Late last week, District Judge Shelley Hill issued a ruling reversing the Steamboat Springs City Council’s mid-2016 approval of three variances that would have allowed a proposed 60-unit apartment to be built at 1125 Lincoln Ave.

Hill’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Steamboat resident Ken Manley soon after City Council’s approval of the variances, which would have allowed the five-story building to be 13 feet higher and support greater density than allowed by code in the commercial Old Town district. A third variance approved by council members – and overturned by Hill – would have exempt the developer from setting back the upper portion of the building that rises above 28 feet.

In his complaint, Manley argued the proposed building “violates everything stated in our code for the commercial Old Town District.”

“We have hundreds of thousands of people who come to our unique and eclectic western town, and we cannot allow ourselves to forget how appealing and exciting it is for our visitors to walk our streets and look at our buildings,” Manley continued. “They don’t come here to view a contemporary, five-story oversize building that I would call a college dorm that is in violation of our city codes.”

Read more at Steamboat Today.