EAGLE – The long anticipated Haymeadow plan has been delivered to Eagle Town Hall.
The 979-unit development is proposed on the 660-acre property adjacent to the Eagle Pool and Ice Rink site southeast of town. Annexation petitions have also been submitted and in the weeks and months ahead, the project will be examined by the Eagle Planning and Zoning Commission, and ultimately the Eagle Town Board.
“We were going to submit the plan in 2006, and about the time we were about to submit, the town made the decision to revisit the Eagle Area Community Plan,” said Haymeadow developer and Eagle resident Ric Newman. As a result, he opted to step back and participate in that process. With the Eagle Area Community Plan now adopted, Newman believes his proposal addresses the parameters addressed by Eagle’s master plan.
Newman said Haymeadow is a “conservation-oriented development concept.”
“The open space is the amenity. That’s our golf course, as it were,” he said.
“Since 2005, Alan Cohen and I have been working on a vision for a community that will fit Eagle’s unique character,” said Newman. “My wife and I live here and we want to be certain that Haymeadow is something that our town can be proud of. We’ve spent a lot of time observing, listening to and working with members of the community to get to the plan that is in place today.”
• The 660-acre property is located east and south of the Eagle Pool and Ice Rink parcel.
• The proposal calls for 979 units – including entry level apartments, townhomes and single family homes. For comparison, the Eagle Ranch approval was for 1,290 units on 1,968 acres.
• The project will be phased with three specific neighborhoods. Neighborhood A, which includes around 400 units, would be the first phase of development because it is located closest to town. It is also the most dense part of the proposal.
• The maximum home size allowed in Neighborhood A will be 3,900 square feet.
• More than 60 percent of the property contained in the Haymeadow development has been classified as open space.
• An existing 500-foot-wide stand of willow trees that runs from north to south through the property will be preserved. Additionally, similar landscaping – extending approximately 400-feet across – will be repeated in two other locations as dominate features for the parcel.
• A “wildlife movement corridor” is located on the eastern property boundary. The corridor ranges from 500 feet to 1,000 feet wide as it extends north and south across the property. According to Newman, the corridor plan was developed in cooperation with the Colorado Division of Wildlife to address deer and elk impacts.
• The development will not extend into the hills above the current irrigated pasture lands. The hills will be preserved as open space and wildlife habitat.
• “This truly is a 20-year project,” said Newman. He anticipated the second and third development phases will not come forward for the next five to 10 years.
• There is no commercial component to the Haymeadow plan. “We felt that there is enough commercial in Eagle that is struggling. We didn’t need to add to that,” said Newman.
• The property’s main access would be an extension of Sylvan Lake Road from Eagle Ranch. The existing Brush Creek Road alignment would remain in place, and would connect to Haymeadow at two locations.
• The Haymeadow developers have proposed donating an additional 15 acres at the current Western Eagle County Metropolitan Recreation District site.
• The WECMRD site would be large enough to build a multi-use amenity that could house three soccer fields and nine baseball diamonds.
• A 17-acre school site donation is proposed that could accommodate a K-8 facility. The school site is proposed adjacent to the WECMRD site.
• Eleven miles of new trails will be built and incorporated into Eagle’s existing trail system. The Boneyard and other U.S. Bureau of Land Management trails could be accessed from the property.
• A “Trailhead Community Park” would provide parking for bicyclists, bathroom/changing area and a park and playground area. Newman said this part of the development has been proposed in response to Eagle’s interest in promoting the community as a mountain biking destination.
• The community park would include several ponds that would serve both as amenities and as a non-potable water source for irrigation. Part of the pond area would be more natural and other sections would be nearby developed play areas.
• A new community pavilion building would be constructed at the community park site. “It seems there is demand for another, perhaps larger, pavilion building,” said Rick Pylman, planner for Haymeadow.
• A new fire station site is planned for the Greater Eagle Fire Protection District. The site is located adjacent to the community park area at a proposed extension of Ouzel Lane from Eagle Ranch.
• Noting that the project will likely take the next 12 to 18 months for town action, if approved Newman said it would be two years before actual construction could start. “We hope the market will be ready, in two years, for a new project,” he said.
• According to estimates prepared for the Haymeadow developers by BBC Research and Consulting of Denver, over the 15- to 20-year build-out of the project, the Haymeadow would provide 460 jobs annually in various construction related fields.
• If that 460-job figure pans out, Haymeadow would bring an estimated $18.5 million per year into the local economy, according to the BBC Research and Consulting study.
• The developers have committed to hiring local contractors and subcontractors for all phases of the project.
PROPONENTS
• “The owners of the Haymeadow parcel have been patient in moving forward until they felt that they had a plan that suited the needs of the community. I believe that the plan they submitted does that. Haymeadow is the last significant residential property anticipated within Eagle’s growth boundary and the plan represents the type of growth that this community has said it wants. I’m excited to see it happen.”
– Chuck Hair, Eagle
• “Like many Eagle business owners, I invested here based on projected downvalley growth. The last two or three years have been tough across the country, but things are moving again, people are starting to borrow and spend money and it’s time for the town of Eagle to pick up where we left off. Haymeadow will provide diverse property types for people and will help Eagle continue to grow, making a more sustainable and vibrant business community.”
– John Shipp, owner of The Dusty Boot and Luigi’s Pasta House in Eagle
OPPONENTS
• “It is just a shame we are blocking the wildlife out the way we are. I have great concerns for the town of Eagle and the health of Brush Creek and the Brush Creek drainage in terms of traffic volumes. How are those numbers of cars going to get to Interstate 70? I also think the town of Eagle needs to carefully consider the impacts that number of units will have on the community when we can’t sell the units what we have now.”
– Rosie Shearwood, Brush Creek resident
• Shearwood added that a few years ago, as the prospect of development on the Haymeadow parcel was looming, a local citizens group called Eagle Valley Habitat for Wildlife was formed. At that time, the group sponsored a petition drive seeking support for the preservation of wildlife habitat in the Brush Creek valley and more than 500 signatures were collected.
Kristin Anderson/kanderson@vaildaily.com Haymeadow developer and Eagle resident, Ric Newman, and land planner, Rick Pylman, display the recently submitted Haymeadow plan at a location on the western boundary of the property.