The Accommodations Treatment Area is a developing area in which a design context is being established. Early photographs show little development here; the development that did exist was limited to a few isolated residential structures and some buildings that were associated with the railroad. The area remained mostly vacant land until the advent of the ski resort in the 1970s. The present Accommodations Treatment Area includes both the Accommodations II and Commercial land use zones. These are areas that allow higher densities than the residential districts in town.

The Accommodations Treatment Area includes a wide variety of natural and man-made conditions including the river, low wetlands, steep rocky slopes and stands of aspen, cottonwoods and willows. These contrast with the uniform arrangement of streets and lots in the area. Views into and out of the Accommodations Treatment Area, particularly to the east, north and south, are outstanding and give special identity to this treatment area. These amenities should be protected, especially as the area develops. Projects, including subdivisions, should be planned to reinforce and ­preserve existing public and private view corridors and to establish new view opportunities. In doing so, consideration should be given to how views from existing projects and other future projects may be affected by the proposed construction.

There are four distinct edges to the Accommodations Treatment Area that require different responses; each of these edges will moderate the application of the standards in this area. These edges are listed next.

The Pearl Property and valley floor is the entrance into town. Wetlands in this area will require special technical responses. New projects should not block views into town.

The River Park/hillside, south of the river has steep slopes that require a different technical response. Projects should enhance the river edge as a public amenity.

The historic district edge requires compatibility with the historic building fabric, especially around the Depot and along Davis Street. Projects should establish a gentler transition in character and scale into the historic district.

The Colorado Avenue corridor provides the first up-close impression of Telluride. This area extends along either side of Highway 145, from Davis Street and the edge of the historic district on the east to the town limits on the west. Substantial landscaping should evolve in order to extend a green corridor from the town boundary to the historic district. This will help to achieve an urban design objective for the town to frame views along the highway as one enters town, which will allow views to open dramatically at the entry into the historic district.

Careful development along each of these edges is initially important in order to strengthen visual continuity throughout the treatment area and to help achieve basic urban design objectives of the town. New projects should be distinct and identifiable from the historic core; the westernmost edge of development may be blended into a natural, woods image, especially as seen from the highway. The easternmost edge should accomplish a gentle transition to the historic district.

Many parcels in the Accommodations Treatment Area have developed as individual projects, with separate identities. These have not established an overall sense of visual continuity. A mix of uses is allowed, and projects may include both residential and commercial uses in the same buildings. The trends indicate that such large, mixed use projects will continue to be built. Even though a general visual continuity with the older parts of town is desired, this may be balanced with natural constraints and some variety in building character. Whenever feasible, established characteristics of site orientation and street layout found elsewhere in the historic residential areas of Telluride should also be expressed in the Accommodations Treatment Area.

This is particularly important for projects on large parcels that may have a substantial impact on the area, and therefore, special care should be taken when designing a project to ensure that it is visually integrated in mass, scale and character with the neighborhood and the town. Much of the area has developed without the traditional town grid in terms of street and lot layouts. An objective is to more clearly re-establish this grid image, even as a ghost image of other less structured design elements. Buildings and trees, for example, may be aligned to reflect this old street grid while actual paved roadways may follow other alignments.

Substantial amounts of the Accommodations Treatment Area are presently undeveloped and as this area builds out, the town wishes to insure that the neighborhood appears to be visually and functionally related to the older core. As seen from a distance, the Accommodations Treatment Area should appear to be a part of the community, with essentially the same perceived street and alley arrangements, building forms and development scale. This is particularly important for projects on large parcels or that span several parcels. Since the neighborhood is a new developing area, however, more variety in architectural design is ­appropriate, when viewed up close, than in other areas.