Eagle Town Council on May 12 unanimously approved an 89-unit residential development at Haymeadow that includes 40 affordable homes — 24 of them built and administered by Habitat for Humanity — and a $516,000 supplemental budget to address years of deferred staff needs. Both actions came as Public Works Director Tom Gosiorowski told the council the 2026 drought has no comparable year in his 25 years in the valley and that staff has begun planning for the possibility that Brush Creek runs dry at the town’s water treatment plant intakes.
Haymeadow: 89 Units, 40 Affordable
Haymeadow Homes LLC will re-subdivide two tracts — roughly 10.79 acres on the south side of town near the Haymaker Trailhead — into five cottage courtyard lots and 10 single-family and duplex lots. The five cottage courtyards produce 72 units; the standard lots produce 17, for a total of 89 residences. All 89 units will be all-electric, and each will have a dedicated EV-ready parking stall.
Forty units must meet the town’s Local Employee Residency Program requirements. Twenty-four will be conveyed to Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley under an alternative compliance arrangement; the remaining 16 will be resident-occupied units. The applicant must complete all 30 resident-occupied units in Neighborhood A1 before the 150th building permit is issued.
The Habitat partnership was a focus of council questions. The town’s standard LERP program caps affordable units at 80% of Area Median Income and requires local employment. Habitat caps its units at 100% AMI and offers zero-percent-interest financing, making monthly payments lower than the town’s program for many buyers, but does not require local employment — only a primary residence in Eagle County. Representatives said in practice nearly all of the organization’s nearly 200 valley families are locally employed.
John Welaj, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley, said the organization has built 24 homes in Eagle and the Haymeadow partnership would allow 24 more. Two current Habitat homeowners testified in support. Tim Moffitt, a special education job coach for Eagle County School District who lives at Adams Way, said he would have left the valley without his Habitat home. Michael Agostino, a teacher at Eagle Valley High School and Moffitt’s neighbor, said he was spending more than 60% of his monthly income on rent and considering a move to Montana before being selected for a Habitat home. He noted that a consultant recently told a stakeholder group that no one under 45 and single can afford a home in Eagle County — and pointed out that at 43, he owns one.
Phase one construction is planned to begin spring 2026 with 24 units, including 12 LERP units. Phase two is planned for summer-fall 2027, covering the remaining 65 units and 12 additional Habitat units. The density averages 8.25 units per acre, well under the PUD maximum of 16. Parking exceeds code requirements by 28 spaces. Affordable units will be distributed throughout the development rather than concentrated in one area. No public comment was received. The council voted unanimously to approve.
Budget: $516,000 to Address Years of Deferred Needs
The supplemental appropriation draws entirely from a 2025 budget surplus and adds $516,000 to the general fund, leaving approximately $1.4 million in available fund balance for 2027 planning. Staff operated under a 5% budget reduction in 2025 and a flat budget in 2026 — effectively two consecutive years of cuts — leaving a backlog of deferred equipment, supplies, training, and staffing needs.
The public safety requests generated the most council questions. Police officials said patrol rifles are well past their service life and running on replacement parts. Radios are in worse shape — no longer manufactured or supported — and an officer told the council the department counts itself lucky the equipment still functions. The appropriation also covers AEDs for every patrol vehicle, ballistic shields for each patrol car, and gun lockers.
The appropriation also funds a pay equity adjustment. Town Manager Melissa Daruna, Finance Director Rachel Tand, and human resources staff reviewed every town position beginning in February and brought any employee with five or more years of relevant experience to the midpoint of their pay plan. Three reclassification requests — some pending for several years — were also approved, producing three promotional opportunities accepted by staff. The salary savings from not backfilling a departed senior accountant funded the majority of the increases without a net bottom-line impact.
The town projects ending 2026 with just under $2 million in its general capital improvement fund and approximately $477,000 in its sales tax capital improvement fund — before any river park, pickleball, or other pending projects. The conservation trust fund is projected at $223,000 and the open space fund at just over $1 million. Wildlife mitigation funds tied to the Haymeadow developer agreement must be spent on approved wildlife purposes this year or roll over as restricted balance.
A council member proposed exploring a tap fee rebate program to attract small business startups — a 25% rebate at certificate of occupancy and an additional 10% after one year in business, limited to locally owned businesses under 5,000 square feet. Town Manager Daruna and Interim Town Attorney Richard J. Peterson-Cremer said legal and financial analysis would be required before any such program could be structured, and asked that the idea be placed on a future agenda. No public comment was received on the budget measure. The council approved Resolution 30 unanimously.
Drought: Staff Plans for Creek Going Dry at Water Plant Intakes
Gosiorowski told the council that snowpack in the Eagle River basin peaked at 21% below the worst year in the past 30 years — 48% below the 30-year median — and that runoff peaked on March 27, nearly 10 weeks earlier than normal. He said he has spoken with longtime valley residents who cannot offer a comparable experience from memory.
