Joint Work Session with the Board of County Commissioners regarding Lake Hill

The Frisco Town Council met with the Summit County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to discuss plans for the proposed Lake Hill workforce housing development.

In 2016, Summit County acquired a 44.81-acre parcel on the Dillon Dam Road from the United States Forest Service (USFS) with the intent to build affordable workforce housing in this desirable central location. Lake Hill is currently proposed as a 436-unit development with multi-family units and townhomes and a combination of ownership and rental units.

Discussions centered on water rights and water infrastructure, both which would need to be expanded to accommodate the housing development, with Frisco’s growing population taken into consideration. Discussions also included expanding sewage infrastructure, owned and serviced by the Frisco Sanitation District, in order to incorporate Lake Hill. The Frisco Sanitation District is not a part of the Town of Frisco and is a separate entity with  its own board.

This discussion is part of an ongoing conversation, including one that took place during the September 14, 2021 Council meeting, when representatives from the BOCC met with Council during a work-session.

At that meeting, Town Council expressed a commitment to negotiating a water agreement with provisions to protect Frisco’s water resources, character. and infrastructure and to supporting efforts around the Lake Hill neighborhood to keep this important workforce housing project moving forward. Town Council also expressed the need to have a seat at the table in order to better understand and work through impacts of the proposed development on the Frisco community.

Paperless Water Billing and Tax/Fee Filings

Council discussed and supported establishing a fee for mailing paper water bills and processing paper tax/fee filings in order to encourage  customers to switch to electronic billing and tax/fee filing. Council supported the recommended initial fee of $5.00 per paper filing for tax or fee remittance forms, as well as for mailing  paper water bills. There will be no fee around the  method by which a customer pays their water bill. Currently, only about 30% of customers have opted for the electronic delivery of water bills, as well as remittance of taxes and disposable bag fees. The paper fees will offset the cost of staff processing and storing the paper documents.

In order to inform customers of the fees, communications will be sent to those that currently submit paper returns or receive paper water bills for six months before the ordinance goes into effect. Staff will also be available to assist any customers who need assistance switching to electronic billing.

Council Orientation: Quasi-Judicial Decision Making

The Town of Frisco’s attorney gave a presentation regarding the quasi- judicial aspect of Town Council’s duties. Quasi-judicial decision making, which pertains to property rights issues, is under greater scrutiny in the court of law than legislative and administrative roles of municipal governing bodies and therefore warrants additional considerations and justifications. In these types of land use, rezoning, and development applications, enough evidence must be presented to make the issue at hand “fairly debatable” by reasonable people with the expectation of an un-biased decision as a result. If a quasi-judicial decision has been appealed, the court expects that all matters that were considered as part of the decision-making process be maintained on record.

Contract for Paid Parking Services at the Marina and Enforcement on Main Street

Council approved a three-year contract with Interstate Parking Company to manage paid parking at the Frisco Bay Marina during the Marina’s busiest part of the season, and to enforce three hour time limits on parking year-round on Main Street. During discussions at the April 12 and April 26, 2022 meetings, where Council heard extensive public comment on the issue, Council reaffirmed their intention for paid parking as a means to promote turnover of spaces; encourage the use of public transportation, bikes, and walking; and to encourage those who are not primarily using Marina parking to access the Marina to park in other areas of town.

The agreement with Interstate Parking includes the following:

• Three hour time limit parking enforcement on Main Street starting June 10, 2022  
• There will be no three hour time limit enforcement on Main Street for the months of April and October
• The Marina lots will have paid parking in all lots starting on June 10
• An unlimited amount of $99 summer season parking passes  will be available for sale from June 1 through June 30, 2022 on ParkFrisco.com (website to go live by May 31, 2022)
• Overnight parking will be available to boaters via this permit system
• Parking rates:
  • First 30 minutes free
  • Monday to Thursday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm – $.75/half hour with a $10.00 maximum
  • Friday through Sunday and holidays – $.75/ half hour for the first 3 hours, $2.50 a half hour thereafter to a maximum of $15.00

Town Code Amendments – Parking Enforcement

Council approved on second reading amendments to the Town Code that will enable parking enforcement by a third party. The original code only allowed such enforcement by Town law enforcement.

Town Code Amendments – Water

In-Town Rates for Deed Restrictions

At the April 12, 2022 Council meeting, following a request from property owner who lives outside of Town limits, Council directed staff to prepare an ordinance that would allow a property owner with a property outside of town limits placing a local workforce occupancy deed restriction to request in-Town water rates. Frisco water customers outside of Town limits are charged double the in-town rate. The Town code still requires Council’s approval for an out-of-Town customer to tap into Frisco’s water system, but if said property is deed restricted, in-Town rates will automatically apply upon approval to join Frisco’s water service, if the building was in existence as of July 1, 2022. Any deed-restricted buildings that come into existence after July 1, 2022 will need to apply, both for Town water service and in-Town water rates.

Backflow Testing Compliance

In order for the Town to comply with the Colorado Department of Health and Environment’s requirements for backflow prevention, Council approved amendments to the Town Code that will implement deadlines for property owners to test their backflow devices and submit the results to the Town, and fines for those who fail to do so. Properly working backflow prevention devices keep outgoing water from contaminating source water.These requirements pertain to multi-family and commercial properties rather than individual homes.

The code amendments establish the following:

Report submission deadlines:

• Backflow device testing reports for domestic and fire suppression devices must be submitted to the Town no later than September 1 of each year.
• Backflow device testing reports for irrigation devices must be submitted to the Town no later than July 31 of each year.

Penalty for violation of the testing report deadlines:

• The penalty for the first offense will be a mandatory fine of $250.
• Any subsequent violation will carry a mandatory fine of $500.
• These fines can be assessed each day the property is out of compliance within a twelve-month period.