On Jan. 6, hundreds of Roaring Fork Valley residents gathered remotely, and in person at Carbondale’s Third Street Center, to voice concerns about Harvest Roaring Fork, a proposed 1,500-unit residential community on roughly 283 acres of open space near the confluence of Cattle Creek and the Roaring Fork River. Hosted by a citizen-led opposition group called the Cattle Creek Confluence Coalition, the meeting was organized in preparation for an upcoming Garfield County Planning Commission meeting, during which the development’s fate may be decided.
Formerly the Sanders Ranch, the property has faced land-use battles in the past. In 2005, a developer aimed to create an 18-hole golf course, but that met its demise after construction crews disrupted a herd of elk seeking winter habitat and a bulldozer tore down the property’s iconic big red “U76” barn, provoking public outcry. Although a slew of development projects have been proposed by different owners since, the still-undeveloped open space continues to serve as a wildlife corridor for elk, mule deer and other species.
The current applicant, Harvest Roaring Fork LLC, bought the Highway 82 adjacent property in the spring of 2024. Harvest Roaring Fork is affiliated with Texas-based development firm Realty Capital, which has already developed over 500 homes and apartments across the Roaring Fork Valley, including the Tree Farm Lofts across from Willits.
Harvest Roaring Fork’s big selling point is its prioritization of affordable workforce housing in the midst of a growing housing crisis. Of the 1,500 residential units proposed, 150 would be price capped and deed restricted, in accordance with the 10% minimum required by Garfield County’s Land Use and Development Code.
An additional 300 units would be deed restricted and sold only to buyers with full-time employment in Garfield, Eagle or Pitkin County. These extra deed-restricted units would not be required, and thus face no official pricing restrictions. The intent is that ownership of these properties could only be transferred to other locally employed buyers. The developer expects to price these units between $475,000 and $575,000, based on construction cost estimates. For comparison, real estate platforms, such as Zillow and Redfin, estimate the median home-sale price in Garfield County at approximately $615,000.
The remaining 1,050 units, marked as “market-rate workforce units,” would not be price capped or deed restricted, and are estimated to cost anywhere between $400,000 to $1.5 million.
In addition, Harvest Roaring Fork intends to develop the area into a fully-fledged suburban community, including a village center with 55,000 square feet of commercial space, a 120-room hotel, playgrounds, a childcare facility and a coffee shop within a reconstructed replica of the historic U76 barn.
Also present in the application are 325 accessory dwelling units, which, when factored in with the 1,500 regular units and accounting for a 54-acre conservation easement, makes for a development density of 7.96 units per acre. None of the neighborhoods in the surrounding area — including Iron Bridge, Aspen Glen, Teller Springs and Westbank Ranch — exceed a density of one unit per acre.
Such unprecedented density has spurred the Cattle Creek Confluence Coalition to strongly oppose the development. Since the project’s proposal, the coalition has been gathering members and donations to defend the 283-acre parcel from what it calls irreversible change. During the Jan. 6 meeting, concerns included increased wildfire risk, light pollution, overburdening existing traffic infrastructure and emergency services, permanent disruption of a vital wildlife corridor and changing the fabric of the Valley’s rural character.
The coalition’s leaders picked apart discrepancies in the developer’s traffic assessment, which accounts for fewer hotel rooms, accessory dwelling units and retail spaces than stated in the development proposal. Furthermore, the assessment does not account for construction traffic generated by the project’s estimated 17 to 20 year build out.
Even with these reduced values, the traffic assessment estimated a 50% traffic increase on Highway 82. The development would also include two additional stoplights. Attendees at the meeting feared that the resulting gridlock could be disastrous in the case of a wildfire evacuation.
The coalition has been collecting resources in preparation for a Planning Commission meeting, originally scheduled for Jan. 28. Due to the applicant failing a public notice requirement, the meeting has been postponed to Feb. 25 at 6pm, and will take place in the Ascent Center at Colorado Mountain College’s Spring Valley Campus.
What do you think about the proposed Harvest Roaring Fork development? Chime in on Mountain Perspectives.