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Breckenridge gives CMC land for school

ROBERT ALLEN
summit daily news
Summit County, CO Colorado
Summit Daily/Eric Drummond
ALL |

Construction of the Colorado Mountain College campus in Breckenridge continues uninterrupted, as conflict with the town appears to be resolved.

“I’m very excited,” CMC board president Doris Dewton said this week. “I think it shows that communicating clearly has great benefits.”

The town council gave the college 16 acres southwest of the intersection of Highway 9 and Coyne Valley Road for $1 on Tuesday.



The council also approved a shared parking agreement, settling the dispute over spaces the town has promised to Breckenridge Ski Resort.

Last month, citing safety concerns and interest in expansion, college officials wanted the option to get out of an agreement obligating them to provide 350 shared spaces.



The town has an agreement with the resort to provide 500 overflow parking spaces on the 45-acre parcel; however, plans include building attainable housing on much of the land.

Council members have said it doesn’t make sense to build two large parking lots near each other, especially when peak times for the resort frequently occur when school is out of session.

Staff from CMC and the town came together and created an agreement that satisfied both sides: CMC will keep the town informed of any plans for expanding beyond the existing project, and the town will work with the college to meet parking requirements in the event of further development.

“If at that point the college is doing that well, we could probably look for a way to move the parking,” council member Eric Mamula.

Town manager Tim Gagen said the original proposal would have given the college the right to opt-out of the parking agreement “for any reason,” but he’s pleased with the new agreement.

“Sitting down face to face was (beneficial),” he said.

He also said the town likely won’t be developing housing on the parcel for the next 10 years or more, so the resort meanwhile will continue to use that land for its overflow parking.

And the town’s agreement with the resort allows the parking spaces to be relocated under certain terms and conditions, according to town documents.

CMC will be moving out of its existing location at 103 S. Harris St. in 2009. The town will be able to purchase the historic building for about $2.12 million for use as town hall.

Gagen said the town has set aside $30,000 for experts to assess whether the building would serve the town’s needs.

Construction on the $14 million CMC campus began in April. It is to include a 35,000-square-foot building with a 200-seat auditorium. About 3,000 students attend CMC Breckenridge; the expansion is expected to lead to increased enrollment.

Robert Allen can be contacted at (970) 668-4628 or rallen@summitdaily.com.


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