Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that a member of the public who spoke is a Dillon resident.

A four- or five- star hotel would be the centerpiece of Dillon according to a vision that developer Jake Porritt laid out Tuesday night, June 20, for the Dillon Town Council.

While Porritt was met with caution from a council that has seen other major projects flounder, some members also expressed varying levels of excitement to have a willing developer at the table. Still, Mayor Carolyn Skowyra raised major concerns about the project, and members of the public and the council overwhelmingly said that the proposal would be too big for Dillon.

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“This is a legacy piece of real estate that really can be a unique ornament on Dillon, or it can be the opposite,” Porritt said. “In order to accomplish that beautification, it requires certain elements that right now don’t exist in the town. We are attempting in one vision — this is one vision — to describe a mechanism to get there.”

The hotel, located on waterfront property where the Best Western now stands at 652 Lake Dillon Drive, would be accompanied by a new indoor amphitheater managed in tandem with the town’s outdoor amphitheater to attract corporate bookings, Porritt said.

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To accomplish the vision, Porritt said he has to convince bonding agencies that he has a reliable revenue stream so that they’ll put up the capital for him to purchase the land and complete the construction.

The vision Porritt laid out would be a massive redevelopment of Dillon’s town core. More than 300 units of workforce housing, a public conference center and a high-tech parking structure are also proposed as part of it.

“I would encourage you to think long and hard about what this development would look like for our town and the implications it would have — not just think about the shiny coating,” Skowyra told the council. “Think about how it will fundamentally change the fabric of our community because what he is talking about is very different from what we do in town.”

Triveni Square

Porritt, who does business as JGJP Dillon LLC and the Porritt Group, has called the project Triveni Square. In February Town Council voted to allow Porritt to begin the process of establishing a metropolitan district in a 5-2 vote, with Skowyra and member Kyle Hendricks in opposition. 

Triveni Square Metro District, which was formally established May 2, is an independent quasi-governmental entity formed to help finance construction and maintenance of public improvements. Metro districts can issue debt that is then paid by revenues derived from a mill levy — essentially a tax on properties within the district — and fees.

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Town Manager Johnson said Porritt was expected to discuss the details of a public financing agreement — which would lay out a partnership between the town and the developer for funding public infrastructure — at the meeting.

Johnson, however, said that Porritt failed to do that and instead talked about ideas for the project. Johnson said he felt like he had to keep the presentation on the agenda in order to have a public discussion on the proposed development that some residents have felt is “being pushed under the rug and already approved.”

Nonetheless, Porritt did say during his presentation that a public finance agreement would be crucial to the redevelopment of the town core he is proposing. He did not present details on what the agreement would include, other than that it could support public infrastructure from roundabouts to an expansion of a wastewater treatment facility, additional sidewalks or walkability work, a public conference center and other infrastructure.

“I know there has been this hesitancy to work toward a public financing understanding without getting a better picture of the type of product that we want to bring into the town,” Porritt said. “And so this is it. This is what we intend to do.”

Without a public financing agreement, it would be “very difficult to impossible” to complete the vision for Triveni Square, he added.

“I think what you should have comfort in is you control that process,” Porritt told the council. “The decision to go forward with the public finance arrangement does not give me license to go just start building stuff.”

Four of the seven Town Council members indicated that they would entertain moving forward with a public financing agreement before receiving a development review application or approvals from the town.

Council member John Woods noted that the cost of the prime real estate along the Dillon Reservoir in large part dictates the scale of the project, since whatever is built will have to be able to recoup the high price of the Best Western property.

“To me this is a logical conclusion to have a four-star hotel and then they are trying to figure out what the four-star hotel requires elsewhere in the town,” Woods said. “So it’s scary looking at these numbers. It is. But, if we’re going to do something, it seems like we’re going to do nothing or something of this magnitude.”

Council member Dana Christiansen said he is comfortable entertaining a public finance agreement because it doesn’t grant approval to the project.

“You’re not approving the project,” Christensen said. “It allows them to raise the money for the project.” 

But Skowyra noted that the Butler Snow LLP, the law firm the town hired to advise on matters related to metro districts and public financing, has said that it is “highly unusual” to move forward with a public financing agreement before the town receives a development review application or has granted any approvals.

Porritt, however, said that is because it is rare for metro districts to be used commercially. They are typically used for housing subdivisions, he said, but this proposal is a “unique product” where the town’s growth would be financed in part through commercial operations.

“The public financing agreement, all it does is it relates to the certain taxes that generate out of the properties you approve for development, that those taxes can be utilized for financing,” Porritt said. “So, what we are saying to you guys is ‘here are the series of taxes we might create on the projects that might be inside the metro district.’ So several ‘mights’ there, where you guys control the yes or no to those ‘mights.'”

Reactions

Most of the council members seemed in agreement that the scale of the project proposed by Porritt is too large. Skowyra said, “the scale is totally wrong for Dillon.” Council member Brad Bailey called it, “massive.”

Members of the public who spoke during the meeting expressed similar concerns about the size of the proposed redevelopment. Five people spoke during public comment, all of them raising concerns about the project’s scale.

“What we need is a coffee shop, more restaurants, a convenient store and retail that would be assets to our town core,” Dillon business owner Pam Polak said. “… Please represent our citizens and businesses and make wise decisions that will be beneficial and still maintain the small town atmosphere that we love. As far as development goes, we need quality, not quantity.”

Dillon resident Paul Glick also implored the Town Council to thoroughly vet Porritt and noted lawsuits Porritt has been involved with, like one in Chicago.

Skowyra raised several concerns including that the town has never discussed or agreed to having the amphitheater managed in conjunction with the hotel and that the proposed project doesn’t line up with the town’s master plans. She said she would prefer to see condominium units or residential development there, rather than a hotel.

“I’m not sold on any of this,” Skowyra said. “I understand there was a call that you believe you are responding to. I don’t think this is the call. I don’t think these are the things — people want mom-and-pop coffee shops, they want small-scale retail.”

Porritt noted during the meeting that any proposed project would have to go through town’s usual approval process. Because of that, the town has ultimate control over the scale of the project and what it consists of, he said.

The project could be scaled down or could consist of residential units, if that is what the town wants, Porritt said. But the scale of the project is directly related to the scale of the infrastructure improvements the town will receive, he added.

“Anything that would shift away from our current path, there will be another project that we can deliver,” Porritt said. “I just don’t know that you’ll be as satisfied with that product as you might be with this one.”

Council member Tony Scalise asked Porritt if the town wants to scale the project down, whether there is a point at which he would consider the endeavor to no longer worth it and would walk away.

Porritt said that would not happen. Scalise, however, later in the meeting said he did not believe the developer’s response.

“My question to him earlier was if we don’t give you what you want, when are you going to pull out?” Scalise said. “He was saying of course we won’t — and I’ve heard at least two other times that he’s said something like that to my face — and it’s not a true fact.”

Council member Renee Imamura said she believes the location is a good one for a hotel and she is interested in hearing Porritt out, since he is the first developer to propose a large-scale redevelopment of the town core.

“I think he’s the first one who has come to our town with all these great big ideas, and that’s why I’m trying to be open minded — not that I agree with everything in his conceptual plans,” Imamura said.

Christiansen said he is interested in moving forward because: “We still have the ability to scale this up or down to make it palatable.”

Skowyra concluded the meeting by telling her fellow council members to think long and hard about the decisions they will have to make related to the proposed Triveni Square project.

“My only update tonight is to think very hard before we get ourselves into a sticky situation …” Skowyra said. “It doesn’t pass the sniff test for me, and its not right for our community.”