Wednesday, August 1, 2007

New Development opportunity in theTown of Telluride Lift 7 Area

Many locals and visitors alike feel the Lift 7 area in the Town of Telluride is more like a "back door" to the ski area and is overdue for a facelift. Once the main portal to skiing in Telluride, the Lift 7 (formerly known as the Coonskin Lift) area has been overlooked for the last 10 years since the free gondola was built, linking the Town of Mountain Village core, the ski area and the Town of Telluride at Oak St.
Recently a proposal was made to give the Lift 7 area, including Cimarron Lodge, a new look and feel. Dubbed by some as "Coonskin Rising", the Town has hired OZ Architecture of Denver to help create this new vision. OZ has won awards for projects in Boulder and Breckenridge, as well as created several developments in Keystone, Aspen and Copper Mountain. The mission of the Lift 7 subarea Plan (or "Coonskin Rising") is to implement a master plan that gives the the Town and private property owners guidelines for how best to utilize their properties, including hosting community design charettes, creating redevelopment concepts and policies, developing an infrastructure improvement plan, identifying opportunities for public/private partnerships, guiding land use decisions and identifying future sites for affordable housing. There will be a special Lift 7 Sub-area Plan joint meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Historic Architectural Review Commission on August 14th, 2007 at 7 pm followed the next morning at 9 am by a special Town Council meeting to hear recommendations. For more information and to view sketches, visit www.azarch.com/telluride.