By Allen Best
VAIL, Colo. – Vail town officials are now requiring affordable housing of all projects. In new building projects in the town’s more dense and commercial areas, particularly at the base of the ski slopes, 10 per cent must be affordable. Developers of commercial space must provide housing for 20 per cent of the new jobs they create.
These proportions are a compromise. Town officials had first proposed 30 per cent, but met strong opposition from builders and portions of the real-estate sector. But town officials are adamant that the regulations are necessary if the town is to meet its goal of having at least 30 per cent of employees live in the town. The town figures that by 2020, almost every worker will live in some type of deed-restricted affordable housing, unable to afford free-market housing prices.
Unaffected by the new law is a surge of redevelopment with a combined value of more than $1 billion. Those projects, which are already underway, are expected to add 1,500 permanent jobs. In addition, new development down-valley in Avon and Edwards is expected to add another 7,370 jobs in the next few years. Vail is also looking at potentially several other major redevelopment projects.
Vail began its affordable housing program 10 years ago, but lags far behind Aspen and Telluride, according to affordable housing experts. “We’re really a leader in the whole resort industry, except when it comes to housing,” said Steve Lindstrom, who owns a chain of movie theaters in the Eagle Valley.
But a representative of the Vail Board of Realtors, Asher Maslan, said the formula used to determine housing requirements is unfair. It says that real estate offices create more jobs than other kinds of businesses. “We view it as very, very unfair,” he said.
An associated ordinance mandates that employee housing must be a minimum of 250 square feet.
The ranch and villaging of the West
HAILEY, Idaho – Having had his fill of the Civil War, Samuel Clemens in 1861 journeyed across the West to Carson City, Nev., to partake of the mining excitement in the Sierra Nevada. There, he noted the broad use of the word “ranch.”
In the first place, there were no farms, only ranches, said Clemens, later writing as Mark Twain in the book “Roughing It.” But even more, the name ranch was sometimes applied to singular buildings.
Something of the same thing is occurring in the West now, but with the use of the word “village.” From the base of a ski slope, it’s hard to throw a rock without hitting a village of some sort.
The Idaho Mountain Express reports the villaging of the West has been taken to a new level in Hailey. There, down-valley from Ketchum and Sun Valley, a developer is proposing a new three-storey building. It is to have commercial, office, and residential uses and is to wear the name Village at Hailey Center.
The Express says the planning commission approved of the developer’s vision, but is unsure if it likes the color scheme for the “village.” If any eyebrows were raised about this new village-within-a-building concept, the newspaper didn’t note it.
Jumbo jurisdiction dispute
INVERMERE, B.C. – Sharp words continue to be uttered in the wake of a move by Liberal Party politicians in the provincial government to fast-track a decision about the Jumbo Glacier ski resort.
The measure being discussed would create a new local government, a resort region, removing the decision from the East Kootenay Regional District, which had been presumed to be the final decision-maker. Directors of the East Kootenay district voted 8 to 7 against protesting the provincial action.
Meanwhile, the Invermere Valley Echo continues to be a steaming bowl of conflicting opinions. Included in the last issue was a letter from MLA Bill Bennett, who represents the area in the provincial legislature. He says the Jumbo Glacier resort has been the “most studied, carefully planned resort project in Canadian history.” He also rejected charges of opponents that the resort would violate a pristine area. It’s near Panorama, a fast-growing resort, and both logging and mining operations have occurred at Jumbo in the past.
“As a politician, it’s easy to avoid controversy by doing nothing and refusing to make hard decisions. I refuse to be that politician,” he wrote. “We’ve dragged our feet on Jumbo for a decade and a half; it’s time we did something.”
Banff tries zero-waste products
BANFF, Alberta – Organizers of a street festival in Banff called Heat up the Rockies were taking aim at plastic plates and utensils and Styrofoam cups. They want to reduce solid waste and petroleum consumption. The offending cups were replaced by cups made from sugar cane and eating utensils and plates were similarly derived from biodegradeable commodities. If successful, reported the Banff Crag & Canyon, zero-waste products may become the template for future events.
New twists on 10 th Mtn. story
VAIL, Colo. – A new documentary film about the storied 10 th Mountain Division has been produced. Called The Last Ridge , it supplements about 15 books and at least one other documentary about the division’s training in the Colorado Rockies during World War II and subsequent combat in Italy.
This new documentary, by filmmaker Abbie Kealy, has some new takes on the familiar story, however. She followed soldiers of the current 10th Mountain Division, now based at Fort Drum, N.Y., to Afghanistan, where they have been engaged in combat. She also had current 10th Mountain Division soldiers participate in re-enactments of battles in Italy during World War II.
