A Basalt Town Council member, acting as a private citizen, has accused the president of the Basalt Chamber of Commerce of acting in his own self-interest in regard to a chamber election forum scheduled for tonight.

Chris Seldin — a Basalt resident, a member of Basalt Town Council and the assistant county attorney for Pitkin County — wrote to Basalt Chamber President David Fiore that two questions slated to be put to Town Council candidates tonight were related to Fiore’s interest in a land parcel in Basalt.

“Both of these questions bear directly on your Sopris Chase project, which proposes to site 115 units of residential development outside of the Urban Growth Boundary identified in the Town’s Master Plan,” Seldin wrote. “This gives the appearance that you allowed a conflict of interest to influence your activities as Chamber President.

“In a small town certain conflicts are unavoidable,” Seldin continued. “But one standard universally observed is that we do not involve ourselves in official business that impacts matters in which we have a direct economic interest.

“I believe you have done so here, and therefore request — not in my official capacity, but only as a concerned citizen — that the Chamber strike both questions 1 and 2 from the list and not pose them to the candidates on Wednesday night.”

Seldin is not up for re-election and is not participating in the candidate’s forum.

Fiore is president of Western Peak, which owns the Roaring Fork Mobile Home Park and has had an option to purchase a parcel of land called Sopris Chase land next to Basalt High School.

During last year’s review of Basalt’s master plan Fiore lobbied hard to have the Sopris Chase project included in the town’s urban growth boundary so 115 units could be built there.

The “replacement housing” would have allowed Fiore the option of moving the tenants from the Roaring Fork Mobile Home Park to the Sopris Chase parcel and then redeveloping the portion of the mobile home park that lies outside the flood plain.

But the current Town Council, including Seldin, voted not to specifically include Sopris Chase in the boundary, which leaves the property in Pitkin County and lowers its development potential.

“The second of the Chamber’s questions most clearly manifests this conflict of interest,” Seldin wrote to Fiore.

“This question — which asks the candidates to state their position on providing replacement housing outside of the Urban Growth Boundary — appears designed to conduct a straw poll of the candidates on an issue that relates directly and inescapably to your Sopris Chase project.

“Posing a question of this nature gives the impression that you have hijacked the Chamber’s Candidate Forum for your own private purposes,” Seldin wrote.

The Basalt chamber’s board of directors sent out a letter Tuesday in response to Seldin’s letter. 

“The Board takes exception to Town Councilor Chris Seldin’s allegation regarding the inappropriateness of any one member of the Board or the Board as a whole regarding the Basalt Candidate Forum,” they wrote. “We solicited the public to provide questions to the Board so that we could provide candidates the best opportunity to prepare for the questions in advance.”

In addition to Fiore, the chamber board members include Brad Elliott, David Fiore, Lynne Mace, Tony Thompson and Brent Winne.

“We ask that elected officials respect our process ... and feel we have asked these questions in the most open manner possible for the candidates to be able to express their visions for the future of Basalt,” the board wrote.

“To state that questions that have and continue to occupy the Town of Basalt and its citizens should not be asked of prospective candidates because they are difficult or because some people may have a personal stake in the answer is to defeat the purpose of having a candidates’ forum before an election.”

On the other hand, the packet of information sent out to candidates in advance of tonight’s forum does heavily emphasize the Basalt Master Plan and the debate over the urban growth boundary.

The information packet states “the following questions are designed to allow the community to garner an understanding of your command of the Town of Basalt’s 2007 Master Plan and major issues that were part of the hearing process that led to its adoption.”

For his part, Fiore said Tuesday afternoon that he planned to call Seldin to discuss the issue and that “they are totally appropriate questions, given that the town is asking voters to approve the purchase of the Pan and Fork trailer park.”

In addition to choosing three candidates for Town Council on Tuesday, April 1, Basalt voters will be asked to purchase the Pan and Fork Mobile Home Park, just downstream from the Roaring Fork Mobile Home Park, for $5 million.

bgs@aspendailynews.com