The Granby Board of Trustees denied the East Grand School District’s efforts to rezone the site of the town’s former elementary school at an Oct. 28 meeting, citing a lack of consensus over how to develop the vacant space. 

The school district’s application asked to modify the zoning from a single-family residential zone to a highway and general business area (HGB). Superintendent Brad Ray said the school plans to sell the property, located in downtown Granby at the intersection of West Topaz Avenue and Mesa Street. 

“Highway and general business is the most attractive zoning for the sale of the property,” Ray said in an interview with Sky-Hi news. “So it has a lot of different uses.”

School district representatives argued that the rezoning could create an opportunity to transform an unused property into a new development that could provide multiple community benefits.

The town’s planning commissioners recommended the denial of the zoning application at an Oct. 6 meeting. According to trustee Seth Stern, the recommendation was made by the planning commission due to concerns that the town would not be able to regulate the development of the space.

“If we said yes to HGB, and pretty much anything that is HGB gets to go in there, the town doesn’t really have much control over that,” Stern said.

Under the town’s current code, highway and general business zoning would provide sites for commercial businesses that are “land-use intensive” and that may require larger one to two-story buildings and outdoor storage areas. 

“It is anticipated that these types of developments will occur along major arterial and collector highways outside of the town core business district and are intended to be sited in order to minimize interruption of traffic flow, safeguard pedestrian movement and optimize the aesthetic appearance to passing motorists,” the code states.

Concerns raised by board members and residents included the possibility that the rezoning could allow for high-density apartment complexes, industrial uses or luxury short-term rentals — rather than “much needed” workforce housing, attendees said. Residents and trustees largely supported finding a productive use for the site, but disagreed on what that use would be.

Spot zoning laws discourage assigning a zoning category to a single property that differs from the surrounding area. For this reason, some board members suggested central business zoning as a potential alternative.

According to the town’s zoning code, central business districts emphasize pedestrian activity and are generally located near the downtown core, in contrast to the more automobile-oriented uses typical of highway general business zones.

After public comment, Granby trustees unanimously passed an ordinance to deny the rezoning application. Trustee Stern made the motion, but expressed that the zoning issue would be revisited at a later date.

“I don’t want this to be the end of the conversation …  I just don’t think this is the solution,” Stern said.