For nearly two years, the Town of Basalt has been making conceptual plans and conducting outreach to plan a new community space and affordable housing complex in the Willits Town Center.
The approximate 1.5-acre site is referred to in Town documents as Parcel 2E, and sits across from TACAW at the corner of Lewis Lane and Willits Lane. The project began in 2024, after Basalt secured a More Housing Now grant from the State of Colorado. In the summer of that year, the Town selected Charles Cunniffe Architects of Aspen to lead the design team, which began community outreach that fall, making use of focus groups, one-on-one conversations, an open house with neighbors and a student-engagement project with Basalt High School students to come up with a list of community needs.
Following these outreach strategies, the design team identified workforce housing as a critical need for the project. Those canvassed also desired a community space with a focus on youth and family amenities that could host safe and engaging after-school programming, especially during the wintertime.
Outreach continued into 2025, when the design team displayed 3D mockups of aerial and pedestrian views in order to provide a sense of scale for the project and how it would visually impact the neighborhood. The team also provided mockups of reduced density versions of the project. During this stage, the team found that parking and traffic as well as height and density were concerns among residents closest to the site. Comments during this period were split between a four-story version of the project that reflected the scale of most buildings currently in Willits, while others preferred a three-story option that reflected the scale of residential neighborhoods nearby.
After the release of Eagle County’s Aging Well Roadmap for 2026 to 2030, the design team identified an opportunity to address the issue of social connection for seniors by expanding programming to adults and seniors within the community space.
Presently, Town staff are only at the end of the “concept and programing” phase of its land-use entitlements process. During which staff has been performing outreach to gauge community interest in the project and create development goals, but has not prepared any sketch plans or entitlement applications.
“We are just at the very beginning, and we have a long way to go until we get towards anything that would be considered a final plan,” said Ashley Satterfield of Charles Cunniffe Architects.
Two public work sessions will be held later this year to further develop the project concept before the sketch plan and entitlements phase begins. The first work session will address questions of density, cost per unit and financing. The second will address the community space, during which Town staff will prepare a business plan and cost analysis.
Electrifying new construction
During the meeting, Planning Director Sara Nadolny led a presentation on Basalt’s roadmap towards net-zero construction with a focus on amending building codes for all-electric development.
Currently, the Town of Basalt is on the end of “Step A” of its roadmap towards net-zero construction and refers to its current code as “electric-preferred.” However, during “Step B,” which has an estimated time frame of 2026-2029, the Town intends to amend the code such that new construction must be all-electric with exceptions for gas supplemental heating, emergency generators and other items as determined by building officials.
Nadolny stated that the exceptions are in place due to resiliency concerns. Because Basalt does not currently have its own microgrid, supplemental, non-electric heat systems need to exist for emergency heating in case of power outages. According to Nadolny, exceptions for these systems are more likely to be doled out based on specific needs — for hospitals, for instance, rather than single-family residences.
In September 2025, the State of Colorado published a new Model Low Energy and Carbon Code which will become the default energy code on July 1 this year. However, because of the Basalt’s efforts to electrify and reduce emissions, the Town is already well ahead of the incoming state code.