BASALT — Three of the five candidates running for open seats on Basalt Town Council said they were in favor of slower growth and maintaining a firm urban growth boundary around town.
The candidates made their remarks Wednesday night while participating in a staid and sparsely attended election forum sponsored by the Basalt Chamber of Commerce.
Kate Schwoerer, Pete McBride and Jacque Whitsitt each took a clear stance for less growth and against approving development outside of the town’s recently re-drawn urban growth boundary.
Former Basalt Mayor Rick Stevens, and local attorney and Aspen native Garret Brandt, both took a more nuanced approach to growth and development, essentially saying development was something to properly manage in a larger community context.
Brian Dillard, a member of the town’s planning and zoning commission who is also running for a Town Council seat, was unable to attend the election forum due to a scheduling conflict.
Leroy Duroux attended the forum but is running unopposed for re-election as mayor.
“I believe that I share many of the priorities of my community, such as responsible growth, eliminating sprawl, ensuring the rural buffer and protecting our natural resources,” said Schwoerer in her opening statement. Later, she expressed strong support for a firm urban growth boundary.
“I’m back here because I believe it is time to take a closer look at how much growth we can accommodate here,” said Jacque Whitsitt, who served on Town Council from 1996 to 2004. “I think our citizens here are willing to take a step to actually try to figure out, not necessarily how fast are we growing, but how much growth can we tolerate, how much can we hold, not only in Basalt but in this whole valley?”
Peter McBride, a photographer and writer for National Geographic who grew up in Old Snowmass and has lived in Basalt for seven years, said in response to a question about balancing the competing interests of development and open space that, “according to the master plan, the preservation of a rural buffer was the second most important issue for the town of Basalt.
“I think everybody here wants open space, we all want a green belt, so I think we should all be in agreement that we are going to do our best to protect what we have already.
“My belief is that we should stay strong with the urban growth boundary and do everything within our power to develop within that boundary,” McBride said.
In response to the same question about open space versus development, Brandt said, “We will have development whether we want it or not because there are landowners with property rights and areas in which there is natural and good growth that can occur.
“And growth is more than just future land use developments that have yet to approved, growth also includes the developments that are already approved, have the right to build and will continue to build. And so we can’t say that it is one or the other, we have to look at the whole picture. Open space, trails, and parks are actually part of very good land-use planning and developers, the smart ones anyway, embrace that open space is great, it just needs to be done in the proper context of creating a better living environment,” Brandt said.
Rick Stevens, who is president of Aspen Earthmoving and who has taught skiing for 30 years, said his approach to growth has been guided somewhat by the writings of Michael Kinsley of the Rocky Mountain Institute on the difference between development and growth
“I’m pretty sure that development is different than growth,” said Stevens, the former mayor of Basalt. “Weeds can grow anywhere. Development, as it relates to growth, means that you are nurturing, caring for, and feeding a project or an initiative that turns out good.
“Children develop. They’ll grow without any caretaking, but they won’t develop. So I think it is important to keep in mind that we are not here to grow for growth sake; we are here to develop in a reasonable way, a smart way,” Stevens said.
The candidates’ forum was a quiet affair, despite charges on Tuesday by a sitting Town Council member that the chamber’s president had “hijacked” the forum to highlight his personal interests.
The event format itself was rigid, with the candidates sitting high up on a stage facing a nearly empty school auditorium filled mainly by a persistent buzz from the sound system.
Not all the candidates were given a chance to say whether they supported spending $5 million to purchase the Pan & Fork Mobile Home Park, which voters will decide on April 1 along with electing three new council members.
Schwoerer said she was for it, as it would help resolve some long standing issues facing the town.
McBride seemed to indicate he was for it and said that as he is fluent in Spanish he would work with the park’s mainly Latino residents to help them find a long-term solution to their housing needs.
Whitsitt has previously said she supports buying the park.
Stevens and Brandt both said Wednesday night they were against the plan to buy the park because they don’t think there is detailed plan in place.
“This plan does not include an exit strategy,” Brandt said.
As part of his closing statement, Duroux said he hopes more Basalt residents come out to vote on April 1 than came out in the last election, when 18 percent of the voters cast ballots.
“I think that’s terrible and would like to see that number above 50 percent,” he said.
bgs@aspendailynews.com
