Timeline of Project Steps (most recent updates first)
- February 2025
- November 2024 - January 2025:
- Ongoing Work:
- The development team continued weekly meetings.
- Given the complexity of the site, and EPHA and the Town of Estes Parks desire to be sensitive to all aspects of potential impact, work in the past few months has included engaging the following list of consultants:
- (Paid): Traffic, Wetlands, Wildlife, Cultural and Historic Review, Land Planning Group, Civil Engineer, Landscape Architect, Geotechnical Engineer, Geohazard Evaluation, Phase 1 Environmental, Surveyor, Wildfire Professional, Asbestos, Domestic and Fire Flow Water Capacity and Pressure Analysis
- (Non-Paid): Community Members and Neighbors in the Fall River Corridors, Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Valley Fire Protection District, Estes Park Police Department, Estes Park Community Development Staff, Estes Park Power and Communications Staff, Estes Park Utilities Staff, Town of Estes Park Transportation Staff, Estes Park School District Transportation Department, State Historical Preservation Office.
- With all of the requisite consultants on board, significant progress has been made working through the due diligence requirements.
- In the middle of December 2024 we closed our online community survey and have taken that feedback into consideration with our preliminary site designs.
- Key pieces of feedback requiring site design changes:
- Adjusting the site for placement of RMNP owned land. (dirt road through the existing site).
- Adjusting the site for wildlife and wetlands setbacks.
- Adjusting of the site layout based on community feedback.
- Adjusting the site based on Wildland Urban Interface Code (WUI).
- Key pieces of feedback requiring site design changes:
- Anticipated next steps juggling the myriad of moving parts:
- Wednesday February 19th public evacuation meeting
- Follow-up meeting with RMNP regarding owed strip of land through the site and legal ramification of use of land.
- Updated milestone schedule sent to Larimer Country for extension request of Larimer County Funds.
- Design team working on plans which may be provided to general contractors for schematic level pricing estimates.
- Engagement in additional consultants:
- Fire Specialist to assist in creating safe and wildfire resistant community
- Water Flow Analysis
- Asbestos
- Section 106 evaluation to examine historical and cultural significance.
- Targeting our second neighborhood meeting in late March or early April in which we plan to review the following:
- First public site design layout (still conceptual and expected to change).
- General progress on due diligence.
- Survey result summary.
- Review of anticipated timeline and next steps.
- Community feedback.
- Additional items as needed.
- Ongoing Work:
- September/October 2024:
- September:
- The development team continued weekly meetings.
- A wetlands study was completed
- Traffic counts were taken both for weekdays and weekend traffic patterns taking pre-timed entry and post-timed entry into account. (September is historically and consistently the second heaviest traffic into RMNP)
- Background and discovery activities regarding the site continued, including but not limited to discussions wildlife patterns, general wetland and river related concerns, light pollution,
- October:
- Wetlands study follow-up and discussion of findings and associated limitations.
- Discussions centered around development code restrictions potentially limiting the design options specifically in regards to the variety of housing types and their placement on the site.
- Preliminary site plan sketching took place with initial site constraints identified.
- Website information transitioned to EPHA.
- September:
- September 2024: Initial Outreach focused on immediate neighbors occurred on September 5, 2024 at the Estes Park United Methodist Church. The presentation included an introduction to the design team and provided an opportunity for the neighbors to ask questions and provide feedback to the project team.
- July 2024: Selection and kickoff engagement with Pel-Ona Architects and Urbanists to lead the design and entitlement for the Fish Hatcher Neighborhood. Pel-Ona's RFP
- April 2024: EPHA issues Request for Proposal (RFP) for land planning, landscape architecture, and entitlement services. RFP Document
- March 2024: Town of Estes Park and Estes Park Housing Authority (EPHA) enter into a Memorandum of Understanding as the developer of the Fish Hatchery Project and as a sub-award grantee of ARPA funds dedicated to the project. Resolution 33-24
- March 2024: Town of Estes Park awarded American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds from Larimer County for design and public outreach work. Resolution 19-24
- October 2022: Rezone of Parcel Completed Ordinance No 17-12