On a split vote Tuesday, the Durango City Council approved 18 townhomes on the former Boker Lumber site.
Despite council approval of the project at 960 East College Drive, it may not be built because the council did not reserve additional rights for the property owner to build more housing on the site in the future, developer Tracy Reynolds said.
The owner’s request to reserve development rights and a driveway grade were at the center of a lengthy discussion among the councilors.
Councilors Chris Bettin, Melissa Youssef and Dick White voted for the project and councilors Dean Brookie and Sweetie Marbury voted against the project. The two councilors opposed it because a proposed 12 percent driveway exceeds the city standard of 10 percent.
Brookie said he thought the grade would pose a safety issue and it would lead to similar requests in the future. Neighbors also raised safety concerns about the grade.
“Ten percent is 10 percent. Make it work or walk away from the deal,” Brookie said.
Bettin and Youssef supported the project because it would help fill the need for market-rate housing. City Engineer Gregg Boysen advised the council that he did not see the 12 percent grade as a safety risk, which seemed to help convince Youssef that it was not issue.
White was the tie-breaking vote. He supported the project because he did not think approving the 12 percent driveway accessing East Ninth Street would set a precedent.
“Given the number of times we have looked at this, there is really is a unique situation here,” he said.
Several large apartment projects have been proposed for the property in the past and this is the smallest project to date, which some neighbors praised.
In addition to the townhomes, property owner Steve Cadwallader, who was not at the meeting, wanted to reserve the upper portion of the 5.7 acre site for future development, Reynolds said.
On the east side of the parcel, there is a steep hillside and a relatively flat area above it that Cadwallader would like to develop.
The upper bench does not have road access or utilities needed for development, but they could become available in the future, Reynolds said.
The Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act provides a process that allows an owner to withdraw real estate from the common interest community, a letter from Cadwallader’s lawyer to the city said.
However, city planners did not support a request to reserve the property rights for an unspecified project because depending on how the upper bench was developed it could affect the townhomes below, Planner Craig Roser said.
Marbury and other councilors were not moved by comments during the meeting that the project might not move forward if development rights were not preserved.
“I love the project, I love it ... I am not going to be held hostage by the owner of the property,” she said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
This story was updated and edited for clarity.
