Mountain Town Of Wolcott About To Get A Lot Of New Residents
WOLCOTT, Colo. (CBS4) - The mountain town of Wolcott has only about 15 residents right now, but they're about to get a lot of new neighbors.
Eagle County commissioners approved a massive development.
"Wolcott has been approved through the preliminary plan with 577 residential units; about 300 of those roughly are single family focused," said Rick Hermes, Hermes Group Manager.
Lofts and commercial space will take over what's only ranch land right now. Since it's like building a whole new town, Eagle County has spent over three years reviewing the plan.
"This was an opportunity to say, 'Let's do the absolute best job we can and with the tools at our disposal and make this an iconic masterpiece when it's all said and done.' And hopefully it'll be that." Eagle County Commissioner Sara Fisher said.
Developers say they're looking to bring something new to Eagle County. West Eagle County has towns with more permanent residents and east Eagle County has more second homes. Wolcott sits right in the middle.
"Now there's a shift in that market where there's a desire to be in the core of a town. So everything in the Wolcott area is pedestrian friendly," Fisher said.
Fisher admitted she doesn't think the development is needed, but with the project moving forward, the county wanted to make sure it was best for all citizens.
"Ninety-nine percent of the people who live here do so by choice, and so we want to be mindful and take care of what makes us so special and that we don't screw it up by letting it get too over built," Fisher said.
About 40 percent of the project keeps land as open space and estimates say it will create 1,600 jobs. Developers say it will pop up quickly.
"That would put us into actually starting to move dirt somewhere here at the end of 2013," Hermes said. "We have about a year of core infrastructure to do and hope to be in sales mode with residential contracts about this time next year."
The last piece of the puzzle before the development moves forward is relocating Highway 6 away from the Eagle River. Developers say they should have word from the Colorado Department of Transportation and the federal government in a few months on when they can start.
