Graph showing Town of Buena Vista sales tax month-by-month from 2020 to present. From page 122 of the March 26 Board of Trustees meeting packet.
Following a work session focused on the Topside Annexation, The Buena Vista (BV) Board of Trustees (BoT) turned their attention to an annexation request received during their Tuesday, March 26 regular session. Alpine West (Stackhaus LLC) brought an annexation agreement to the BoT in the past that never moved forward.
This time the development came with a water services agreement for board consideration. After discussion, the Board decided to continue the discussion until their Tuesday, April 9 meeting. The BoT also heard an update on the Water Conservation Plan and a presentation on the Chaffee County Community Foundation’s (CCCF) grant recommendations.
Background on Alpine West
Alpine West is a development proposed by Alex Telthorst. Telthorst submitted an annexation petition in December 2021 for 15750 CR 306 (located across the street from the nonprofit Mini Blessings) “along with a request to zone the property R-3 High-Density Residential in order build a development including single-family attached and detached as well as multifamily apartment units.”
Telthorst reapplied as a Planned Development (PD to the County Planning Department. According to the memo in the meeting packet, “He [Telthorst] helped secure a Proposition 123 Land Banking forgivable loan to Chaffee Housing Authority (CHA) to purchase multifamily land and entitlements from Stackhaus LLC.
The entitlements would allow for up to 75 apartments (CHA [Chaffee Housing Authority] – 80 percent to 140 percent AMI [Area Median Income] units) and 6 condos (80 percent and 100 percent AMI – Chaffee Housing Trust).”
The earlier development plan had not included nearly as much affordable housing, and Trustee Gina Lucrezi praised the project’s current idea. “This is much better than it was before. Sometimes it pays to be patient and you get something better,” said Lucrezi.
Previous Town Administrator Lisa Parnell-Rowe had been directed to provide a letter of intent (LOI) to serve the development, if an agreement was reached with the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District (UAWCD).
Rather than an annexation agreement, the BoT considered a resolution to approve an Extraterritorial Water Service Agreement containing pre-annexation language for the development.
According to the water service agreement, Stackhaus LLC would be responsible for paying the UAWCD maintenance fee and the purchase of water, which would funnel through town systems. Stackhaus would also pay an extraterritorial water rate at 1.5 times the regular in-town rate. This would be reduced to the in-town rate should the development be annexed by town in the future.
A benefit of the deal described by Planning Director Joel Benson includes the fact that the water would come from the Arkansas River and augment Cottonwood Creek (if only a little) rather than deplete the Town’s primary source of water.
This particular augmentation certificate agreement (“aug certs”) was in the works prior to the purchase of 50 acre-feet from UAWCD, and will mark the first time the town is accepting aug certs for a new development.
There was some reticence from Trustees, who know that an official policy on accepting the aug certs is currently in the works by Town Staff. Trustee Cindie Swisher pointed out that this was an opportunity to learn and potentially guide the creation of the water policy for future developers. Town staff agreed, and said that the process of working on this water services agreement had illuminated the process.
A concern brought up by Trustee Andrew Rice involved a lack of official commitment to the amount of affordable housing. Rice expressed that he would like to see assurance in the language of the agreement of affordability.
There was some back and forth with Telthorst, who expressed reluctance to include specific numbers, he said, because things can change before the final product is built.
Ultimately, Telthorst and the Trustees were comfortable with adding language stating the Town would fulfill their obligation to provide water service as long as the project was “substantially consistent” with the plan that had been submitted to the county that included 81 affordable units and 28 market-rate units.
The BoT voted to continue the agenda item until the next meeting on Tuesday, April 9 to give Town Attorney Jeff Parker time to adjust the language of the agreement and allow the Trustees to review it before officially making their decision.
Water Conservation Plan Update
The BoT heard an update on the Water Conservation Plan from Public Works Director Shawn Williams and Swiftwater Solutions LLC founder Al Smith.
The Water Conservation Plan focuses on effective water efficiency planning. Smith cited the Colorado WaterWise Best Practices. The first six are considered foundational, and the remaining eight should be adopted as it makes sense for the town.
- Metering , conservation-oriented rates and taps fees
- Integrated resource planning, goal setting, and demand monitoring
- System water loss control
- Conservation coordinator
- Water waste ordinance
- Public education
- Landscape water budgets, information, and customer feedback
- Rules and regulations for landscape design and installation and certification of landscape professionals
- Water efficient design, installation, and maintenance practices for new and existing landscapes
- Irrigation efficiency evaluations
- Rules for new construction
- High-efficiency fixture and appliance replacement for residential and non-residential sectors
- Residential water surveys and evaluations targeting high-demand customers
- Specialized non-residential surveys, audits, and equipment efficiency
The six tasks outlined in the update, tasks 1 (community engagement) and 2 (water use baseline) have been completed. Up next are creating water conservation goals and actions, selecting water conservation actions, and implementing and monitoring of the actions. The Water Conservation Plan is tentatively due by June 28, 2024.
The full update slides are available in the meeting packet.
Chaffee County Community Foundation (CCCF) Presentation, Consent Agenda, and Staff Reports
The CCCF provided an overview of grant recipients to the Board. The 2024 grant process received 46 application. Of those eleven were not recommended, two were ineligible due to political affiliation and incomplete application materials, and thirty-three were recommended for funding.
Trustee Peter Hylton-Hinga served on the committee that reviewed the applications and said the process was rewarding, if time-consuming. For the Buena Vista portion of applications, a total of $56,640 was administered to 30 applications with the average grant amount just under $2,000.
Dittenber explained that the process is becoming increasingly competitive with the number of organizations applying, and the caliber of those applications, increasing every year. Organizations that did receive a declination were contacted by the CCCF to help them be more competitive in the next round of grants.
Town Treasurer Phillip Puckett, Town Administrator Brian Berger, and Recreation Director Shane Basford delivered reports. Puckett highlighted an apparent discrepancy in Town Sales Tax Local vs. Remote Data between January 2023 and 2024 and explained the difference is due to a large prepayment, accounting for the $168,000 difference.
The consent agenda was approved unanimously. It included minutes from the BoT on March 12, the Tree Advisory Board on February 1, the Beautification Advisory Board on February 15, the Planning and Zoning Commission on February 21, and the Recreation Advisory Board on February 21 alongside the Town Clerk Report and a resolution to appoint Tina Bennetts and Michael Westheimer as alternate members of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The full January 2024 financial report is available on the Town’s website here.
The recording of the work session and regular meeting is available on the Town’s YouTube channel. The full agenda and packet is available from the Town’s website.
Recent Comments