The Winter Park Town Council at its Sept. 17 meeting formally established the Winter Park Urban Renewal Authority to consider urban renewal plans for infrastructure development in the town of Winter Park.

The council also heard proposals for the 2024-25 winter service operations budget, safety inspections on short-term rental units and several other resolutions.

The Urban Renewal Authority, according to Town Manager Keith Riesberg, will provide a financing structure to “address infrastructure issues that prevent the type of development that is desired in the community.”

Specifically, the authority will address blighted areas, which refers to eight blight factors identified in the study’s survey area, including deteriorating structures, defective or inadequate street layout, unsafe conditions and more. A study conducted on behalf of Alterra Mountain Co. for the town of Winter Park shows that sufficient blighted areas exist to warrant the formation of the authority.

The proposal, initially brought to the council at its Sept. 3 meeting via a petition from more than 25 Winter Park voters, establishes a board of commissioners to oversee the Urban Renewal Authority. The board is composed of the seven town council members, representatives from the three underlying tax districts and an 11th member appointed by Mayor Nick Kutrumbos.

East Grand Fire Protection District presented at the meeting about a proposed ordinance that would allow virtual safety inspections on short-term rental units in Winter Park. Rental unit owners would be able to get their units approved for fire safety online by uploading photos to a mobile app.

During this first reading, the council inquired whether in-person inspections would be more effective. Granby and Grand Lake both conduct in-person inspections, but they have a fraction of the short-term rental units that Winter Park has, according to Ryan Mallory from the East Grand Fire. Opting to do virtual inspections instead will ease the load, but the fire protection district plans to hire more staff to accommodate the influx of virtual inspections.

The council approved the 2024-25 winter service operations budget, which will expand service hours in the morning, running two extra black-line routes — 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. Secondly, the black line would run at 15-minute frequencies during peak hours.

Other resolutions approved at Tuesday’s meeting:

• A resolution supporting a grant application for funding from Colorado Parks and Wildlife for the construction of the Fraser River Trail through the Roam development and committing matching funds for the grant. The town intends to apply for additional grants for the project that is estimated to cost $2.3 million.

For more information on anything included in this article, access the full meeting agenda here.