Owners propose rebuilding Shallow Shaft as small hotel and café; planning commissioners press drainage, kitchen and avalanche issues

Owners of the Shallow Shaft property returned to the Alta Planning Commission on March 26 to present a revised redevelopment concept and a proposed text amendment that would change how properties in Zone C are treated under the town land-use code.

The applicants, Michelle Schaff and Walter Krausebach, presented plans to replace the existing structure with a three-level building containing a ground-level covered garage with five parking stalls, a coffee shop at street level, three to five transient lodging units, and a small employee housing unit. "We want to develop something that the town feels really good about, feels proud of," Michelle Schaff said during the presentation.

The applicants asked the commission to consider a targeted code change limited to Zone C that would reduce the minimum lot-size/width barrier that currently leaves the Shallow Shaft and the nearby Photo House as nonconforming lots. Their stated goal is to allow redevelopment beyond what the current nonconforming-rebuild rules permit.

Why it matters: Commissioners said the proposed change would clear a regulatory hurdle that now limits what can be built on two small lots in downtown Alta, but several technical and legal issues remain unresolved. Those include whether units with kitchens can be treated as transient lodging under the town definition of "hotel," the presence of a culvert that triggers a 50-foot waterway setback, and avalanche-safety design requirements for above-grade construction on the site.

Stormwater and culvert setback: Applicants told the commission the property contains a…