February Mayor's Minute

Hello neighbors, Below are some Town Council highlights from our January meeting and some upcoming topics for this week's meeting. As always, I hope you can join us for tomorrow's meeting or consider sharing your feedback with us about any of these matters.

January 17 Meeting Highlights

• Town Council considered a proposed ordinance amending the Community Development Code (CDC), which would have allowed future applicants to propose subdivisions, rezoning, and density transfers on eight specific Single-Family lots in the Village Center Subarea, as envisioned in the Comprehensive Plan. But after significant discussion, we agreed that additional outreach and exploration was needed to better understand how the area has evolved since the Comprehensive Plan was approved.
• The Bauen Group presented conceptual architectural plans and a rough order of magnitude cost estimate for the Village Court Apartments (VCA) expansion project. Preliminary plans call for breaking ground on the affordable housing project later this year with funding through a revenue loan, paid for by the collected VCA rents and dedicated funding from the Mountain Village Affordable Housing Fund. Project plans and specific funding mechanisms are still being finalized, but we anticipate this expansion will provide up to 42 two-bedroom and seven one-bedroom apartments.
• Town Council voted to reinstate and extend until February 28, 2019, the term sheet concerning the settlement of the 161CR and Ridge at Telluride litigation and authorized me to execute any agreement. The term sheet is the result of months of direct negotiations between principal designated representatives from Lot 161CR, The Ridge HOA, The Ridge Club, some of The Ridge owners, and the town.
• Last month Town Council considered whether to begin negotiations with a new provider to become the town’s primary supplier of broadband services, which are currently provided by Century Link. Based on the service issues we have been facing, the town has decided to move forward with a request for proposals (RFP) for a new broadband provider. We look forward to an updated plan of action and service provider solution which addresses our need for redundant service, increased bandwidth, and improved reliability later this spring.
• Finally, we received updates from Bill Jensen with Telluride Ski and Golf, the Gondola Subcommittee, the Telluride Regional Airport Association, and the Green Team.

If you would like more specifics about any of these topics, you can review minutes from the meeting or watch the video on the town website.

February 21 Agenda Topics

• The town is excited to welcome another new business, Sunshine Pharmacy, to the Mountain Village Center. Sunshine Pharmacy will be opening a second location in the Franz Klammer Building across from the Telluride Distilling Company's new Tasting Room. In addition to prescription pick-up service, health and wellness products, and other sundry items, Sunshine Pharmacy has also applied for a liquor license to sell beer at their Mountain Village location. Town Council will consider their Fermented Malt Beverage Liquor License application tomorrow.
• Town Council will discuss the continued use of lot OSP39 (commonly known as the wood lot) for tree removal staging. Since 2015, the town has informally allowed large private and forest-health property tree removal projects to drop-off chopped wood on the lot, where it can be picked up for use by residents. In the past, chopped wood was stacked at individual job sites, and people looking for firewood drove throughout the village looking for wood piles. Besides the reduction in the number of vehicles driving through Mountain Village neighborhoods looking for wood, the other major benefit of the wood lot is cost savings for new home building and defensible space tree removal projects.
• We will consider the formation of a Vending Cart Committee for future vendor selection. Currently, vendor selection is at the sole discretion of the town's business development and community engagement coordinator. Given the increased interest in new vending cart businesses in the Village Center, the creation of a vending committee would allow more opportunity for public comment, multiple viewpoints, and transparency in vendor selection. Recommended committee members would include members from TMVOA, Town Council, and representatives from the departments of Planning and Development, Plaza Services, and Community Engagement.
• Lastly, Michael Martelon will provide Marketing Telluride's (MTI) quarterly update.

A full agenda and our meeting packet have been posted on our website; we welcome your input and hope to see you at the meeting. Warm regards, Laila Benitez Mountain Village Mayor