We fully support the valley's workforce housing goals, but housing must be placed where infrastructure can support life safety. 

Forcing high-density development into a known bottleneck doesn’t solve a housing crisis—it creates a safety crisis. 

A 100-plus unit project at a failing intersection gridlocks the very working people we are trying to house, while simultaneously trapping the residents of Missouri Heights up above during an emergency.

El Jebel Crossing: Wrong Scale, Wrong Location, and Now 46% Bigger.

We all recognize the urgent need for thoughtful workforce housing solutions in Eagle County. But the proposed El Jebel (EJ) Crossing development is simply the wrong project at the wrong scale.

Thanks to recent Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests, we have obtained internal documents revealing that the developer, Aspen One, has drastically shifted their strategy. They have pull-downed their old application from the public portal and are currently "socializing" a brand-new layout that increases the project from 111 units to a massive 163-unit complex.

This plan would effectively drop an urban-density development right into our established suburban neighborhoods, directly threatening the safety, infrastructure, and daily lives of mid-valley residents.

The Infrastructure is Already at a Breaking Point

This massive 46% increase in density is being forced onto local roads and intersections that are already failing and currently operating at Level of Service (LOS) F.

While the developer’s earlier data for a smaller project suggested 732 new daily vehicle trips, forcing 163 units onto this corridor will, in our opinion, easily push daily traffic past 1,000 additional trips. Instead of scaling the project back to fit the physical limits of our infrastructure, Aspen One is asking the Board of County Commissioners for a "Variance from Improvement Standards" (VIS) to legally bypass critical public safety rules.

Furthermore, recent technical reviews have identified critical environmental gaps in the proposal. The developer is rushing a standalone "Berm FONSI" application to build a massive, 31-foot landscape berm to buffer the Blue Lake neighborhood. However, reviews have exposed unaccounted-for wetlands and a hidden "culverted feature" directly in the footprint of where these millions of pounds of dirt are to be dumped.

The Core Deficiencies: Where the Proposal Fails

• The Wildfire Evacuation Bottleneck: Despite adding 52 more units to the layout, Aspen One is resisting recommendations for a secondary public road connection. They plan to keep access to Gillespie Drive and Jaci Lane locked behind emergency breakaway gates, funneling all 163 units through a single primary exit at JW Drive. In a fast-moving wildfire emergency, this single-access funnel can create a lethal bottleneck.

• The "Workforce Surge" Traffic Reality: The developer's traffic studies appear to rely on standard, generic suburban family models that artificially deflate their trip counts on paper. In reality, high-density workforce rentals generate a synchronized "Workforce Surge"—meaning hundreds of commuters hitting the exact same failing intersections at the exact same up-valley shift windows.

• The Combined-Plan Fast-Track: Following a pre-application meeting on April 30, 2026, the developer is moving toward a combined Sketch and Preliminary Subdivision Plan alongside their 1041 Permit. This is a classic tactical approach that forces a single vote on high-level concepts and granular engineering simultaneously, limiting the public's ability to challenge the overall scale of the project.

Standing Together: Our Demands for Eagle County Accountability

We are standing together with our neighbors to demand that the Eagle County Board of County Commissioners hold Aspen One to the standard rules, not grant them a pass to ignore public safety. We demand that the County:

1. Enforce 1041 Regulations: We strictly oppose the "decoupling" or fast-tracking of the 1041 permit alongside the subdivision application. The County cannot accurately verify if the project meets core legal safety standards without separating these reviews.

2. Deny Unsafe Infrastructure Waivers: A Variance from Improvement Standards cannot legally be granted if it is detrimental to public health. Forcing more traffic into a dead-stop LOS F intersection—delaying fire engines and ambulances—is a direct threat to public safety. The VIS must be denied.

3. Mandate an Independent Traffic Audit: We demand a traffic study that accounts for actual "Workforce Surge" modeling from high-density units, rather than generic family models designed to dodge mandatory CDOT state highway permits.

4. Halt the Berm FONSI: Eagle County must deny a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the landscape berms until an independent hydrological assessment accounts for the undocumented wetlands and culverted drainage features.

If a project cannot afford or fit the infrastructure required to keep a community safe, it is simply too big for the location.

How You Can Help

The community is on high alert. The developer is currently trying to secure quiet support from local stakeholders before formally restarting the public hearing process.

• Visit our Website to receive instant alerts the moment Eagle County schedules the first public hearing for the new 163-unit application.

• Share this informtion with your neighbors. Public safety and wildfire evacuation times affect everyone stuck in traffic on Highway 82.

• Prepare to write the Commissioners. Let them know that we expect them to prioritize the physical limits of our roads and the safety of our lives over this oversized proposal.

Blue Lake looking towards El Jebel at 11pm July 4th 2018.  8 years ago already.