Snowmass moves ahead with Draw Site peer review

Snowmass Town Council decided to move ahead Monday with a peer review for the Draw Site affordable housing project.

The peer review was originally recommended at council’s previous meeting March 16 after members reached an impasse moving forward. The aim of the peer review is to present some alternative suggestions, particularly to the verticality of the Draw Site that Council Member Britta Gustafson raised concern over. In order to move forward with the affordable housing project, council — also referred to as “owners” of the site — must reach a super majority.

“If the council believes that this peer review would be helpful in getting that super majority from the owners, then it’s a worthy endeavor,” Snowmass Town Manager Clint Kinney said. “And it’s ready to go.”

The proposed peer review will be done by Jim Kehoe of Keo Studio Works, a design and architect studio based in Snowmass.

“Given the project’s importance to the community, its visibility and its role in advancing the Town’s housing goals, our focus will be to provide clear, experience-based observations, input and potential alternative design direction that help align the project with Town priorities and improve overall project feasibility,” a letter of agreement reads. “These recommendations are intended as conceptual planning-level design studies.”

The peer review should not exceed $29,800, according to the letter.

Mayor Alyssa Shenk questioned in the meeting the maximum amount outlined for the review.

“Is there a world in which (Kehoe) comes to us and says, ‘I need more money?'” Shenk asked.

“Let’s make sure we don’t ask him to do more than what we need,” Council Member Tom Fridstein replied. “His description of what he’s doing is methodical and appropriate … I think he very much understands what we’re looking for.”

Gustafson described the maximum amount as a “drop in the bucket” compared to the other costs of the project, emphasizing the value of doing the due diligence on this project.

“I want us all to maintain an open mind through this process, because otherwise it is kind of a futile investment,” Gustafson said.

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But Shenk continued to express hesitancy about the process overall.

“I’m fine with the peer review. The issue that I have is … then what? I don’t understand what the end game is,” Shenk said. “At what point do we feel like we’re going to move forward? We need a super majority … If we don’t want to move the project forward, I’d rather just not move the project forward right now.”

Council Member Susan Marolt assured Shenk that everyone was on board with wanting to move it forward, even if a super majority hadn’t been reached yet.

“We want to move this forward,” Marolt said, adding that with regard to the peer review, “I want to be optimistic about what this could provide.”

Council Member Cecily DeAngelo echoed that sentiment.

“I’m very optimistic that this is the improvement or second pair of eyes that will help us take what is turning out to be a really great project to that next level that we feel really proud of,” DeAngelo said.

Gustafson, who had expressed her inability to move forward with the project at the previous meeting, stressed that the peer review was something she also felt good about.

“If there are some tweaks that can get that verticality to feel more aligned with all the concerns in the community survey that spoke to that, wonderful,” Gustafson said. “If we can’t get there, at least we tried. I don’t think this is an exercise in spending time and money with no outcome and vision for the future. I see this as an opportunity.”

Fridstein made a motion to move forward with the peer review and direct staff to execute the letter of agreement. Council can expect the peer review to come back to them for review in early May, with the opportunity to meet with Kehoe between now and then for consultation.