Stage 2 water restrictions have been in effect since April 1. Gosiorowski expects Stage 3 to begin by early June. Because the town has no reservoir — relying entirely on snowpack and recharged groundwater — restrictions do not bank water for later use; they protect stream health and build conservation habits. Daily production at the water treatment plants is currently about 1.1 million gallons; it typically peaks near 3.5 million gallons per day in June and July.
Gosiorowski said the risk of Brush Creek going dry at the town’s water plant intakes is low but cannot be excluded in a year this extreme, and that his team has begun scenario planning for that outcome. If the creek goes dry at either intake, the town would face a large-scale public safety crisis. He said prudent planning now avoids panic if conditions worsen.
Water restriction enforcement is being built from scratch. The town has never enforced restrictions at scale and is developing workflows across public works, finance, and the police department to use meter data to identify violators rather than active patrols. Potential violations could reach hundreds per week. Gosiorowski said code and resolution changes are likely needed and he expects to bring proposals to council within two weeks.
Gosiorowski is also enforcing the Brush Creek Watershed Management Plan, which governs agricultural and other diversions. On May 6 he notified parties to the plan that Dry Year conditions had triggered required diversion reductions. By the day of the meeting, flows at Ouzel Lane had increased by nearly 100% — still below the 12 cubic-feet-per-second target. He noted that a single agricultural ditch can divert five to ten cfs, and that full compliance with the watershed plan produces far more benefit to the creek than eliminating all treated water consumption entirely.
Eagle Ranch Golf Course, owned by the Eagle Ranch Metropolitan District, uses raw water under a lease that gives the town authority to mandate reduced irrigation. The course uses a pump station near Orange Medical Center when upper-basin flows drop to critical levels and has already tested and prepared that system, replacing needed components. Under further drought conditions, the course must reduce irrigation to the rough and ultimately to tee boxes and greens only. Frost Creek Golf Course faces similar requirements under the watershed plan.
Gosiorowski said he is also discussing code changes with Daruna that would allow developers to delay landscape installation on new construction and still receive certificates of occupancy — noting it would be inequitable to restrict existing customers while new construction uses large volumes for landscape establishment.
Daruna said some public green spaces will go dormant this summer intentionally. The town will follow the same restrictions it asks of residents and cut further in low-use areas, while maintaining high-use spaces such as the town park. She asked for community patience.
Sports Tourism Proposal Calls for Valley-Wide Coordination
Eagle resident and event producer Mike McCormack presented a proposal for a coordinated, valley-wide youth sports tourism effort. He told the council the valley already has the facilities, destination appeal, and sports operators most communities spend decades building — and that the missing ingredient is coordination.
His materials documented that just four youth sports organizations — the Vail Valley Soccer Club, Vail Lacrosse Club, Vail Mountaineers Hockey Club, and Colorado High School MTB — generated an estimated 156,061 visitor days, $18.9 million in local spending, and approximately $1.5 million in tax revenue in 2025. Between 76% and 98% of participants came from outside the valley.
McCormack said he was not requesting money, but asked for support of a valley-wide stakeholder effort — from Gypsum to Vail — built around a shared calendar, common economic metrics for public recreation assets, and, eventually, a modest county-wide vitality fund drawn from visitor spending. He plans to present the proposal to each elected body in the corridor before returning to Eagle with findings. A community member who addressed the council urged that any planning process include residents who live with the impacts of tourism year-round. Mayor Bryan K. Woods asked McCormack to report back after completing his valley tour.
Other Business
The council approved the consent agenda unanimously, including meeting minutes, the April bill schedule, and Resolution 31, Series 2026, approving the town’s membership in Colorado Communities for Climate Action. Town Manager Daruna introduced two new hires: Community Development Director Jessica Johnson, on day two of her tenure with 20 years of municipal experience across three states, and Chief Building Official Dan Brown, a 15-year building and inspection professional who most recently served as Building Official for Macon, Georgia.
In council discussion, a member reported on the Northwest Council of Governments Economic Summit, where state demographer data showed Eagle County experiences net out-migration of residents beginning at age 35 — the second-highest household spending demographic — with housing affordability identified as the top statewide driver. A council member proposed exploring a pilot program allowing workers who live in vans to access regulated spots with water, internet, and sanitation as a non-traditional affordable housing option; staff noted existing land use code language on the use and suggested the July 7 affordable housing discussion as the appropriate venue.
The town manager is coordinating with the Eagle River Park Coalition on a potential GOCO grant application due in July; a formal request for matching funds will come before council. The draft strategic plan arrived from the town’s consultant the day of the meeting. The council discussed fire restriction coordination for the coming season, with the mayor emphasizing clearer, more consistent public communication than the prior year — particularly around propane use. The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:04 p.m.
Support Independent Local Journalism — High Country Advocate was created as a real alternative to regional media that too often silences dissenting voices while taking sides in the political struggle. Producing in-depth, unflinching reporting like this series and others is expensive: servers, editing, research time, and legal review all add up quickly. If these articles have informed you or given you new perspective, please consider supporting HCA with a paid subscription — every subscriber helps keep this reporting strong and independent. 