Developers continue to solidify plans for a hotel and private residences on Ski Hill Road in Breckenridge, painting a clearer picture of what the nearly 410,000-square-foot development will entail for planning officials. 

Planning officials weighed in on what type of outdoor lounging areas should be included in the hotel and determined if landscaping and design elements met town code at a March 4 review. Residents living near Ski Hill Road attended to express concerns related to what they said has been a lack of communication from the town and the developer, Breckenridge Grand Vacations, traffic impacts and a near 2,000-square-foot pet kennel.

The project, called “The Imperial Hotel & Private Residences,” last appeared before Breckenridge Planning Commission at the beginning of January and is still subject to more review before it will head to Breckenridge Town Council to be combed through again.

Resident Richard Himmelstein said he was engaged in the planning process for another Breckenridge hotel which happened a few years back, and felt this planning process has been far less collaborative from a community engagement standpoint. 

“The town was really diligent and required the developer to get community feedback … it really helped the development of the project,” he said. 

“I’m really concerned right now, because that hasn’t happened with this project … we missed the first hearing (for this project) because we weren’t even properly noticed,” he added. 

He said the project has moved more swiftly than he and his neighbors anticipated and they have not been communicated with as frequently as the developer promised. 

Resident Lindsey Stapay echoed Himmelstein’s sentiment regarding a lack of communication. She said she would like clarification around how pedestrian and traffic circulation will work for the development slated to be near busy base areas of Breckenridge Ski Resort. 

Other public commenters who live in the nearby Four O’Clock Road subdivision in Breckenridge worried about the neighborhood’s pedestrian access to the resort being cut off during the planned 5-6 year construction of the development. 

Breckenridge Grand Vacations representative Graham Frank said while the developer plans to reopen the access in later phases of construction, “during construction there is no way to traverse (the) site safely on skis.” He added the developer plans to put a stairway somewhere near the area to provide access during the first phase of construction.

Residents who commented also said they felt a commercial dog kennel would cause issues for surrounding residents. Jim Kogan, a self-proclaimed “dog person,” said a kennel in the largely residential area had the potential to conflict with neighbors’ quality of life due to sound and smell. 

Himmelstein argued there’s a possibility the noise which could be generated from the kennel breaks town rules. 

“Anyone who’s ever seen a dog park knows that it’s generally 80 to 100 decibels. Being squeezed between two large structures, those decibels are going to go up,” he said. “It’s not going to meet the town noise ordinance.”

According to site drawings provided by the developer to the town, the kennel would be in between space designated for local nonprofit Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center to operate out of and ski lockers. Drawings also show it could be around the corner from the ski valet. 

During commissioner comments, several commissioners said they understood grievances brought forth by the public, but as a planning entity, they only have jurisdiction to review a project based on whether it meets town code. Commissioner Elaine Gort urged the developer to reach out to neighbors and commissioner Allen Frechter told public commenters their concerns may be better placed with Town Council, which has broader jurisdiction when it comes to reviewing developments.

A resident who commented at the meeting told Summit Daily News that representatives from Breckenridge Grand Vacations later reached out via email March 6 with a statement saying the company is committed to abiding by agreements it made with pertinent homeowner’s associations and its employees look forward to continuing solution-based discussions.

Details on the development

Town planner Sarah Crump told commissioners March 4 that the development’s overall square footage grew slightly since the last time they saw the plans at a Jan. 7 meeting. She said an ownership condo and a lock-off unit were added to the project planned for 1599 Ski Hill Road.

The project will house 36 hotel units, around 90 fractional ownership condo units, 45 whole ownership condo units and nine townhomes. Parking will be located in an underground garage. There is a proposed, restaurant, a speakeasy, Vail Resorts ski shop, an arcade and a theater detailed in the plans as well.

Administrative offices for Vail Resorts have also been long included in the plans. Construction will temporarily displace the current administration offices for Breckenridge Ski Resort. Documents provided by the developer outline there could be “up to approximately 6,000 square feet” of office space for resort administrators and the developer on-site or “other locations suitable” to the town, the resort and the developer. The developer indicated if the temporary office structure were to be on the site of the hotel, it would be placed on the southern portion bordering parts of the Four O’Clock subdivision. The structure would be removed no later than 60 days after all residential components receive a certificate of occupancy.

The project is one piece of a seven-parcel development which took officials and the developers over a year to nail down a development agreement for. Before the current iteration of the development, Breckenridge Grand Vacations had plans, and a development agreement, which would have led to an 86-key hotel, two large condominium buildings and three townhomes in the town core. The six buildings would have been built near and on the North Gondola lot, which is considered to be in one of the busiest areas in Breckenridge.