[0:00] Hi, I'm Brooke Dunn. I'm the

[0:02] communications and marketing coordinator

[0:04] for the town of Breenidge. Last night we

[0:06] had a town council meeting. I'm joined

[0:08] by Jay Beckerman to talk about it. How

[0:10] are you today, Jay? Oh, wonderful,

[0:12] Brooke. Thank you so much. It was a

[0:14] fantastic meeting. We had a lot of uh

[0:17] new and old faces joining us last night.

[0:19] It was fantastic. Yeah, a lot of good

[0:22] things to talk about. So, let's just

[0:24] jump right in. Let's talk about the US

[0:26] Forest Service. What can you tell us

[0:27] about their presentation? Well, we had

[0:29] Seth from the US Forest Service come in

[0:32] and talk about the Camp Hail National

[0:34] Monument. And for those of you that

[0:36] don't know, in 2022,

[0:38] uh, President Biden had designated the

[0:41] southern portion of the 10mi range as a

[0:44] national monument. And what this did was

[0:46] it set off some things in motion in

[0:49] looking at management plans and usage

[0:52] plans for those areas. We're talking

[0:54] about Blue Lakes, uh, Spruce Creek, uh,

[0:57] Trail Head, Quandry, and Mcculla Gulch

[1:00] specifically. And so we got a

[1:02] presentation on, uh, items that were to

[1:06] ease our guest uh, interactions with the

[1:09] trail heads as well as our residents as

[1:11] well. And these uh, suggestions have

[1:14] been through uh, the Breck open space

[1:17] committee, uh, through the county's open

[1:19] space. They're going in front of the

[1:21] board of county commissioners. But last

[1:23] night they presented it to us over at

[1:25] town council. And I think that there was

[1:27] a lot of um it it's more of a master

[1:30] plan of what um future mitigation of the

[1:35] traffic and the congestion at those

[1:36] trail heads might look like if the usage

[1:40] keeps up uh in the same uh pace as it

[1:42] is. Uh this includes adding facilities

[1:45] such as restrooms, adding shuttles to uh

[1:49] very similar to the one at Quandry to

[1:51] the Spruce Creek trail head and then

[1:53] also some connector trails. And so uh I

[1:56] think all in all council was very

[1:59] receptive and we're interested to see it

[2:01] move up forward to a NEPA process which

[2:03] is through the federal uh uh forest

[2:05] service and to kind of see what those

[2:07] recommendations are. That's about a

[2:09] two-year process as they get feedback

[2:11] from uh stakeholders. Yeah, it is just

[2:15] the beginning of this I feel like at

[2:17] least for our end of things like the the

[2:20] conversation has started with them

[2:22] coming to this and giving us a

[2:23] presentation and giving us all the

[2:26] information. So, I can't wait to see

[2:28] where that one goes. I think it's great

[2:29] to have that um process in place and

[2:33] that plan in place in case we do need to

[2:35] deploy it. So, it'll be interesting. I

[2:37] agree. Um, next let's talk about our

[2:41] building energy code. What can you tell

[2:43] us about that? There are some changes.

[2:45] Rick Fouts was so great in uh our chief

[2:48] building uh inspector and chief building

[2:51] official was in to uh talk about the

[2:54] IEC, which is the new building code that

[2:57] will be uh implemented later this year.

[3:00] And this is not really something that we

[3:02] have a lot of um jurisdiction over.

[3:05] we're we're forced on on this every six

[3:07] years to take on the new building code,

[3:09] but he's done such a great job at

[3:11] outreach and we have seven meetings uh

[3:14] planned for architects, for builders,

[3:16] for engineers to come and learn about

[3:18] the new building code. And the best part

[3:20] from our standpoint is that it actually

[3:23] lessens the layers of codes, but this

[3:26] absorbs one of the other layers that

[3:28] used to be on the code. Um, and so it

[3:32] simplifies it to a certain extent. And

[3:33] so we're really looking forward to

[3:35] seeing that implemented and uh getting

[3:37] the information out. Rick's got the uh

[3:40] seven open houses uh set up for it and

[3:43] uh for those involved in the building

[3:44] industry. Yeah, it's a lot of

[3:47] information, but I think Rick and staff,

[3:50] they're doing a great job on getting it

[3:52] out there and I think that, you know,

[3:54] making it digestible is going to be

[3:56] great. Absolutely. Now, let's talk about

[3:59] something I'm really excited about,

[4:01] which is runway. What can you tell us

[4:03] about this? We had a great discussion on

[4:06] Runway um last night and for those of

[4:08] you that don't know, Runway is our last

[4:11] giant workforce housing project left in

[4:14] town. Uh there will be other projects

[4:17] available, but this is um of this scale.

