Prior to the meeting, the Basalt Green Team held a brief presentation outlining both its accomplishments in 2024 and the work ahead in 2025. The Green Team’s areas of expertise are fourfold: Improving Basalt’s built environment, tracking climate goals, educating the public on climate-friendly practices and encouraging greener transportation.
The past year, the Green Team focused on education by providing successful public events, such as its first-ever Earth Day Community Celebration earlier this spring.
In 2025, the Green Team aims to make it easier than ever for cyclists to get around Basalt, with an intent to make Basalt a certified Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) through the League of American Bicyclists. There will be a focus on improving infrastructure and including bike access in the Willits Lane Connectivity and Wayfinding Plan.
This plan aims to expand and improve bike lanes from Willits to Old Town Basalt and provide better signage to aid in navigation between the two. The plan is still in the early phase of gathering feedback. However, by the time Basalt applies to become a BFC in June of 2025, the plan will have entered its design phase, and temporary installations are expected to pop up along the route in the meantime. Construction and repaving of bike lanes is expected throughout 2026. For more on the Willits Lane Connectivity project, turn to page 9 of this week’s Sopris Sun.
While those changes may still be a ways off, the Green Team continues to push biking as a healthy, green mode of transportation. In 2024, the team awarded over 35 e-bike rebates and held its first annual Bike to Work Day in June. Additionally, statistics from We-Cycle indicate that, although Basalt and El Jebel have a smaller population, bikeshare ridership is comparable to Aspen and Carbondale — even exceeding the two in the month of May. At the current rate of ridership, the Basalt community could offset over 88 tons of CO2 annually.
Lastly, the team announced that starting Sept. 3, the parking lot at Arbaney Park will be closed for a month for the sake of installing a brand new climbable playground in the shape of a giant trout. The park will still be accessible through parking on the street and at Basalt Middle School.
Midland Streetscape Update
This week, the Midland Streetscape Project celebrated a major milestone after having paved the north side of the street for Zone 2 — which means half of the total project has been paved. While the south side still remains under construction, visitors to Old Town Basalt can get a preview of what the main drag will look like.
In exchange for wider sidewalks allowing for more outdoor seating and pedestrian access, diagonal head-in parking spaces have been replaced with parallel parking spots.
The south side is set to be repaved at the end of September, thus completing Zone 2 of the Streetscape Project. Work on Zone 3 — from the Art Base to St. Vincent Catholic Church — will begin immediately afterwards. Vehicles passing through can expect the same single-lane traffic throughout construction.
Affordable Housing at Willits
Sopris Meadows, the empty parcel of land south of TACAW, is slated to become an affordable housing development, and will potentially include a community center.
In May of this year, the Town of Basalt solicited a request for proposals to develop affordable housing on the Town-owned site. After some review, staff have selected a proposal submitted by Aspen-based Charles Cunniffe Architects, in partnership with Basalt-based landscape architect Design Workshop, for an initial bid of $362,100. This estimate should cover a community outreach period, subsequent design and the entitlement process for the project.
The Town plans to acquire grant funding for this project through the state. However, because entitlements and cost estimates have not yet been secured, the project isn’t yet eligible for most grant applications.
Council approved the contract unanimously. Now that the contract is signed, the design team will create a public outreach program to gather opinions and identify local needs.