Beaver Creek homeowners challenge developer seeking to build on parcel long thought to be undevelopable wetlands
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A long-forgotten parcel at Beaver Creek is being eyed by a developer who seeks to build on land that nearby homeowners have previously understood to be undevelopable wetlands.
The 13.8-acre parcel, once known as Tract C, is now being called the Arcadian property at Beaver Creek and is located just south of the Mirabelle restaurant. The developer is seeking to build 12 single-family, duplex and triplex units on the parcel and has filed a land-use application with Eagle County which is currently being reviewed for sufficiency.
The property was owned by Vail Resorts for decades but changed hands recently; the current owner is OI TAG Beaver Creek LLC, which has hired Dominic Mauriello of Mauriello Planning Group to represent it in the planning process.
At the Beaver Creek Metropolitan District board’s Jan. 31 meeting, Mauriello presented information about the project to the district.
“We’re in the process of doing a minor plat with the county,” Mauriello informed the group. “The property exists as zoned, it’s a use-by-right, so the only thing that really is up for discussion is how we lay out or sub-plat the property, so we’re doing a minor plat right now just to create three parcels.”
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Those three parcels include one development parcel, known as Lot 1, one that would be transferred to the Mirabelle restaurant, known as Lot 2, and one open space tract known as Tract A.
The application points out that it has taken nearly 45 years to arrive at a point of platting the Arcadian on Beaver Creek property, but nevertheless, “the proposed Minor Type A Subdivision allows this property to be developed as a Use By Right or Permitted Use,” according to the application.
But the Beaver Creek Property Owners Association says there’s a reason why 45 years elapsed without the property being developed, and that’s because there’s a natural watercourse running through Lot 1, creating natural wetlands on the lot. That watercourse is a combination of a pond and a waterway known as Wayne Creek.
“The BCPOA believes allowing the destruction of Wayne Creek, a natural waterway, by redirecting over 300 feet of the stream into a concrete culvert and not providing the County required 75-foot offset from the natural stream edge would be unprecedented and potentially illegal without proper federal permits and approvals,” the Beaver Creek Property Owners Association said in a Jan. 23 letter to the Eagle County Planning Department.
“This would also ignore the County’s own subdivision regulations as well as County development standards including consistency with the Comprehensive Plan, Land Use Regulations, and Suitability for Development requirements. Additionally, this is likely to exacerbate water quality within Beaver Creek which already is listed as impaired, potentially providing little opportunity for Beaver Creek to ever attain State water quality standards,” the letter continues.
Neighbors in the area say with those wetlands comes an abundance of wildlife which would lose a significant amount of habitat because of the development.
Charles Smith, whose family has owned a home near the proposed development on Beaver Creek Drive since 2007, says he and his neighbors have seen deer, elk, bear, a mountain lion, pine martins, marmots, turkeys, foxes and other wildlife using the wetlands and the creek.
As evidence that the creek is a year-round waterway that provides habitat to wildlife throughout the winter, Smith points to a picture of a moose approaching the creek in January.
“They all come down to the creek,” Smith said of wildlife in the area. “It’s natural for them to come there. But with all that development, they’re going to lose the ability to do that.”
Smith said the development of new homes will not be compatible with the neighborhood, a requirement of the planned unit development.
OI TAG Beaver Creek LLC says the property is zoned as residential medium density, which would allow up to 32 dwelling units.
“The developer purchased the property with the understanding of what was allowable from federal, state and county standpoint was over 30 units,” said John Niemi with OI TAG Beaver Creek LLC. “The project has been downsized by one-third to 12 units.”
The Beaver Creek Property Owners Association also points out slope stability issues raised in a study of geotechnical engineering services provided by the applicant.
“Excavation for the proposed structures is expected to be relatively extensive and there is a risk of construction-induced slope instability,” according to the land use application.
“Based on a preliminary takeoff, it is estimated that well over 3,500 tons of soil will be moved or removed from the site,” Beaver Creek Property Owners Association said in its letter to the county. “The sheer amount of soil, combined with the excessive slopes are ideal conditions for significant site erosion. If this were to occur during construction, slope instability and exposed soils may likely result in slope failure which could potentially block the emergency access road and would likely end up in Beaver Creek. With slopes this excessive, it will be extremely difficult to install erosion control protection that will be able to accommodate the extreme slopes of the site, in the event of a significant rain event.”
In the land use application, the developer acknowledges the effort to build on the Arcadian property may be controversial.
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“It may prove unpopular with neighbors who have enjoyed living or vacationing as second homeowners next to a vacant parcel but the rights to plat and develop this property have existed for a very long time,” the applicant writes in the application.
The Beaver Creek Property Owner’s Association sees it differently.
“Use by right doesn’t immunize you from the Clean Water Act,” said Bruce Kiely, the board president.
