The Aspen School District is considering buying the 45-acre Woody Creek racetrack property to redevelop into affordable housing.
The idea is still in its infancy and the school district plans to connect with community partners to determine the interest and feasibility of a housing development on the site. But on Wednesday, the ASD Board of Education gave district leaders a “cautious yes” to keep looking into the idea.
ASD Director of Operations and Facilities Joe Waneka started exploring the idea following months of back and forth between the Aspen Motorsports Park’s new owners and the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners about a proposed redevelopment of the racetrack into a new, year-round racing operation. The owners withdrew their application in July, as the BOCC was poised to deny the plans.
“We’re going to investigate more,” Waneka told the board. “We’re not committed yet, we’re just doing our due diligence.”
The school district declined to provide many specific details of potential development opportunities, but said it could be a mix of up to 200 affordable and free-market housing units. Some details would likely change depending on what entities with which the school district partners.
The school board discussed water access and sewer problems on the site. But the board members wanted to see how the project could evolve beyond just a concept, if they could get solid community partners and support from the racetrack’s neighbors.
“I think a project of this scale and complexity certainly cannot happen without a lot of cooperation across many different jurisdictions in the community, and I’m not interested in this school district getting in too deep,” said board member Elizabeth Stewart-Severy. “We’re a school district and we’re not a developer, and I think finding that tension is tricky … so I think understanding the point at which we need to say no may come from discussions with community partners.”
Board President Sarah Daniels wanted to explore the idea further, especially because “we have heard from the public in the past, they don’t necessarily want us buying all the free market housing.”
“I think this gives us an opportunity to make a difference in affordable housing in our valley,” Daniels added.
Board member Will Gillmore said it would be “irresponsible” not to investigate all housing options, but, “if we had our choice of sites, this would not be the site we’d choose.”
If the project seems feasible, Waneka told the Aspen Daily News that the district would want community partners to share costs to potentially create their share of housing units.
“We don’t need 200 units, but our community needs 200, so we may be the steward of that opportunity to be able to bring forth some kind of desirable project,” Waneka told the ADN. “It might not be 200, quality is of importance [to the board], so maybe it’s only 100 units spread out nicely with lower density.”
The school district is also considering moving the district’s bus barn to the Woody Creek site. The bus barn on the school district campus is outdated and the district has discussed using money from its $95 million bond to go toward the project.
“Our first notion was, let’s get with the [owner] and see what we could do with it,” Waneka told the Aspen Daily News. “Let’s see what it looks like, because there’s a lot of due diligence from utilities, to occupancy, to build-out. The first glance was favorable, however there’s a lot of obstructions.”
Waneka said he will meet with community partners throughout the next month and give the board an update on the potential project in early December.
Board Vice President Christa Gieszl said she wanted the district to be careful that it did not spend too much staff time on developments.
“I feel that there are a lot of major hurdles in us moving ahead, and we are in the business of educating children,” Gieszl said. “We need to know how much effort and work we’re willing to do before we pull the plug and say, ‘OK, this wasn’t right,’ and I personally don’t want a lot of time and effort being spent on some project that’s probably not going to go very far very fast, at the expense of what we’re really here to do for our children.”
Brothers-in-law Todd Jacobs and Bret Richheimer bought the racetrack property in Woody Creek for $17 million in June. They planned to modernize the track, building nearly 250,000 square feet of facilities, including car storage buildings, a new clubhouse, employee housing and water infrastructure.
The project sparked strong opposition from members of the community around concerns over noise, traffic, wildlife, air pollution and other environmental impacts. Frequent concern was expressed around the large size and scope of the project, and the stark difference in scale between the old operations and the new proposal.
By the time the proposal reached the BOCC, county staff had recommended denial, pointing to myriad ways the proposal did not conform with the land use code. Jacobs and Richheimer withdrew their application before the BOCC had a chance to issue a denial.
