Technically, petitioners opposed to 300 housing units being built on pasture land in Glenwood Springs had until this Thursday to collect 299 signatures from residents.
However, as of late last week, a group, Glenwood Springs Citizens for Sensible Development, had already convinced more than 350 people to sign onto its referendum petition.
In a 4-3 vote in November, the Glenwood Springs City Council approved a controversial annexation request from Cincinnati-based real estate development firm R2 Partners.
As part of its 480 Donegan residential project, R2 Partners plans to construct several multi-family apartments, townhomes and live-work units on approximately 16 acres of land behind the Glenwood Springs Mall. The development would also include a private clubhouse, public restaurant and some “attainable” housing units with pricing restrictions.
R2 Partners is also under contract to purchase and redevelop the largely vacant Glenwood Springs Mall.
Despite having enough signatures to already turn in to Glenwood Springs City Clerk Ryan Muse, petitioners don’t plan on doing so until their Dec. 9 deadline.
“We don’t want to lose momentum because, again, we feel like this is an important conversation that we’re having with the community,” Tracy Trulove, a spokesperson for Glenwood Springs Citizens for Sensible Development, said in an interview Friday. “The people that are out with petitions are going to keep working it all the way up till that deadline.”
Per Glenwood Springs’ municipal code, petitioners have a 21-day window to collect the necessary amount of signatures and turn them into the city clerk for review and verification.
Muse said he was officially notified on Nov. 18 of the group’s intent to circulate petitions, which means signatures must be turned in by Dec. 9.
Petitioners had to collect signatures from 5% of Glenwood Springs’ registered voters at the time of the city’s last regular election, which occurred in April 2021. At the time, the city had 5,983 registered voters, hence the 299 signatures required — to clear the 5% benchmark.
Following Muse’s review process, council can either repeal its original annexation decision or put the question before the voters on next spring’s ballot.
Trulove said she was “not surprised” the group had already secured enough signatures and was confident it would collect even more in the days ahead.
“There are more than just the folks in West Glenwood that are worried about this,” Trulove said.
Members of council who supported the project pointed to the need for more housing and believed the developer had listened to community feedback by reducing the project’s overall number of units.
Density, increased wildfire, water scarcity, traffic, concerns about West Glenwood’s infrastructure and a lack of evacuation routes have all been cited by petitioners as reasons to deny the 480 Donegan project.
“I’ve evacuated three times,” Jamie Darien, a longtime West Glenwood resident, said in an interview Sunday morning. “The fear that people had, they actually drove across the field that we’re talking about now. They were so scared — they had to get out, they had to get out — and that was terrifying.”
One of 23 people to circulate petitions, Darien said she had knocked on doors throughout the city and that most everyone had agreed to sign. In some cases, runners stopped their exercise routines and drivers even pulled over their vehicles just to sign the petition.
“I’ve done about 12 miles of walking now, so that’s good,” Darien said. “We’re not just exercising our right to vote, we’re exercising our bodies.”
The city has seen quite a bit of residential development in recent years, including the Lofts at Red Mountain, Six Canyon Apartments and now the 480 Donegan project. Petitioners have maintained that they don’t oppose development, but instead want more community dialogue around the types of projects Glenwood Springs needs.
“The best thing that’s happened with this, in my opinion, is how it’s brought the community together,” Darien said. “There’s always good that comes out of everything. We’ve built a very strong, cohesive community and that’s just wonderful.”
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December 06, 2021 at 05:00PM
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Glenwood referendum petitioners secure enough signatures, and then some - Aspen Daily News
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