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Escalante Drive annexation would open door for housing

Public improvement district could fund road extension

A road and a large apartment complex between Walmart and Home Depot moved a few steps closer to becoming a reality Monday.

The Durango City Council approved the annexation of 24-acres south of Walmart and streamlined a process to create a public improvement district.

“I’m so excited about the additional housing we are going to get. ...I know it took decades, but golly it’s worth it,” said Councilor Sweetie Marbury.

The annexation could make it possible for a developer to build a 192-unit apartment complex. The complementary process approved by the council will speed the formation of a district that will be formed by property owners, who plan to fund the extension of Escalante Drive, City Attorney Dirk Nelson said.

“The code section changes tonight pave the way for us coming back with additional action for council to review the agreements and to form the district by ordinance in the coming months,” Nelson said.

This process could be used for other property owners in other areas, he said.

The property owners will vote in November on issuing the debt to pay for the road, and they would have to make annual payments on that debt, he said.

The city would begin collecting signatures from the property owners to form the district in the coming months. All the property have verbally agreed to pay for the road.

After the district is formed, the city would oversee construction of the road on behalf of the property owners, he said.

Road construction could start in spring 2017, according to city documents.

The Council voted in favor of the Escalante Drive construction in April by increasing the density in the area for the apartment complex.

The annexation was recommended by the Durango Planning Commission ten years ago, before it was derailed by a property owner and the sclerotic economy.

One property owner, Linda Crowther, who first came to ask for annexation in 1998, came to support it again.

“We are all in on this annexation; we have been in since the beginning,” Crowther said.

mshinn@durangoherald.com

Aug 16, 2016
Developer might build Escalante Drive extension
Mar 21, 2016
Density increased for apartment complex near Walmart
Feb 23, 2016
Escalante annexation, Three Springs amendments before Durango City Council


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