Granby’s Board of Trustees met for more than four hours on Valentine’s Day for its first February meeting. The packed agenda included the plat approval for the first half of a mixed-use development, an item that had been continued at five previous board meetings.

The plat for Granby Market Square’s residential portion first appeared on the board’s Sept. 27, but the developer, Royal Oak Co., asked for continuations each time. The planning commission’s original approval of the plat came with conditions, which Royal Oak worked to address with the extra time, but electrical concerns from Mountain Parks Electric and Excel Energy provided the project’s most recent hurdle.

The electrical issues forced the project to go through the platting process again, and the commission approved the plat on Feb. 6 with conditions. Town Manager Ted Cherry said the plat should be ready for approval.

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“We’ve made the applicant aware about the guidance that we would like to see for the alleyway,” Cherry said. “Which would be to have it re-asphalted in a portion of it, and then where the turning lanes would be for the trash area, to have that paved in concrete.”

Several residents expressed concerns about the project during public comments, many having to do with parking. The Colorado Department of Transportation will require a turn lane to be built on U.S. Highway 40 as part of the project, which will take away four or five street parking spots, according to an engineer consulting the project.

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A resident of Jasper Court, the road behind the development often referred to as “the alley” during the discussions, mentioned parking and snow storage as main concerns for the project.

“It was stated by the board, whether it was the planning commission or this board, ‘Well, that’s something that we’ll deal with in the details later,’” the resident said. “It feels like tonight is the later, and I haven’t really heard anything specific about addressing these concerns.”

The resident asked how the housing units would comply with parking regulations when some units will only have one parking spot and the units are intended to be short-term rentals. Royal Oak Developer Steve Wilkie explained the project originally looked to build short-term rental units, but the plan changed to building long-term rental units, which have fewer parking requirements. The plat complies with town parking regulations.

Concerns about snow storage centered around the developer’s plan to store snow on the undeveloped half of its lot while it builds the residential portion of the development. Residents asked what the developers would do with snow after building the second phase, and Wilkie said they will contract a company to remove the snow and take it off-site, emphasizing that he cannot know the details of where the snow will end up before acquiring a contract.

“If you really, really want me to, I can put a contract in place,” Wilkie said. “But I think that should be when we come to you for phase two, because truly now we have a big vacant lot that we can put it there.”

Other residents expressed concerns about the walkable development not being walkable during the winter, to which Wilkie replied the concrete will be heated, and the addition of commercial space in a community where current businesses face staffing issues.

After public comment and board discussion, the trustees approved the plat, with trustees Michael Mahoney and Rebecca Quesada voting against the resolution.

Other business

• The board extended the Moffat Road Railroad Museum’s conditional use permit for another five years so it can operate in the industrial district.
• Trustees approved changes to the recreation department’s summer day camp, which affect the registration process and move the program from daily to weekly registration.
• An SGM representative gave an update on the engineering process for the North Service Area Water Plant.
• The board continued an item about the funding of the police department’s obstacle course.
• Trustees voted to select the National Housing Partnership Foundation as the developer for the town’s Highway 40 workforce housing project.
• The board approved a new memorandum of understanding with Destination Granby, which recently became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which including $264,000 of funding for the organization — an increase in the town’s contribution but $25,000 less than Destination Granby requested.
• Trustees approved a new social media policy that includes turning off comments on official town social media pages.
• The board passed a resolution that consolidated multiple business improvement grants into one fund of up to $100,000.
• Trustees voted to cancel the board’s June 27 meeting anticipating many of the trustees will be at a Colorado Municipal League conference that day.