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Letter: Pro park and pro re-development

The Pan and Fork River Park Committee is a coalition of midvalley residents who are in support of a very large urban park in the downtown of Basalt. I have joined this committee because I am supportive of a future where Basalt has an iconic and unique river’s edge park and where the downtown of Basalt is redeveloped with a vibrant mix of buildings within sight of the park. This future would involve changing the current economic-development thinking of many in Basalt from a focus on one parcel to a focus on the entire core. If we integrate into our thinking and analysis the other parcels that are ripe for redevelopment, we will be able to create a place that will attract more visitors, residents and businesses to our downtown.

The petition drive that our committee is running is asking the voters of Basalt to take the lead in this opportunity by purchasing the parcel from the Roaring Fork Community Develoment Corp. By doing so, the town can attract open-space funders and developers to add more density in the most appropriate places downtown such as the western portion of the parcel, the former Clark’s Market parcel, Marino’s park and the hillside area.

I am pro-park and pro-redevelopment of downtown; please join me and sign the petition.



Note: I work for The Manaus Fund, which is one of many philanthropic investors in the Roaring Fork Community Development Corp. parcel. Lowe Enterprises is currently under contract to buy this parcel for $3 million, the same price the petition is asking the town to pay.

Jon Fox-Rubin




Basalt