Monday’s Garfield County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting started off with two county residents’ concerns about a proposed 236-acre, mixed-use development at the old Unocal/Sanders Ranch/Bair Chase property between Carbondale and Glenwood Springs across Highway 82 from the Cattle Creek entrance. Roaring Fork Capital is the developer whose projects include the Fairway Residences at River Valley Ranch, the Lofts at Red Mountain in Glenwood Springs and the Tree Farm Lofts across from Willits. According to LinkedIn, the project “is set to redefine luxury living and commercial space with unparalleled amenities.” It has a familiar ring to it and neither Mike Jeronimos, who operates an actual tree farm just east of Aspen Glen, nor Siri Olsen are excited about it.
Jeronimos dislikes the “continued urbanization” of the Roaring Fork Valley. “I think we do it for a lot of reasons — affordable, sustainable, renewable housing, workforce. I understand all that, but it’s too much,” he said. He added that Aspen and Snowmass are pushing development downvalley “so they can fly over us, fly over the traffic, fly over the sprawl.” He opined, “They don’t want to see the middle class.” He urged commissioners to pay attention to the proposed development, called Harvest Roaring Fork, pointing to the size and the impact additional people will have on an already-dangerous Highway 82.
Olsen echoed Jeronimos’ remarks, adding she’d like to see an updated Highway 82 study. “Coming down to this meeting this morning at the Buffalo Valley light, the upvalley traffic was backed up a little more than a third of the way to the Walmart stoplight in town,” she observed. “It was backed up all the way to the City Market light. This is a daily problem on this road but we need to analyze it on a regional basis.”
Olsen is worried about evacuation from the Roaring Fork Valley in case of a wildfire or other disaster. She dismissed Cottonwood and Independence passes and said McClure Pass is not always open. “The people out where I live, those of us who have rafts, we are literally saying you would be better off to get in your raft and try to evacuate on the river than to get on Highway 82.” She concluded, “Before we approve any more development anywhere along this corridor, I think we’re being negligent if we don’t truly address these safety concerns.”
Patricia Lopez and others from the Mountain Valley Mobile Home Park in Carbondale approached the BOCC requesting help in their efforts to stay in their homes. Residents of two mobile home parks in the Valley own their homes but are raising money to purchase the land. Commission Chair Tom Jankovsky replied that April Long of West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition (WMRHC) is due to make a presentation during an upcoming work session. “Just to let you know, we don’t have any funding for housing,” he added. “But we will listen to [the WMRHC] proposal. Maybe they have some ideas that we’re not aware of.”
Highlights from the rest of the meeting included a County Fair board resignation letter from Lisa Stoeber that Jankovsky called “damning.” Stoeber wrote, “As a new board member, I had hoped to receive more guidance and support; unfortunately, that has not been my experience.” She added that she felt disrespected, received “demeaning texts/emails” and that some board members might not support the best interests of the community or the goals of the Fair Board. Stoeber served for six months.
The BOCC did not discuss the letter but talked to Levi Burris, Fair Board president, about how to improve the experience of board members, particularly new ones.
Delia Malone, wildlife chair of the Colorado Chapter of the Sierra Club, and Aspen Glen resident Sibel Tecke, updated the BOCC about the ongoing study of the Aspen Glen bald eagles, who, by the way, are doing well, said Malone. The female, who suffered the death of her mate a year ago, has bonded with a young male. No eaglets this year, though. “That’s normal because, first, he is just becoming an adult,” explained Tecke. “Secondly, he’s in a new territory and she needs time to make a strong bond before they will have nestlings.”
Malone described the parameters and methods of the study. “Our conclusion from three years of data is that the Eagle Nest Buffer Zone is essential to the survival of the Aspen Glen bald eagles,” she said.