What are the objectives of the Basalt Community Campus?
There are five objectives guiding the creation of the Basalt Community Campus. They include:

• Implementing components of the River Master Plan (adopted in 2002);
• Getting existing mobile home residents out of spring flooding danger;
• Creating replacement affordable housing for mobile home residents (per 1999 Town ordinance);
• Creating a riverside public park; and
• Transforming a prominent downtown corner location into a vibrant mixed-use community asset.

The RFCDC intends to offer significant site flexibility to potential nonprofit and for-profit tenants serving Basalt and the region, including office leasing, purchase of condominium office spaces, and separate building lots for office and/or residential (for sale or rental) uses. We expect to be able to provide full construction services, including build to suit options, or to permit full owner control of their site construction plans, subject to overall Campus design themes.

Does the Town of Basalt own half the property?
Yes.

The RFCDC subdivided the Pan and Fork parcel and has sold the 2.9 acre parcel along the river, which is in the "floodway," to the Town of Basalt (see aerial with parcel lines below). The Town purchased the parcel with its open space funds and will build a riverside park as part of its River Master Plan once a replacement housing plan is implemented by the RFCDC.

Who is managing the mobile home park?
The RFCDC has a management agreement with the Garfield County Housing Authority for management of the Pan and Fork Mobile Home Park.  RFCDC decided to work with GCHA because it already manages the deed restricted affordable housing units for the Town of Basalt and it has experience managing affordable housing properties.

What will happen to the current mobile home residents and when?
The Town of Basalt has a replacement housing ordinance so any development plan for the Basalt Community Campus must include a plan for replacing the current trailer sites.  Given the logistical challenges of redeveloping the site while people are living there, we believe replacement housing will be on one (or several) locations within the Basalt Urban Services Boundary, which includes El Jebel.  The RFCDC will work with each Pan and Fork resident to arrange or provide long term affordable housing on a rental or ownership basis.  

There will be no changes to the mobile home park (other than management) during 2011 and 2012.  He hope to have an approved replacement housing scenario in place by April 2013.  We are developing a lease for all the current residents that clarifies this timeframe.

The RFCDC has held several meetings with residents of the Pan and Fork Mobile Home Park since we signed a contract to purchase the property. We will continue to meet will all residents of the Pan and Fork as well as create a Residents Advisory Committee (RAC) to share information on project progress and address park management issues.

What is the timeframe for the Campus?
We will work on replacement housing and the Campus simultaneously.  We plan to submit a Basalt Commuity Campus plan for review by the Town of Basalt in the 4th quarter of 2011.  We hope to be finished with the planning review process around the same time as the replacement housing scenario is completed so constrcution related to the campus could begin in the spring of 2013.

What does the development plan for the Basalt Community Campus look like?
We have only conceptual ideas at this point and we have not submitted a proposal to the Town.  Now that we have recently closed on the the property, we are in the process of selecting a design team to help us with the planning of the parcel and we will seek community input. Conceptually, we envision the following uses and elements as part of the campus:

• The Campus and riverside park will complement each other.  The Campus will make every effort to invite people to the park and the river.
  
• There will be a substantial nonprofit component to the Campus with a facility for Colorado Mountain College and space for Basalt and regional nonprofit organizations (along the lines of the Third Street Center in Carbondale).
  
• As this property is a prime downtown location, we hope to incorporate a commercial element to the site, most likely on the corner of Midland Avenue and Two Rivers Road.
• Green principles for the site, architecture and construction will help the project become a showcase of the Town of Basalt.

How can interested community members become involved?  There will be several opportunities for community members to get involved in this project.  We plan on hosting open houses as we make progress to share information with and invite comment from the Basalt community.  We will likely to create a Community Advisory Committee to help inform the project as well as a Fundraising Committee to help us raise the capital necessary to complete the project.  If you would like to serve on such a committee, please contact Colin Laird at claird [at] roaringforkcdc.org.

You can also send us a comment via email [claird at roaringforkcdc.org] or through Facebook.

Pan and Fork Mobile Home Park with approximate parcel lines

Note: the "Levinson Parcel" is owned by the Town of Basalt and is not part of the Basalt Community Campus. Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has the Levinson Parcel under contract and is anticipating building a 12,000 sf (highly green) headquarters office on the site.

Photos

• 2010 Aerial Photo [pdf]
• Aerial with parcel lines and park parcel [jpg] (Parcel lines for Pan & Fork Parcel and Future Park are approximate at this time)
• Base Map [jpg]
  

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Roaring Fork Community Development Corporation is a 501©3 nonprofit organization
with a mission to catalyze and implement community-based ventures that create
affordable residential, commercial, and community spaces.

 - BCC HOME -

PO Box 1582, Carbondale, CO 81623  970.309.2053

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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