Avon ready to finalize plan identifying potential sites for community housing outside of town

Avon is set to approve on Tuesday the final draft of its 3-mile plan, which maps potential future sites outside of town for expansion.

A 3-mile plan is a state-required document designed to assist a town in developing and coordinating regional infrastructure and services, describing preferred uses for properties near municipal boundaries and identifying potential land to annex (with mutual consent) up to 3 miles outside of its borders.

Currently, Avon’s version of a 3-mile plan is contained in its comprehensive plan. In creating a brand new 3-mile plan, town staff has drafted a high-level reference document to be consulted when the town is looking at properties outside of town boundaries.

One of Avon’s top priorities is making more community housing available for the local workforce, and the 3-mile planning process has been no different. During the plan’s development, town staff and the plan’s consultants also met with property owners of areas the town has been eyeing as potential sites for future community housing, streamlining of town boundaries and general annexation.

The Avon Town Council is required to review the plan twice to pass it into law. The council reviewed and gave initial approval the 3-mile plan on April 22. On Tuesday, the council will have the opportunity to move into law a final draft of the plan.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

Matt Pielsticker, Avon’s community development director, first presented the plan to the Town Council on April 22.

“It’s about time that we have one on the books,” Pielsticker said in April. “I think this strikes a nice balance and works for the town.”

Town staff started working on Avon’s 3-mile plan at the same time as it was working on the Sun Road plan and talking about the Main Street pedestrian mall, both also high-level plans but designed to guide development within the town.

Pedro Campos, landscape architect with Zehren & Associates, worked with town staff on the project.

“I think the reason (a 3-mile plan) didn’t exist is it wasn’t needed,” Campos said. “But now the community is maturing and growing and filling in, and I think the time has come very strategically to look at potential other areas.”

To develop the plan, the staff looked at all land within 3 miles surrounding the town. Most of this land is either already developed or preserved as national forest. Vail and Minturn, which contain land within 3 miles of Avon in some places, do not currently have 3-mile plans.

Avon town staff and consultants identified seven properties in the plan worth looking into for potential development or redevelopment.

While some towns do use their 3-mile plans to select other areas to actively pursue for annexation, “that is not what this plan is,” Campos said.

“Avon is neither promoting growth in adopting a Three-Mile Plan nor actively seeking any potential inclusions into the Town,” according to the plan.

The identified parcels are simply those “most likely for inclusion, should their owners wish to pursue an annexation or partnership with the Town of Avon,” the plan said.

The 3-mile plan names the State Land Board parcel in EagleVail, the Down Junction residential parcels (Kayak Crossing and River Run), three U.S. Forest Service parcels, EagleVail business district parcels, parcels on and adjacent to Nottingham Ranch Road, and Beaver Creek’s elk, bear and wolf parking lots.

Leaders of plan met with the owners of each identified property to discuss whether they were interested in being included in the plan and potential future action. While Vail Resorts opted out of allowing Avon to pursue future development on its parking lots at Beaver Creek, the owners of the other parcels were amenable to Avon’s suggestion of possibly working together going forward.

Community housing is named in the plan as a potential reason for annexing the parcels, along with utilitarian inclusion and economic inclusion.

The State Land Board Avon has submitted a petition to the town to annex the nearly 100 acre parcel, part of a multi-year process that would involve building up to 700 units of community housing, but has yet to hear back. “If there is a future annexation, this is very likely to be it that would be annexed,” Campos said.

The Avon Town Council will discuss the 3-mile plan during its meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Avon Town Hall.