americans,there are way too many unemployed tax-payers in this county.This must stop. If it takes action by the town council to make sure the city employers are hiring locals first(kids learning at high school trade school need a place to work),.Don't approve a subdivision and not hire taxpaying county residents(or county high school grads entry level jobs) to construct it .I think to vote down Steamboat 700 was probably a big mistake that is hurting progress,the sooner it is move ahead somehow the better for all.Quality of county life should be considered when looking at bids for works done,not just the best way to make a buck for whoever.Quality of life and opportunity's of all levels of income for county residents(our children,not visa workers).Its sickening that there are no jobs for over ten percent of this Valley of resident's.I reject that ..if any of you are to blame shame on you.Change it.
kathy foos 1 year, 10 months ago
Post Net not Post Pet,silly me.
Steve Lewis 1 year, 10 months ago
The citizen's ballot vote on SB700 was in March 2010, not 2009.
pitpoodle 1 year, 10 months ago
I thank the voters and people who worked so hard to make sure SB 700 failed at the polls. The buyers were crazy enough to pay Mary Brown $25m for the property. Well, too bad these out of town developers fell for a bad deal. But then again, greed got them there. They may be able to salvage some of their investment but fortunately it won't be from SBS residents paying for their infrastructure (to their property line) and water and sewer needs. I am hopeful that salvaging their investment won't mean that everyone else must sacrifice their quality of life so they can make their investment work.
Kathy, I would like to hire employees, and need to do it, but cannot afford it. Employees are too expensive because of payroll taxes and unemployment insurance and continually rising costs of doing business in this valley. Obama gave every worker a "break" in Soc Sec taxes but the employer must make it up and pay what the employee does not. Additionally, every employer will be charged for Colorado's share of the federal government's interest for what was borrowed for unemployment compensation. Plus, we do not know what other tax increases to expect - to say nothing about Obama care costs down the road.
Reject all you want but there is still no way I can hire with so many unknown expenses down the road.
Here's a great idea, how about a SBS property tax so that local businesses can pay even more so that short-term residents can have a sales tax break. Again, another brilliant idea to ensure that local businesses will not start hiring.
Scott Wedel 1 year, 10 months ago
I think it is simply wrong to say SB 700 was close to what the WSSAP specified. The WSSAP specified a large percentage of affordable housing (the wisdom of the requirement is questionable). That percentage was then lowered to be more reasonable.
The SB 700 parcels were purchased at such a high price that then SB 700 managed to redefine "affordable" into something so useless and pointless that if it had been approved then the "affordable" would have been a farce. But instead of the developers simply saying "hey commies we ain't doing affordable, we doing free market", both they and the city tried to sell the project on the public benefit of affordable housing.
And while many voters probably had a variety of reasons for voting against it, I think most opposition boiled down to the annexation agreement was too complicated to be trusted to be appropriate for the 30+ year build out of the massive project. If the plan had been to get it approved in stages so that the next phase had a better annexation agreement than the previous stage then I think it might have been approved. But there are just too many cases of huge annexations gone bad for the public to approve it in the form it was presented.
cindy constantine 1 year, 10 months ago
Anyone driven down the "Gloria Gossard road-to-nowhere" recently? Wish that money was back in the City coffers to pay for the Yampa Street redevelopemnt which has some immediate benefts or to replace the sewer line on my street in old town. LOL: ) The voters did the City a big service not to mention the developer who would have also been on the hook for BIG infrastructure $$.
pitpoodle 1 year, 10 months ago
City Council could have stopped the road-to-nowhere and used the money elsewhere but didn't. Where were they?
Scott Wedel 1 year, 10 months ago
Well, city was legally obligated to build the road to nowhere because of the flawed annexation agreement they signed. Oops.
At least we are not saddled with an annexation agreement for SB 700.
Steve Lewis 1 year, 10 months ago
Obviously a majority of property owners, speculative and otherwise, have seen a significant downward shift in the market value of their property. Whether in value at sale, short-term rental demand, or long term equity, greatly diminished demand for real estate became the new reality in 2009. SB700 is no different. Though with SB700, their project's timing was among the worst - buying before the peak and balloted after the crash.
I disagree with Fred Duckel’s comment that the “no” ballot was a non-event. Regrettably, it cost SB700 many millions in equity value. But it also prevented the formation of taxing metro districts and bonds that could not survive, and saved this City from taking partnership in a huge mistake. The level of the mistake has become more apparent with each month since Oct 2008.
The largest factor in all this was that SB700’s speculation was for all the marbles, basically to annex the entire west plan area at once. That decision is at the heart of their current dilemma, and it previously led them to the only pro-forma where $26 million might make sense for that land.
Who would bet on 2,000 new homes today?
Steve Lewis 1 year, 10 months ago
Re: the viewpoint printed today, it remains to be seen what growth will look like here in the long term. The national recovery looks more and more to be an “L” shaped curve for the near term There are many newly looming factors locally, such as energy costs and airline service, so it’s an awkward time to re-shape the WSSAP and SSCAP. It’s also an awkward time to weigh our need for affordable housing, or how to address such a need. Personally I agree with Scott Wedel’s comment that other areas closer to our core, but outside the current UGB, be allowed annexation consideration too. But I would maintain our current UGB intentions South of the City and preserve that Ag land.
It does not worry me that SB700 sell 35 acre parcels. Its their right, and Steamboat annexing 35 or 70 acres at a time from those new owners will work just fine. Yes we will lose a 40 year master planned community, but we will avoid exactly the same thing – gambling amidst new and uncertain terrain that we know what form and shape of real estate best serves this community 40 years hence.
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