FRISCO — Despite questions over the necessity of a neighborhood greenhouse and construction sustainability, the initial design for Peak One Parcel's attainable-housing development was a hit at Thursday's planning commission meeting. Roughly 30 people — a full house — showed up at Frisco Town Hall to see the initial design for the new locals neighborhood.

Both commissioners and residents generally said they were impressed with the plan. They cited the developer's variety of building styles and the architect's attention to the “Frisco look” as reasons why the plan worked.

The new neighborhood will incorporate already existing recreation trails into its design, and plans for two parks, a community garden and a greenhouse are being explored.

“This whole development is going to give the recpath some added interest,” said Breckenridge architect Matt Stais.

Stais also said he's created 12 different unit styles for the 72 residences —meaning there would be five to six units of any given look.

“We're really trying to mix it up,” he said.

Structure designs include using an “exposed structure” that's seen in older buildings, wood siding, and different roof and trim colors. Stais also incorporated “funky outbuildings” into the neighborhood concept.

The next step for Stais will be to compile materials to be used in residence construction, and to present internal layouts of the units. The sketch presentation on Thursday didn't result in a vote — it was merely a public process where opinions and suggestions were voiced to the developer for design considerations. If the project is approved this winter, up to 15 homes could be built in 2010. It's a five-year build-out process, and the market will dictate construction. The town could break ground as early as this spring.

Questions

Even with all the compliments to the neighborhood concept, various questions about the design came up, including: Should the neighborhood look more modern (instead of being designed after “old” Frisco)? Should the development's homeowner's association decide to put in a greenhouse, rather than have one installed from the get-go, and how will it be run? Is it realistic to install community gardens because of the shadow from Mount Royal over the area? And how will the neighborhood be designed to be both sustainable and affordable?

In response to questions regarding green-building practices, Stais said: “We're looking at sustainability at all of the levels.”

He said the homes could be made solar-ready, so buyers could decide whether they wanted to install panels, and he's also exploring the option of using pine beetle-killed wood. He noted that having a variety of building designs was important to the creative process, but he's also focused on keeping plans basic, affordable and easy to maintain.

Other questions will be answered as building plans fill out over the coming months.

“We want to create little touches that make the community a nice place to live,” Stais said.

A little history

Frisco's plans to create a new neighborhood for full-time community residents has been in the works for the past two years.

Ten Mile Partners — consisting of Breckenridge Wellington Neighborhood developer David O'Neil and Wolff/Lyon architects of Boulder, Stais and Frisco builder Dan McCrerey — won the bid for development design of the 12.68 acre parcel in 2009, and the plan will include 72 units in a mix of duplexes and single-family homes. The units will range from small cabins (around 800-square-feet) to single-family homes up to about 2,000-square-feet. The homes will be available to people making between 80 percent and 160 percent of the area median income, or income ranging between $68,000-$136,000 for a family of four.

One of the town's long-term goals is to attract full-time residents to the town who will live, work and spend money in Frisco — both the Peak One Parcel development and the pending peninsula recreation redevelopment project play into this hope.