After 17 months without on-site parking, the homeowners association for Ski Time Square Condominiums has reached an agreement with the DBT Development Group that will provide both a short-term and long-term resolution.

“As the board president, I was fully aware that with Ski Time Square, the city wants to see it redeveloped, and DBT, which owns the land where our parking garage is located, wants to sell the property so it can be redeveloped,” said Marcus Fresques, president of the Ski Time Square Condominiums Homeowners Association. “My goal was to find a solution that protects the HOA, at least in the short term, mid term and long term, and then also provides an avenue, so to speak, to future development of Ski Time Square.”

Residents of the Ski Time Square Condominiums have been without parking since their parking lot was closed in October 2022 due to safety concerns. Since then, the residents have been forced to find off-site parking, and many have been using the lot at Emerald Park during the ski season.

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For more than a year, Fresques has been trying to resolve the parking issues that arose when the parking garage the homeowners used was closed. The homeowners, who hold a long-term lease to use the parking garage, wanted DBT to work with them to repair the structure. However, DBT felt the garage had outlived its life expectancy and should be torn down, which would result in the termination of the 98-year lease that was signed in 1974.

Last fall, the dispute found its way to a courtroom where Routt County Chief Judge Michael O’Hara ruled in favor of the homeowners association.

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“The impetus that got us to this position of settling was definitely the favorable ruling of the judge for that motion for summary judgment,” Fresques said. “I think we found a solution that kind of works for everyone.”

Attempts to reach DBT Development Group on Wednesday afternoon were unsuccessful.

According to the homeowners association, the settlement provides a framework to ensure the restoration of on-site parking by next winter, while also providing compensation to the homeowners association during the eventual redevelopment of the site, and providing 60 spaces when the property is redeveloped.

The agreement also addresses easements that will allow access to Ski Time Drive and vehicular access to the parking. The green space will remain as originally covenanted, and access easements will be redefined to account for new improvements once the project is complete.

Fresques said he is relieved the homeowners association and DBT could reach a settlement that he believes will meet the needs of residents living in the Ski Time Square Condominiums, and also allow for the development of Ski Time Square. His hope is that the city will help expedite the necessary approvals.

In the short term, DBT will demolish the existing garage and replace it with a surface parking lot for residents in that location. The agreement stipulates that DBT will use reasonable efforts to complete the new surface parking lot by the beginning of the 2024-25 ski season and deliver it on or before Dec. 15, or pay $50,000 per month to the association until it is complete.

“If we are trying to convey any message, it’s that a big part of this was the short-term parking,” Fresques said. “If there is any way that the city Planning Department can expedite any type of approval for that surface lot, so (DBT) can actually deliver that by December, it would be a huge plus to us as an HOA.”

The association would have use of the surface parking lot under the terms of a new parking lease until construction starts in connection with the redevelopment of the site.

Fresques said that if redevelopment occurs, the agreement offers added security for homeowners with DBT, or a successor, being required to pay the association $250,000 a year to cover off-site parking and shuttle expenses during the redevelopment period. Or if not that, DBT, or a successor, could provide 60 spots of on-site parking within 200-300 yards of the condominium complex during the redevelopment period.

The new lease also includes a provision that will require the association to pay DBT $800,000 once the new parking spaces are complete. That lease is set to remain in effect until 2072.

“This gives us parking on-site during that initial period, and then, when they do decide to break ground, we’re getting compensated during the period of redevelopment so we can pay to park off-site, and then create a long-term solution and lease so whoever does redevelop, they need to accommodate us for 60 spots, so it kind of hits all the points,” Fresques said. “I think that was the key for us. We needed to have certainty and optionality, and I think this is exactly what that does.”