Steamboat Springs — The owners of Windemere Landscaping and Garden Center have plans to expand their business on the near west side of Steamboat Springs.

Mark and Talina Tarzian were scheduled to go before city Planning Commission this week seeking approval for their plans to install two temporary greenhouse structures totaling 5,100 square feet on their property. The 2.7-acre site is immediately west of the Routt 66 gas station on U.S. 40.

The Tarzians want to replace the greenhouse that was on the site last summer with a new 30-by-80-foot greenhouse placed on a concrete slab to the south of the office building. A second new greenhouse measuring 30 feet by 90 feet is proposed to be situated parallel to the first one. It would have pea gravel surfacing and concrete walkways.

Last summer’s retail tent would be moved to the southwest corner of the building.

City planner Tracey Hughes is recommending approval of a permit for the project.

The Tarzians have begun preparing their site for the new greenhouses in advance of city approval for the overall project. Mark Tarzian explained the reason for the early work in a letter to the Planning Commission:

“As you may be aware, our business is extremely seasonal in nature, and even in a normal year, without the improvements that we have proposed, the condensed time frame that we work under is difficult in nature.”

Tarzian said 50 percent of his retail sales are generated between Memorial Day weekend and the Fourth of July. In order to be prepared for that critical time frame, he wrote, some of the site preparation work has been completed.

“We needed to do all of this work in order to erect the greenhouses and finish the proposed work once we had obtained your approval,” Tarzian wrote.

As a condition of city approval, Hughes is recommending that the Planning Commission require a sidewalk easement along the front 20 feet of the property. If the commission and City Council agree, the owners would be required to build the sidewalk at their expense, but not until either adjacent property constructs a sidewalk connection. The property immediately to the west has been approved as a hotel/motel site.

The steel frames of the greenhouses will remain in place year-round, and the vinyl membrane covers will be removed in the winter. Retail activity isn’t expected to occur at the greenhouses during the winter.

The Windemere property was annexed to the city in October 1989, when it was still Routt County Landscaping. The Terzians acquired the business and the real estate in November 1998.

— To reach Tom Ross call 871-4210, or e-mail: tomross@amigo.net