Buena Vista public comments split over City Market’s sales-tax sharing request; trustees enter executive session on Kroger negotiation

Public comment at the Town of Buena Vista Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 14 was dominated by a proposed new City Market (Kroger) store and a company request for a sales-tax sharing agreement to help offset public improvements.

Residents and business leaders presented sharply different views. Supporters urged trustees to negotiate a narrowly tailored tax-sharing agreement to fund required public improvements — traffic signals, turn lanes and right-of-way access — and to recognize the new store as a major private investment in town. Opponents and some small-business advocates said a multibillion-dollar corporation should not receive public subsidies that local independent businesses do not receive and warned of negative local economic impacts.

Key public-comments themes: several speakers framed a sales-tax split as a standard tool to offset upfront public infrastructure costs tied to major commercial development; others argued Kroger should “live within their means” and remove project elements (several speakers specifically mentioned a proposed gas station) that make the development more expensive. The Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce said its members worry about the effect of a large chain on the town’s small businesses and small-town character. Multiple speakers noted the proposed store’s estimated $30+ million construction budget and cited the potential long-term increase in sales-tax revenue that a larger store would produce.

Trustees took the matter into executive session. Near the end of the public meeting agenda, the board voted to move into a closed executive session “to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, develop a strategy for negotiations, and/or instruct negotiators pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes section 24-6-402(4)(e) concerning the request by Kroger for the sharing of sales tax revenues for a potential new grocery store.” Recorder notes show one trustee recused himself from that portion of the meeting because he works for a direct competitor.

What the record shows: The meeting contained extensive public comment but no formal public-action vote on any sales-tax sharing agreement; trustees instructed staff to pursue negotiated options and held the substantive negotiation discussion in executive session. The transcript records that the board planned follow-up negotiations with Kroger; no final terms were presented or approved in the public portion of the meeting.

Ending: Town staff and trustees indicated negotiations would continue; residents and business leaders who spoke during public comment said they would follow the process and, if needed, return to speak at public hearings once proposals are formalized.