More townhomes could be coming to Florida Road, if city officials approve the project.
Rick Feeney is planning to build nine townhomes on the 1300 block of Florida Road, just east of J. Bo’s Pizza and Rib Co.
The Durango Planning Commission approved Feeney’s request Monday to annex the property and his preliminary site plan.
If all goes well, Feeney hopes to break ground in early summer. He is not planning for high-end homes, he estimates they will cost around $350,000.
“I am shooting for the middle of the market,” Feeney said.
He plans to build in phases starting with the first two three-story townhomes, paved parking, a detention pond and the mailbox kiosk.
Feeney is also tentatively planning for six townhomes and six condominiums, instead of nine townhomes.
“It’s a possibility, it depends on that construction-defects law,” Feeney said.
Condo construction has been largely blocked by a state law that made it easy for homeowners associations to sue builders.
Several bills have been introduced into the Colorado General Assembly in recent years to change the law, but they have failed.
The homes will not fill the lot because the hillside on the north side of the property has a grade greater than 30 percent. Instead, the homes could be built up against the hillside to hold the hillside in place.
The parking lot for the development will open onto Florida Road between the homes and the hillside.
Before Feeney bought the parcel in November, the same person had owned the property since 1984, but the lot has remained empty, he said.
Feeney will now go before the Board of Appeals to ask for permission to build the townhomes at the back of the lot instead of on Florida Road as required by code.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
