The results of the 2024 election sent an important message about development and land use in Estes Park. It wasn’t a simple message, but it was one that deserves careful attention from those of us serving on the town board.
Voters approved Ballot Issue 300, which requires written consent from two-thirds of property owners within 500 feet before land can be rezoned. At the same time, voters rejected Ballot Issue 301, which would have eliminated height and density incentives intended to encourage workforce housing.
Taken together, those results tell us something very important. Residents want a stronger voice in development decisions that affect their neighborhoods. At the same time, the community continues to recognize and support the importance of workforce housing to the long-term health of Estes Park.
As a town trustee in a Colorado statutory town, my responsibility is to listen carefully to residents while also carrying out the duties entrusted to the town board. Trustees must balance an individual’s property rights with neighborhood concerns and the broader needs of the community while ensuring development complies with our plans, codes, and safety requirements.
The passage of Ballot Issue 300 has been widely interpreted as a signal that some residents have not felt heard during development decisions. While the new ordinance gives nearby property owners a stronger role in rezoning decisions, it also highlights a larger issue: Many residents want their voices heard earlier in the development process, when they are more likely to help shape it.
As the town works to update our development code — which has not been comprehensively revised since 2000 — we have an opportunity to improve how public input is incorporated into development proposals.
Under the current process, developers hold one neighborhood meeting after a pre-application meeting with town staff. By that point, developers will have already invested significant time and resources working with architects, engineers, and planners to produce a detailed plan. Neighbors, meanwhile, are often seeing the proposal for the first time.
A better approach would be to hold a neighborhood meeting earlier in the process, before the formal pre-application meeting, where developers present conceptual plans and gather community feedback. Because these concepts require minimal investment to prepare, developers would have greater flexibility and be more willing to adjust their ideas based on neighbor input.
Following that step, the developer should summarize the comments received and explain how the proposal has been adjusted in the pre-application meeting with town staff. That summary should also be made publicly available for citizen review. A second neighborhood meeting, after the pre-application meeting, could then show how the project evolved based on both community input and technical feedback from town staff.
This kind of process would allow residents to have meaningful input when it matters most — early in the design stage, when changes are still possible.
Estes Park faces important decisions in the years ahead, including updating our development code and addressing major infrastructure needs such as planning for a future water treatment facility to ensure reliable service for residents.
These challenges require thoughtful leadership that listens carefully to residents while keeping the long-term needs of the entire community in mind. That is the approach I have tried to bring to the town board, and it is the approach I will continue if voters choose to return me for another term as town trustee.
Bill Brown is an Estes Park Town Trustee. The Estes Valley Voice welcomes commentaries from elected officials and candidates for office on topics of community interest. Commentaries can be submitted via email to news@estesvalleyvoice.com. We reserve the right to edit for Associated Press style.