[4:20] 148 units are planned and these are a

[4:23] mix of town homes, two-bedroom town

[4:25] homes, three-bedroom town homes,

[4:27] duplexes, single families, and single

[4:30] families with ADUs added to them. So,

[4:33] there's a really big product mix. Um,

[4:36] and we're really excited to kind of see

[4:38] it launch. The discussion last night was

[4:40] how much the town should be subsidizing

[4:42] this project. And um the the the desire

[4:46] of of town and the council and staff is

[4:50] to make the two-bedroom and

[4:52] three-bedroom town of homes as

[4:54] affordable as possible for first

[4:56] firsttime home buyers. And this is, you

[4:59] know, we're looking at

[5:00] $350,000 to start off, which is, you

[5:03] know, 25% of what market cost is right

[5:06] now. And so that is a subsidy of

[5:10] approximately $50 million from the town

[5:12] that we'll be looking at investing over

[5:14] a course of about six years. And um so

[5:17] yeah, a lot of lot of really great

[5:19] conversation. Uh interesting to see

[5:22] where um we are as a town and how much

[5:27] more this valley um in density can

[5:31] really hold. And uh we're really excited

[5:34] to look at how we can bring in these

[5:36] workforce housing units at a uh

[5:39] attainable price that doesn't put uh

[5:42] overdue burden onto the homeowner in uh

[5:46] mortgage costs, interest costs, HOA

[5:48] dues, and all the other things that add

[5:50] up. And um I think one of the things

[5:53] that we heard uh last night was that

[5:56] there was a desire to continue our

[5:58] housing helps and our buy down programs

[6:01] along simultaneously with making this

[6:03] giant investment in the work workforce

[6:06] housing um project of runway. And so the

[6:10] housing helps is a program that the town

[6:13] has that provides uh money a percentage

[6:16] of uh the value of the house in order in

[6:19] exchange for a deed restriction, a

[6:20] voluntary deed restriction that lives

[6:22] with the home. And then the buy downs

[6:24] are when the town and the housing

[6:27] department does see opportunities in the

[6:29] market, they will purchase a house at

[6:32] market uh market rate, put a deed

[6:34] restriction on it, and then resell it to

[6:37] uh residents and workforce in the

[6:39] county. And so we're really excited to

[6:41] see that program still continuing even

[6:44] with that massive investment from the

[6:45] town. Mhm. I know. I know staff has

[6:48] thought about this immensely and I know

[6:50] that council is very diligent in what

[6:53] they're kind of recommending that staff

[6:55] does. So, I think you guys are working

[6:56] really great. But I'm very excited about

[6:59] the mixture of houses that are going to

[7:01] be available with Runway. That's so

[7:03] true. And with the the different

[7:05] demographic, there's actually going to

[7:07] be up to 12 homes that will be have a

[7:10] light deed restriction, meaning that

[7:12] there won't be an appreciation cap. and

[7:14] those are going to help subsidize some

[7:16] of the other more heavily uh subsidized

[7:19] um town homes and duplexes. Uh and and

[7:23] so we're really looking at a product mix

[7:25] to make this a true neighborhood and to

[7:28] have that neighborhood feeling. And so

[7:31] it it'll be great. I think it will be

[7:33] and I can't wait to learn more about it

[7:35] in May when they come back to talk about

[7:37] it. Absolutely, Brooke. And it is

[7:40] imperative that we take our time and

[7:42] make sure this is right. Um, we're

[7:44] definitely going to be launching the

[7:46] infrastructure for phase one this summer

[7:49] and so getting some of the lines in the

[7:51] ground and the sewer and the water and

[7:54] uh and then we'll be proceeding slowly

[7:56] to make sure that we are doing the best

[7:59] we can for our community and our

[8:00] workforce.

[8:02] Awesome. Now, let's talk a little bit

[8:05] about the pavilion. What can you tell us

[8:08] about the pavilion at Kingdom Park?

[8:10] As you know, we uh took the two dirt uh

[8:13] ball fields that are on the southern

[8:16] part of Kingdom Park and we did uh uh

[8:20] put artificial astroturf on those which

[8:23] uh was a rational decision at the time

[8:26] because those fields needed a ton of

[8:28] work and this was a more sustainable way

[8:31] of moving forward and it allows for our

[8:34] athletics to have access to the field

[8:37] for about almost year round to uh from

[8:40] we're looking from April until even

[8:43] November. And um the middle part the

[8:46] part in between those two fields is

[8:49] called the pavilion. And we've looked at

[8:51] a couple different options of maximizing

[8:53] that area making sure that it's ADA

[8:56] accessible and then trying to figure out

[8:59] what facilities and what uh amenities

[9:01] are needed there. So, we'll be putting

[9:03] in new bathrooms, a shade structure,

[9:06] even some batting cages, which is going

[9:08] to provide the uh Summit High School

[9:10] baseball team a home field for the first

[9:13] time uh in Summit County uh history. So,

[9:16] we're really excited about that. Yeah,

[9:18] it's a great project. It's a great space

[9:20] and I think it'll be used a lot better

[9:23] with the improvements that we're

[9:24] planning on doing without a doubt. And

[9:27] we were fortunate enough um John Door

[9:29] from recreation put on an open house

[9:32] where we had great participation. We had

[9:34] high country soccer there, the our

[9:36] softball league, um the Summit High

[9:39] School baseball team and a lot of staff

[9:42] to really make sure that we're doing it

[9:44] right where it allows for the most

[9:47] amenities for the most people and the

[9:49] highest amount of usage. The one thing

[9:51] that uh our some of our locals may have

[9:54] to get used to is for currently the

[9:57] playground that is at Kingdom Park will

[9:59] need to be removed as it has aged out

[10:02] and uh with plans in the future to do

[10:04] something new there. Yeah. And I know

[10:07] there's more conversations around that.

[10:09] So, everyone just needs to stay tuned to

[10:11] see what council comes up with. Well, I

[10:13] guess staff comes up with and council

[10:15] approves. That's right, Brooke.

[10:16] Absolutely. Well, all of that was really

[10:19] great. So, thank you so much for your

[10:22] time yesterday and thank you guys for

[10:24] watching.

Breckenridge, Colorado Town Council Update for the Meeting of March 11, 2025

Transcript