Sent back to the drawing board by Basalt’s Town Council during a fractious regular meeting on July 12, the Basalt Center Circle (BCC) grocery store and affordable housing complex’s revised design received higher marks at the July 26 regular meeting.
“You guys are really good listeners,” councilor Ryan Slack said. He echoed a sentiment that other councilors expressed, regarding Z-Group Architects’ changes to the Midland Avenue project’s use of color, wood, brick and articulation to make it appear less massive.
“We’re trying our hardest to make this the best project it could possibly be,” said Z-Group Principal Architect Scott McHale. “We want it to be embedded in the fabric of Basalt.”
While public opposition to BCC’s size was still voiced, it was toned down compared to the previous meeting, when the council’s three-minute limit on individual statements, a routine parliamentary practice, was challenged by speakers. Mayor Bill Kane began his remarks with “a plea for civility,” and a retort to BCC opponents who claimed the project was a done deal. “If this were a done deal we’d be done already,” he said.
About 15 people spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, mostly in favor of BCC’s progress in refining its architecture. “It’s getting there,” said Jacque Whittsill, a former Basalt mayor. “But don’t go easy on my friend Tim Belinski,” she said, referring to one of BCC’s two partners. Whittsill said that she had been wanting to see redevelopment in this part of Basalt for 25 years. Nevertheless, she asked the council to “push Tim hard” to achieve an excellent finished product.
Chief among the persistent concerns are increased traffic BCC could generate and the council’s discomfort with BCC’s request that it be allowed to rent the 65 apartments before the grocery store opens, if necessary. BCC partner Andrew Light asked for this flexibility due to project financing requirements he said would not permit apartments to be unoccupied if the grocery’s opening is delayed. The town is asking that BCC put up about $250,000 to ensure completion of the grocery store.
Several speakers supported the BCC footprint but objected to the small square footage of its affordable rentals, all but two of which are studios. Jimbo Liquors owner Gonzo Mirich recalled what it was like when he shared a three-bedroom apartment with 11 roommates. He said he would have loved to live in a studio by himself. “Size doesn’t matter,” he said.
The council voted unanimously to approve BCC’s rezoning application after the first reading and to continue the public hearing and second reading at its Aug. 9 regular meeting. Councilor Elyse Hottel left the room and abstained from voting because she is employed by Connect One, hired as BCC’s landscape architecture firm.
Other major business on the council’s packed agenda was approval of Possumco LLC’s 155 dwellings on Parcel 5 of Sopris Meadows Subdivision between Willits Lake and Willits Lane, allowing it to continue to the second reading and public hearing, also on Aug. 9.
Possumco principal Michael Lipkin and the town council agreed to meet in the middle on what Lipkin calls “the missing middle;” of the 46 units in two of Possumco’s buildings that are earmarked for affordable housing, 23 will be for sale to occupants who make more than $250,000 annually, and 23 will be for rental by people who earn less than $120,000. The compromise would allow the town of Basalt to create, for the first time, homeownership opportunities for people who make too much money to qualify for affordable rentals, but can’t afford to buy a free-market residence in Basalt.
The initial design for BCC faced opposition for appearing too bulky. Courtesy graphic