Could a new ‘Main Street’ downtown area be good for Gypsum’s future?

The town of Gypsum has long considered the creation of a “Main Street” area or commercial town center, and the Town Council was recently briefed on how it could become a reality.

At the council’s regular meeting on June 27, several elected officials said they would like to see a Main Street area created in Gypsum following a presentation from Jesse Silverstein of Jefferson County-based Development Research Partners.

Silverstein’s presentation was titled “Urban Renewal Authority as a Development Tool,” and in it he detailed the ways in which towns have used Urban Renewal Authority powers to create Tax Increment Financing districts to fund new development.

---

---

Vail and Avon have used Urban Renewal Authorities and Tax Increment Financing districts to fund redevelopment projects, with the general idea being that, by spurring new development, new taxes are created which can be used to finance said development.

“Once construction starts, activity starts, and commercial activity and residential activity begins and there’s property added to vacant land or there’s additions to property and improvements are made, taxes start going up,” Silverstein said. “Those taxes collected over time, over the base, is called the increment, and those increments in the Urban Renewal Authority get directed to the Urban Renewal Authority for their dissemination.”

---

---

Rocky Mountain slums?

The Urban Renewal Authority boundaries would be, simply, the town boundaries, with the town limits and the Urban Renewal Authority limits being one in the same. The ability for towns to create Urban Renewal Authorities was established in Colorado in 1975 and was originally envisioned to address “blighted areas” or “slum, deteriorated or deteriorating structures,” according to Colorado law.

“I don’t really know of any slum in Colorado anywhere, it’s more of a generic term,” Silverstein said.

Blight, on the other hand, could be viewed as “deterioration, lack of investment, lack of maintenance,” Silverstein said, and that’s much more common than slum conditions in Colorado towns.

In order to create an Urban Renewal Authority, blighted areas must first be identified, and once they are, multiple redevelopment areas can be created within the Urban Renewal Authority.

Gypsum’s 2017 Master Plan identifies the land around Ridley’s Family Market — north of Highway 6 near Oak Ridge Drive, Oak Ridge Court and Crestwood Drive — as a location that could be desirable for the establishment of a “Main Street” presence and retail or commercial town center.

“In its current layout, the existing development underutilizes the available land offering opportunities for investment,” according to the master plan.

The plan labels that area “the Market area” and says the Highway 6 and Valley Road intersection is a natural “Main and Main” intersection for the town.

“Located across US-6 from both the Eagle Valley High School and Gypsum Elementary school, the Market area has potential as a more intensely developed area of town where a mix of new retail, office, community-serving commercial, and more affordable workforce and multifamily housing could be located,” according to the plan. “The stretch of US-6 from Valley Road to Schoolside Street could be redesigned to accommodate zero setback storefronts with 12 to 18-foot-wide sidewalks, shade trees in tree grates, along with pedestrian lighting, street furniture, art, and on-street parking. With southern exposure, the street will be lively both summer and winter.”

‘Worth the whole deal’

The Gypsum Town Council, on June 27, expressed interest in pursuing the idea.

“I think there’s a need for a downtown center,” said Council member Scott Green, who grew up in Gypsum. “I don’t think it’s imperative that we have one. It would be nice to have one, it would kind of pull the community together.”

---

Want the news to come to you? Get the top stories in your inbox every morning. Sign up here: VailDaily.com/newsletter

---

Council member Tom Edwards said while he’s not totally sold on the idea just yet, the possibility of adding a few more restaurants in town makes the idea enticing.

“To me, three restaurants down there would be worth the whole deal,” Edwards said with a laugh. “It’d be a place to go for dinner.”

Council member Bill Baxter said his primary concern would be avoiding a tax burden for the citizens of Gypsum.

“I would like to see it continue to be looked at,” he said.

Mayor Steve Carver said he would like to see it happen.

“We’re gonna have to keep a good line of communication open to move everything forward,” he said.

Council member Marisa Sato said the numbers need to work, but assuming they do, she also would be supportive of the idea.

“I also agree that I’d like to see it move forward,” she said.