Teddy Errico's Telluride Tales

A major Telluride Mountain Village core hotel project that proposes adding 40 short-term hotel rooms to the town’s lodging mix, over 20,000 square feet of commercial space, and other public benefits gained an important approval when the Mountain Village DRB voted 5-0 to approve the sketch Planned Unit Development plan for the project. This proposed hotel is located on what is now a parking lot between the Westermere and Shirana buildings and would also encroach, as is permitted in Mountain Village, on town-owned open space. The applicant has also proposed 38 larger “lodge units” that can be made up of a two-room space plus a mezzanine, up to two separate bathrooms, and separate kitchen facilities. These additional units could be sold as real estate.

The approval marks the third step in a five-step PUD approval process that in Mountain Village (and elsewhere) provides for tradeoffs of public benefits in exchange for zoning variances. The applicant must now submit a final PUD plan that will go before both the DRB and council for their separate and final approvals.