Soon after the Grand Lake Planning Commission met and discussed the variance requests from Spirit Lake Condos, the Grand Lake trustees took the commission’s recommendations and listened to the same requests on Monday, Feb. 10. Trustees voted to deny three out of the five variance requests.

Jim Kreutzer with Spirit Lake Condos has plans to construct a covered-garage structure at 825 Lake Ave. and a proposed multistory residential and commercial development near the shores of Grand Lake known as the Leatherwood project at 1016 Grand Ave. and 1001, 1005 and 1007 Lake Ave. The proposed Leatherwood development encompasses about 1.03 acres within the core downtown area. A letter from MA Studios, architect for the project, writes that the development is proposing 25 residential units. About 44 parking spots for these condos would be built in the off-site garage, according to the architect.

Scott Munn from MA Studios spoke during the meeting as a staff member who has been working on this project.

“[W]e saw a pretty incredible opportunity to connect a set of fairly disused and vacant lots on Lake Avenue and an alley that is not code complaint in terms of grade with a couple of vacant lots on Grand Avenue and really an opportunity to combine all of these in a master plan that allows us to create a new activated pedestrian connection between Grand Avenue and the lake itself,” Munn said.

A total of five variances were being requested by the developer. The variance requests to exceed the town’s 40-foot height limitation and for off-site open space were the most contentious topics at the planning commission meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 5.

Mayor pro-tem Christina Bergquist spoke directly to meeting attendees and emphasized that the board was taking in the words of both the applicant and residents.

“This is what the board of trustees does, is look at projects. We are not doing this project. We have nothing to do with it other than it coming in front of us. I want to make it clear that we are working on this and we are listening to the public, the community,” Bergquist said. “We are taking this very seriously.”

During the public comment period on the topic, a total of nine individuals spoke and raised concerns about the town’s variance process, the applicant’s history in the town, the building itself and more.

One resident who spoke, Michael McDonald, said he believes that the owner of the property should be allowed to build whatever they want as long as they abide by the town code. He also questioned whether the town and the applicant have followed the right process for these variance requests.

“The health, safety and welfare can be brought into question by having the open space off-site for those with disabilities on-site. If there is not an accessible route from the Leatherwood to the open space allotted to the Leatherwood at 825 Lake, there should be a survey done to show to meet accessible routes and whether it is an accessible, ADA route since it will be a new structure,” McDonald said.

McDonald requested that the board table the item in order to get more information.

Once the public comment period ended, the trustees asked their questions to the applicant representatives. Planning commissioner Michael Sobon was present during the meeting to help the trustees further understand the project and the perspective of the planning commission.

Variance 1 asked to allow the use of off-site open space at 825 Lake Avenue to be counted towards the total on-site open space requirements of the proposed Leatherwood project.

Bergquist said that she’s familiar with the area that is intended to be used as the open space and explained that she has a hard time imagining the spot functioning as a park or as usable open space. Trustee Julie Causseaux also shared concerns about having no open space on the lakefront property.

Mayor and interim town manager Steve Kudron spoke and acknowledged being very “quiet” on the matter. Kudron said that he had been “pushing” Kreutzer to go with the open space proposal because he liked the idea of having places for people to walk around Grand Lake.

“The applicants have been pushed by staff to keep Grand Avenue small and open because we’re going to lose that and it’s going to have a big impact when people go down the street,” Kudron said.

Causseaux motioned to deny the open space variance request and it passed 5-2 with Kudron abstaining.

Trustees also voted to deny variance 2, which would allow the construction of an accessory structure within the 20-foot rear setback along the alleyway. Trustees voted based on the recommendation from the planning commission, which was to deny the variance.

Variance 3 would allow a residential condominium to remain on the main floor within the front 50 feet of an existing residential dwelling commonly known as “The Lakehouse” along Lake Avenue. This variance was approved by trustees.

The height variance, which would have allowed a maximum height of up to 52 feet for Building 1 of the Leatherwood project, located at the corner of Lake Avenue and Garfield Street, was denied by trustees. Town staff also directed trustees to vote on the height variance for the development’s proposed 43-foot Event Center, which was also denied.

Variance 5 asked to classify the full Leatherwood project in a lower class under the mixed-use open space land area requirements, resulting in a 35% minimum open space land area. This request was approved by trustees.

The trustees voted to deny some of these variance requests because they felt that the applicant’s reasonings were not strong enough to merit a variance. Board members also agreed with the planning commission’s findings that the requests were not compatible with the surrounding area, not harmonious with the neighborhood and did not meet a determined need.

Bergquist thanked Kreutzer, Sobon, her fellow trustees and meeting attendees for their time after the vote was taken.

“This is a great project and we know that change is coming. We know that things are happening and this is one that the town of Grand Lake has never seen anything like this before,” Bergquist said. “I know that between the planning commission and the trustees, we are taking this very seriously. We know that something is going to go there, we just want to make sure that it conforms to the town of Grand Lake and that it conforms to what the people are wanting and figuring out our codes while we work through this together.”