In contrast to the rest of the I-70 corridor through the Vail Valley, ranching heritage has been preserved in Wolcott with a wide open valley floor, natural sloping hillsides and perfectly unimproved banks of the Eagle River. This will change in the near future as the Jouflas family wants to sell the land, hopefully to a good developer who will take advantage of the opportunity to build a community from scratch. Whoever develops it, the county is working on guidelines for the community’s future master plan. With the valley continuing to grow we’ve got to make a proactive step towards a balanced community and guess what – we have the space to do it. No more arguing over what is meant to be done with Edwards. No more disputes over builders’ obligation to build affordable housing. Let’s do this right and put an end to our seemingly endless housing issues. Instead of building another pieced together community like Edwards, why not build connecting neighborhoods with sidewalks, parks and bike paths? There’s enough space in Wolcott to preserve some of the area’s rural character and to support several neighborhoods, a pedestrian focused downtown area with a grocery, movie theater, shops, restaurants and services. It sounds obvious, especially with the success of a similar concept in Eagle Ranch; we can only hope the county will plan it accordingly and agree to allow the right developer to complete the project.
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