Housing, transit and development are key targets

SNOWMASS VILLAGE — A public process to update the town’s goals regarding housing, transportation and evaluating future development reached a key step last night during the Snowmass Village Town Council’s first official review of an updated draft comprehensive plan.

The public review, which will intensify this summer with additional open houses and council meetings, is expected to result in a revised 2008 Comprehensive Plan. The last time the plan was updated was 10 years ago, and the revision will largely address changes that have occurred in the last decade, like the approval of Base Village. The comp plan is meant to guide, but not govern, future development — like the anticipated reconstruction of the Snowmass Mall area — but may lead to changes in the town’s land-use code (which does govern development reviews).

Town Council members agreed that the town should give more incentives to create affordable housing, which includes caretaker units and free-market affordable housing in addition to traditional employee housing required by development.

One of the immediate things the town can do is draft an inventory of all the sites on which housing could potentially be built, with an emphasis on sites that are more practical and less expensive. The town also likes the suggested idea of concentrating on transit-oriented housing, which would minimize car trips and maximize the use of public transportation and other alternative modes of travel.

The council discussed whether its current goal of housing 60 percent of its employees is still relevant, and some wondered whether it was possible to put a finger on how much of its work force the town should house without further information.

Acknowledging that there will always be people who don’t want to live in Snowmass Village, Councilman Arnie Mordkin suggested that the town’s housing goal be, “we want to house as many employees as we can in Snowmass Village who want to live here.”

Based on that idea, council members suggested that the town determine the percentage of employees it wants to house based on the current demand of 580 units that was recently determined by a consultant.

Council members also discussed how much housing they should require as mitigation for development. The town currently requires that 45 percent of new employees be housed, but there was significant sentiment that that number is too low.

“We’ve gotta do higher mitigation; that’s all there is to it,” said Councilwoman Sally Sparhawk.

In terms of transportation, council members acknowledged that traffic was expected to get worse once Base Village is built out, and one of the town’s top goals should be to reduce reliance on the single-occupancy vehicle. That can be done by encouraging different modes of transportation as well as planning future development around existing transit options.

Consultant Jeff Winston of Winston Associates presented the council with some of the public direction that’s been given on the comprehensive plan update thus far, during various meetings and charettes that were held throughout the winter.

Feedback from the community included maintaining Snowmass’ small-town mountain character while trying to capture more business and attract more guests. The public also wants to adhere to a document that establishes build-out limits for Snowmass, and wants to keep its off-seasons, Winston said.

Other concerns include maintaining a conference facility in the mall area, considering traffic, housing and capacity issues during development review, and sustaining an adequate work force in the face of increasing competition downvalley.

“This notion of ‘just enough’ has come through loud and clear,” said Winston.

A public open house on the comp plan is being held next Wednesday, July 9, at 5 p.m., and public hearings with town boards will continue through July.

lutz@aspendailynews.com