Tenmile Planning Commission hearings on Copper Mountain’s development proposal

When: Wednesday and Thursday, 5:30 p.m.

Where: Ptarmigan Room, Copper Mountain Conference Center.

On the web: All planning documents and maps are available at http://www.co.summit.co.us under current planning.

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SUMMIT COUNTY — Copper Mountain will present its plan to shift about 590 units of unbuilt density within the resort’s base area and add a large condo-hotel during two-day hearing this week in front of the Tenmile Planning Commission.

Copper also wants to eliminate 42,000 square feet of unbuilt commercial density and relocate another 72,000 square feet of commercial space for shops, restaurants and service facilities to areas with high pedestrian traffic at the core of the base area.

The plan anticipates disturbances within about 1.5 acres of wetlands at the resort, to be offset by required mitigation at a 2-to-1 ratio.

A few key changes have been made since the county commissioners last looked at the master plan amendment in a work session in December 2007. As part of a community benefits package, Copper proposes to redirect part of an existing real estate transfer assessment to community purposes including affordable housing, open space and early childhood care, said resort spokesperson Lauren Pelletreau.

The resort already charges a 1.5 percent assessment on all residential property transfers within the resort. Under the latest proposal, .25 percent of that assessment would be earmarked for community purposes, said Summit County senior planner Rob Pyzel. Early estimates suggest the fee could raise close to $1 million during the next 10 years, Pyzel said.

Pelletreau said the assessment would apply to all as-yet undeveloped density at Copper.

“This is a balanced plan for the resort and the community,” Pelletreau said.

The latest version of the plan also changes the timing of a proposed employee housing development at East Lake, requiring construction of all the units within 42 months of the effective date of the approval for the base area redevelopment rather than a phased development, Pyzel said.

And a condo-hotel that was originally proposed for a floodplain location along Tenmile Creek would be relocated to the Union Creek area.

With a thumbs-up from the citizen advisory board, Copper could go to the Board of County Commissioners later this summer for final approval. The resort wants to move begin work on some of the key changes as soon as possible, including new parking at the Union Creek area, Pyzel said.

Copper has been looking to make major changes to the base area plan since 2001, when the resort submitted what was then called a comprehensive development strategy that would have included significant amounts of new density. The Tenmile Planning Commission recommended approval in 2003, but the county commissioners denied the application in July 2004.

The resort again went into a series of work sessions in 2006 with a plan that called for relocating about 700 units of density and adding 600 units. Feedback to that proposal resulted in the current version of the plan.

1971 – First Copper planned unit development (PUD) approved, establishing a density of 6,000 beds and 170,000 square feet of commercial space.

1986 – First written PUD designation adopted, changing the authorized density from 6,000 beds to 1.8 million square feet of residential space.

1990 – PUD review changed the square footage number back to 6,000 beds and converted beds into “equivalent units” of density to standardize density calculations across the county.

1993 – Copper acquires three key parcels in the controversial Homestake land exchange, pushed through in Congress. The trade gives Copper the A-lift (East Village) neighborhood, the West Neighborhood (Lewis Ranch area) and the Middle parcel. All three tracts were zoned for natural resource conservation by the Forest Service before the swap.

1999 – PUD amendment adds 141 units to the then-existing approvals for 2,010 units.

2001 – Copper seeks approval for controversial comprehensive development strategy which would have included a massive upzoning at the resort. After 27 planning commission meetings and seven BOCC hearings, the plan is denied.

2006 – More work sessions result in a scaled-back redevelopment plan that’s still too big for the county commissioners.

2007 – Another series of work sessions and planning commission meetings leads to the current version of the plan.