Breck home-size policy to be decided through consensus

Council takes heat for preservation proposal

Robert Allen of the Summit Daily News reported February 13th, 2009, that although Breckenridge officials want to restrict home size to preserve neighborhood character, a task force should be created aimed at finding a consensus.

Last week, the town hosted two open-house meetings with residents from about 25 Breckenridge neighborhoods. In both meeting, most shared the view that maintaining the size and scale of homes in their neighborhood was important. But a wide majority disagreed with the town's proposal of capping the maximum home size at 80 percent of the average, current home sizes.

What is intended is to avoid the situation where a 10,000 square foot home is built amid homes averaging, say 4,000 square feet.

Some meeting attendees felt that people who want to build such a 10,000 square foot home would simply take their plans -- and potential tax dollars -- elsewhere. Others pointed out that a design-based, rather than size-based, approach could better fit with what neighborhoods want. Many said they'd prefer to have the policy address specific subdivisions rather than the town overall. Maybe this is more an issue for the historic district than for outlying areas.

Town mayor John Warner concluded the work session by suggesting a task force of stakeholders such as a real estate agent, a home builder, a member of the town staff and others to "create a menu of options" for future discussion. Such a task force will be assembled to convene sometime soon regarding a neighborhood preservation policy. The policy would apply to homes in neighborhoods without platted building envelopes. Single-family homes and some duplexes are the only structures with no square-footage limits in the town's current development code.

For more information, contact Susan Gunnin, or go to www.breck4sale.com.

Town of Blue River approves sewer annexation

A Summit Daily News article by Robert Allen on February 4, 2009, reports that the Town of Blue River (about 2 miles south of Breckenridge) voted to be annexed by the Upper Blue Sanitation District. Gradually over time, the approximately 680 residents of Blue River will have the option of replacing existing septic systems with sewer service.

This news is interesting in that, historically, the town has voted against any potential intrusion into the town's "rural character". But it appears the advantages of sewer service outweighed these concerns.

Residents won't be required to connect to the sewer until their current [septic] systems fail, and then would only be required to connect if they were within 400 feet of a sewer main.

Construction will begin at the south end of town but probably not for another year and a half. The South Blue River Treatment Facility next to the Eldorado Subdivision is planned to serve the entire town.

Presently, most of the town's residents use septic systems. The threat of failing systems, the expense of replacing them, and the gradually increasing population density affected the outcome of the election.

The Upper Blue Sanitation District was formerly known as the Breckenridge Sanitation District.

If you want to learn more about how this might affect real estate in the Blue River area, contact Susan Gunnin