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Ski Time Square hearing today

Council to review development proposal, medical pot licenses

Mike Lawrence

If you go

What: Steamboat Springs City Council meeting

When: 5 p.m. today

Where: Centennial Hall, 124 10th St.

Call: City offices at 970-879-2060.

On the agenda

5 p.m. Joint meeting between City Council and the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association board; motion for City Council to not accept a 2010 pay increase; license application hearings for three medical marijuana dispensaries

7 p.m. Public comment; review of development plan for Ski Time Square proposal

— All signs indicate that a public review of the development plan for Ski Time Square, which has been tabled for months, will occur tonight at Centennial Hall.

The Steamboat Springs City Council again is scheduled to review the proposed development at the base of Steamboat Ski Area.

The Atira Group’s development plan includes five buildings with about 200 residential units — all condominiums — and more than 27,000 square feet of commercial space on the 4.6-acre site on Ski Time Square Drive.



Tonight’s City Council meeting also includes a joint meeting with the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association and license application hearings for three medical marijuana dispensaries in Steamboat Springs.

City Council has tabled a development plan review for Ski Time Square several times in recent months to allow developers to resolve issues with the Ski Time Square Condominium Association and expand planning for interim uses of the base area site.



City Council most recently tabled the review Jan. 19 after Mark Mathews, vice president of development for Atira, asked for a hearing with more City Council members present. Council President Cari Hermacinski was absent that night. Councilman Jon Quinn has stepped down from discussions because of business ties with Atira. City Council will decide tonight whether Councilman Kenny Reisman, who owns a condominium near the site, also should step down because of a conflict of interest.

Mathews said Monday that things appear to be ready to go.

“We are still planning to present (tonight) and we look forward to getting the feedback from City Council,” Mathews said.

The Ski Time Square development would be built in phases and reach a maximum height of 105 feet in some spots. Atira’s proposal also includes more than $2 million worth of public amenities including Burgess Creek improvements and a public plaza.

The development plan for tonight’s review is conceptual in nature and allows City Council to provide feedback on issues including overall mass and scale. Approval of a final development plan, with design specifics, is needed before the project can be built.

City senior planner Jonathan Spence has said he expects the period of time allowed between the two plans, known as the vesting period, to be a primary topic of discussion. Atira is requesting that period be 10 years, while city staff is recommending a six-year vesting period for the development plan.

Hermacinski said Monday that she likely would not support a 10-year vesting period.

“I think for me, dimensionally I’m fine with (the development plan) because it complies with the guidelines that have been adopted,” Hermacinski said. “I’m really hesitant to go with a long vesting period.”

Mathews has said the 10-year request is appropriate for Ski Time Square, given the phased nature of the project.

Pot shops

Hermacinski said tonight’s license application hearings for three medical marijuana dispensaries are “literally issuing a license,” and not an opportunity to re-enter debate about the ordinance regulating dispensaries that City Council approved last month.

The three dispensaries are D and C Medical Marijuana and Therapeutic Massage at 410 S. Lincoln Ave., in operation since August and co-owned by Daryl Levin and Charles Magnuson; Rocky Mountain Remedies at 2750 Downhill Plaza, in operation since August and co-owned by Ryan Fisher and Kevin Fisher, no relation; and Natural Choice Co-op, a new business owned by J.J. Southard at 1169 Hilltop Parkway.

The city’s ordinance limits the number of dispensary licenses at three, one of which must be a co-operative model.

— To reach Mike Lawrence, call 871-4233 or e-mail mlawrence@steamboatpilot.com


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