The Roaring Fork Community Development Corporation is raising concerns about Basalt’s latest plan to handle the Pan and Fork parcel.
The nonprofit, often referred to as the CDC, owns the more than two acres near Old Town Basalt. The town is now looking at zoning and designing a park, as part of a game plan to ask voters whether to buy some of the property and how to pay for it.
Michael McVoy is Board President of the CDC and says that plan could devalue the land, and is in conflict with his group’s existing contract with a developer. “Several Council members made statements that they thought the land under the park should be valued based on its value as a park,” said McVoy Thursday. “And we do not agree with that, we want to make sure that the value of the property is sufficient to get us back the money that we invested.”
McVoy says the CDC only wants to recoup the approximately $2.85 million invested in the property so far, not to make a profit. The CDC is paying about $200,000 a year to maintain the land. McVoy also say the nonprofit has not been referring to a certain master plan for Basalt and has not been asked to do so, even though town officials said this week that the plan should be consulted when appraising the property.
