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HomeMy WebLinkAbout0. 2010 resubmittal letter to TOV 11-15-10 November 15, 2010 Town of Vail c/o Warren Campbell, AICP 75 South Frontage Road Vail, Colorado 81657 Re: Ever Vail Update of November 2009 Applica=on Revision Dear Town Council, Planning and Environmental Commission, and Town Staff: Ever Vail, LLC an affiliate of Vail Resorts Development Company (Applicant) has updated its plans and applicaPon materials for the Ever Vail project. As you are well aware, the Ever Vail project has been in the Town of Vail approval process since 2007, having been reviewed in about 30 meePngs and hearings with the Town and the community. The review process has posiPvely shaped and re‐shaped the project since the original plan submiWed three years ago. Many milestones have also been achieved in that process, including the review and approval of the relocated South Frontage Road by CDOT and FHWA. The revised plans provided today reflect the input and comments we have received over the last year and which we believe have cra\ed a beWer project overall. The most significant change to the programming is the reducPon of the total square footage of commercial retail uses within the project. We heard strongly from the community, the Town Council, and the Town staff that there was concern that the amount of retail being proposed would compete too heavily with the other core retail areas. Your economic and fiscal consultant, EPS, and our economic and fiscal consultant, BBC Research, were also concerned about the viability of the amount of retail area being proposed. We are convinced that reducing the commercial retail area to a level that is necessary to simply serve the populaPon living, staying and parking at Ever Vail is the right approach for this project. There is now enough retail floor area to serve Ever Vail with success and vibrancy, but those staying within Ever Vail will need to seek out other shopping and dining opportuniPes within the Town to feel commercially saPsfied. The following are some of the more significant aspects of the project that have been improved or maintained in in the updated design that will add to the success of the project: • Revisions to the Red Sandstone Creek corridor creaPng a larger open park‐like area. We eliminated one of the two pedestrian bridges across Red Sandstone Creek and added a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge across Gore Creek making the project much more accessible to the Gore Creek trail. The applicant is also proposing to grant a conservaPon easement for the Red Sandstone Creek to the Town, which today runs across private property, as suggested by the Town’s Comprehensive Open Lands Plan; • There is a significant reducPon in the building mass based on comments we received from the Planning and Environmental Commission (PEC), eliminaPng most of the bridges connecPng buildings and opening up the pedestrian areas to more light and air; • With the reducPon of retail floor area, Market Street has been modified to a pedestrian area with a short segment of residenPal development at the grade level, complemenPng the grade level of The Ritz‐Carlton© Residences across the street, and then leading to the front door of the new RockResorts hotel and into the commercial zone of the Ever Vail project; • A 4‐star RockResorts hotel with 102 hotel rooms will be complemented by the addiPon of 29 lockoff units within the hotel. There are also an addiPonal 20 lock‐offs in the project bringing the number of keys to potenPally 342 (hotel rooms + managed dwelling units + lock‐offs) and helping to meet Town goals of “warming up” the project as much as possible. • The revised transit and bus stop faciliPes in the project, given the nod by both Town staff and PEC, are capable of accommodaPng both skier drop‐off and bus stop faciliPes in close proximity to the proposed gondola; • The 400 publicly‐available parking spaces beyond the required parking for uses on the site remain in the project. The Town’s master plan suggests that the property accommodate public parking in this area. The applicant took this master plan goal one giant step forward by not only accommodaPng for the 400 parking spaces, but actually comminng to paying for their construcPon at no financial impact to the Town of Vail. With the required parking to serve retail uses on the property, the applicaPon includes a total of 670 spaces available to skiers and consumers; • Ever Vail is proposed to contain approximately 67% of the employee housing requirement on‐site which i s i n e x c e s s o f t h e Town ’s requirements; and • The relocaPon of the weekend DEVO program from Golden Peak to Ever Vail remains in the plans, thus reducing the congesPon problems encountered along Vail Valley Drive. The 12,000‐square‐foot recreaPonal facility for the Vail RecreaPon District’s Youth Services includes an 80‐foot‐tall climbing wall within a glassed structure acPng as an iconic element for the project. • The project master plan maintains the USGBC Stage One LEED for Neighborhood Development approval with a PlaPnum designaPon, the highest level achievable under the program. The applicant believes that the sustainable and green aspects of this project will set Ever Vail apart from other resort projects across the country and throughout the world, and will help posiPon both Vail Resorts and the Town of Vail as leaders in their collecPve pursuits of sustainable goals. • And finally, we have revised the project such that we have eliminated the need for any variances to Town Code. The project fully complies with Town Code and is consistent with the Lionshead Redevelopment Master Plan. We look forward to finalizing the review of this project by the PEC and concluding the review process with the Town Council this spring. Sincerely, Alex Iskenderian Senior Vice President & COO Vail Resorts Development Company John Garnsey Co‐President Vail Resorts Management Company