Animas High School’s plans to call Twin Buttes its permanent home are an important step closer to fruition as the development kicks off installation of the final needed infrastructure.
“We’re back after a hiatus of over two years,” said Bob Delves, chief operating officer of Twin Buttes, who spoke to the AHS board Wednesday night. “We were dormant because we had financing issues and ownership issues, but those have been resolved.”
The delay left the public charter school, which has been promised a lot to build on, uncertain as to when or if it would be possible to build there. The school is holding classes in two modular units on a lot near Twin Buttes’ eastern entrance that have a five-year lifespan. The 2015-2016 school year is Year 3.
Delves visited the board in January, but at that time, affairs remained in limbo because Twin Buttes’ loan application at Alpine Bank was still pending.
“We have a loan signed with Alpine Bank, so we can get after the work that still has to be done,” Delves said. “The original vision is still what we want to deliver, a new ruralism with a city neighborhood on a Ponderosa-pine hillside.”
The developers, whose general contractor has been on site the last few weeks, still have quite a bit of work to do. Sewer and domestic and storm water infrastructure are already installed and will be tested Wednesday. Remaining to be installed is the “shallow” infrastructure – cable and natural gas – and paved roads, curbs, gutters and sidewalks.
“The trail system and open space with the city, that’s long been done,” Delves said. “We also need to get our water tank up and running.”
The school still has a contract with Eric Flora, the former developer, to install a Colorado Department of Transportation-approved intersection at the eastern end of Twin Buttes off U.S. Highway 160. He is scheduled to meet with CDOT April 22, with plans to begin work on the intersection June 6, as soon as the school year is over.
The construction will impact the parking at the two lots east of the school, which still belong to Twin Buttes, starting in the fall when school resumes.
“The last two years haven’t been a problem,” Delves said, “but it will be next year because we’ll be bringing a lot of construction equipment through there. I counted between 70 and 100 cars there this winter. At 70, it’s a little too crowded. At 100, it’s nuts.”
Twin Buttes plans to have its first phase infrastructure complete by Aug. 1, he said, with lots going on sale close to that date.
abutler@durangoherald.com
Some Twin Buttes trails to close for summer
Hikers and bikers who have been waiting for the winter wildlife closures in Twin Buttes to end are in for a disappointment – the trails will also be closed this summer as the developer installs infrastructure in the subdivision.
The closures will not affect the trails within the Twin Buttes Open Space.
“It’s going to be a construction zone,” said Bob Delves, chief operating officer for Twin Buttes, to the Animas High School board of directors Wednesday.
“There’s going to be too much big stuff going on. We hate to turn bikers and hikers away for the summer, but it’s something we have to do from a safety standpoint.”
Delves also asked school leaders to tell students not to even go up the hill from the school’s present location at the base of the Twin Buttes mesa.
He hopes to have the initial infrastructure in place by Aug. 1, so there is the possibility of a late summer or early fall reopening of the trails.
abutler@durangoherald.com
This story has been updated to clarify that trails within the Twin Buttes Open Space will remain open. Only the trails within the subdivision itself will be closed because of construction.
