Glenwood Springs City Council voted 5-2 at its Thursday, Oct. 16, meeting to not include a toll within the project area of the planned South Bridge, reversing a Sept. 4 decision.
All council members were present for the second regular meeting of October.
Following a late-afternoon work session that included a joint meeting with the Downtown Development Authority, the council during its regular session was presented with a clean annual audit report for the 2024 fiscal year, prompting kudos for City Finance Director Yvette Gustad.
Then it was onto the big topic at hand: whether to reverse the earlier 4-3 decision to proceed with the long-debated South Bridge project that would include a toll for use of the bridge by non-residents of the city.
Changing their minds were councilors Sumner Schachter and David Townsley. After hearing from City Engineer Ryan Gordon that the toll would be seen as a substantial change and reopen the formal Environmental Assessment that supported a $49.68 million Federal Highway Administration grant for the project, they decided it wasn’t worth the risk of losing that sizable chunk of money.
“My [Sept. 4] vote was not an intent to stop this project,” Schachter said, noting that the subsequent information from City staff, and an opinion from Colorado Department of Transportation Executive Director Shoshana Lew that the toll would likely be viewed as a significant change for federal funding consideration, had changed his thinking.
That said, “I don’t see my vote tonight as a green light for the project,” Schachter added.
The estimated $84 million project still faces a large funding gap beyond the federal grant and dedicated City and Roaring Fork Transportation Authority funding.
Gordon, in his presentation to council, said the City is already past the deadline imposed by the federal government to have the project out to bid. The City hopes to do that by January or February of next year, he said.
Regarding the use of a toll to prevent the new route into town from being used as a Highway 82/Grand Avenue bypass, Gordon said a future toll could still be considered at some location outside the defined South Bridge project area — for instance at the 27th Street roundabout on Midland Avenue.
The project design itself includes numerous traffic-calming features that should work to maintain South Bridge as a local access, Gordon said. Those include slower speed limits, likely with camera enforcement, three-way stops at two intersections near the municipal airport, a roundabout at the Cardiff Glen neighborhood entrance, plus the one that already exists at the Four Mile Road turnoff.
Numerous members of the public spoke in favor of removing the toll, but councilors Ray Schmahl and Steve Smith remained unconvinced that a toll bridge isn’t worth considering.
“I’m willing to risk losing that grant and rely on a toll to help fund this bridge,” Schmahl said.
Smith offered to amend the motion, calling for the City to commit to exploring serious traffic reduction measures to be put in place by 2045. The amendment failed for lack of a second.
Mall property rezoned
In other business, the first step toward the eventual redevelopment of the largely underutilized West Glenwood Mall and surrounding parcels earned unanimous approval from City Council.
Mall owner Frank Woods and his partners requested the rezoning from the original Planned Unit Development approved by Garfield County in 1979, before the area was annexed into Glenwood Springs, to what’s defined in the City Code as “M1 – Mixed-Use Corridor.”
The new zoning would allow for a variety of commercial uses, and open the possibility for residential uses at various densities, explained Jim Hardcastle, the long range principal planner for the City.
Some of the existing non-conforming uses would be allowed to continue, but could not be substantially modified under the new zoning, he said.
Doug Pratte, land-use planner for the applicant, said the rezoning does not automatically give the green light to redevelopment of the property, which would have to go through the City’s review process. It is the first step toward revitalization of the “blighted” property, he said.
No members of the public spoke at the meeting in favor or against the rezoning. One resident did speak out at a previous meeting against the request.
City Council concluded the meeting with a 6-1 decision to extend an offer to buy property at 1441 Riverside Drive, located near Glenwood Springs High School, which is immediately adjacent to other City-owned land in the area, and could be used for better connectivity, Public Works Director Matt Langhorst explained.
Public comment on the proposed 2026 City budget included a plea from Wes Boyd, executive director for Colorado Animal Rescue, to find some money in the budget to support their stray animal shelter services. Council will consider the request in a follow-up work session.