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Dillon master plan update in the works

Christine McManus
Summit Daily/Brad OdekirkDillon town planner Theresa Worsham stands on the southern edge of the Dillon fen wetland, which is just north of the Dillon cemetery and runs west across Highway 6 and east above the Tenderfoot flume trail. The town might try to protect it as open space in its master plan update this spring.
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DILLON – Today will be the first time in four years that the public can tell Dillon officials how the town should grow, stay the same or operate in the future.

A proposed update to the Dillon master plan is scheduled for review by the town’s planning commission at 5:30 p.m. today at the Dillon Town Hall.

Open space, lakefront development, affordable housing, light pollution, annexation and sustainable economic development are some of the key issues in the update, said Theresa Worsham, Dillon town planner.



Businesses in the town’s center along Lake Dillon Drive and Main Street have not been doing as well as the town or business owners would like. In the future, the town council would review the economic sustainability impact of all their decisions if the master plan update is approved as proposed.

The update also provides for some redevelopment incentives for Dillon’s core and some added guidelines along Main Street, Worsham said.



The lakefront acreage below Lodgepole Street near the Dillon Amphitheater is under consideration for the development of a restaurant, meeting room or other public amenities.

The forested patch of lakefront land currently has a paved path that runs through it. The undeveloped parcel is zoned for parks and recreation.

The town will also consider new guidelines that would help preserve views of the lake.

The lakefront meeting room or any other development on the hill that gently slopes down to Dillon Reservoir near the Dillon Marina would be short and surrounded by landscaping to preserve views for Lodgepole, Timberline Condominiums and The Dillon Pines.

Much of the remaining undeveloped property along Highway 6 between Dillon and Summit Cove is owned by Denver Water. Dillon and Summit County have eyed the wetlands fen in particular – a piece of land fed by underground glacial water that’s been called “globally imperiled” – for open space dollars.

Dillon officials like the way Breckenridge’s Wellington Neighborhood of affordable housing turned out. They want to consider doing something similar for Dillon residents.

A revision to the master plan is required every three years. The last update was in 2000.

Dozens of people have advised town planners since last fall on the update, Worsham said.

After the Dillon planning commission reviews the master plan update tonight, it is scheduled to vote on whether to recommend the update to the town council in April. The town council is scheduled to vote at April and May meetings on the new planning guidelines.

Christine McManus can be contacted at (970) 668-3998, ext. 229 or at

cmcmanus@summitdaily.com.


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