The 10th Mountain Division was created to provide the U.S. Army a specialized expertise in snowy and cold conditions and also in rugged topography. After training in Colorado at Camp Hale, between Vail and Leadville, the soldiers pushed the German forces back from Italy’s Apennine Mountains into the foothills of the Alps.
In Italy, the Americans used little of their skiing and climbing expertise, but an exception was at the first and pivotal battle, when 10 th Mountain soldiers scaled a 1,500-foot rock face to launching a surprise attack of German soldiers on Riva Ridge. That nighttime ascent, which included Vail founder Pete Seibert, is recreated in the film.
The Vail Daily reports Kealy had a personal interest in the 10th. An uncle, Stuart Abbott, was a 10th Mountain Division member who was killed in action. “I started this film because I had his letters and diaries and stuff,” she said. “I’ve known the story ever since I could stand up.”
She says she doesn’t believe her uncle was cut out to be a soldier. “He was a nature lover and enjoyed being outdoors, and his diary entries always seem to be about what he saw in the leaves or the dirt.”
Among the surviving veterans she interviewed was Bill “Sarge” Brown, who was a key and always stern figure in operations of Vail Mountain. But during the war, he was sergeant of the platoon in which Kealy’s uncle had served.
“Sarge complained that he was always looking at twigs and berries, and he even called him a ‘tree-hugger.’ I got a laugh out of that,” Kealy said.
Reviewing the training of the men, she says that in many ways the 10th Mountain Division were the original practitioners of “extreme” sports.
Carbon footprint election issue
ASPEN, Colo. – Aspen has a hot town election going this year, with three candidates lined up to take the place of outgoing mayor Helen Klanderud. The most colourful candidate is Mick Ireland, a former journalist who then became a lawyer and then was elected to several terms as a county commissioner. As a commissioner, he survived several recall attempts while frequently challenging big-money interests.
While being against the environment is never an option for a political candidate anywhere, environmental protections are always a high-priority in Aspen. Ireland argues that the city’s mayor must use the “bully pulpit” to help forge a “regional vision” of reducing their carbon footprints.
Among other things, he wants to require other events to follow the high recycling standards set by the Winter X Games, turn off the gas-powered outdoor hearth on the downtown mall, and enforce emissions standards for diesel vehicles.
“Simply put, Aspen should commit to reducing our carbon footprint by 5 million pounds per year,” he said at a press conference.
CB makes case for more
CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – With ski season concluding at Crested Butte, ski company officials are estimating the total skier count at 375,000. But of that figure, about 175,0000 are actually tourists, and the argument made by ski area officials is that’s not enough to sustain a destination ski resort.
The ski area is pushing for an expansion onto Snodgrass Mountain that would provide substantially more intermediate terrain, something in relatively short supply at Crested Butte. The expansion was first proposed in about 1980, and subsequently authorized by the Forest Service in 1982, but the ski area withdrew its plans because of financial difficulty. The ski area revisited the subject in the mid-1990s, but withdrew in the face of community opposition.
Sliding alternatives growing
VAIL, Colo. – Ski-area operators are continuing to expand their non-skiing amusements for the public. Last year Park City Mountain Resort introduced an alpine coaster. This year, Vail Resorts is proposing to erect something similar at Adventure Ridge, its fun centre at the top terminal of the gondola on Vail Mountain.
The gravity-powered coaster would have steel rails that would carry two-person sleds on a 3,000-foot long track down 300 vertical feet, reported the Vail Daily. The elevated coaster would be used in both winter and summer.
Aspen Skiing Co. is also planning to expand its non-skiing amusements with an expanded terrain park for mountain boarding, a cross between mountain biking and snowboarding.
The Denver Post says Colorado’s Monarch Mountain is renegotiating its Forest Service use permit to include mountain biking.
Housing rentals rise 14%
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Home rental costs surged 14 per cent in the last year in Teton County. A state survey found that the average rent for a two- to three-bedroom home jumped from $1,464 in January 2006 to $1,767 this January, reports the Jackson Hole News & Guide.
‘Affordable’ pushing $1 million
ASPEN, Colo. – The price of three-bedroom condominiums in one of Aspen’s more affordable free-market complexes is now pushing past $1 million, reports The Aspen Times. One-bedroom units in Hunter Creek Condominiums have price tags of $575,000 but haven’t moved. However, the two-bedroom, two-bath condos are rapidly rising in price, now getting up to $800,000.
Main Street a concern
BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. – Breckenridge, like almost every other ski and mountain town in the West, has its fair share of real estate offices on Main Street. But an advisory board believes the offices are not a problem, because the limited amount of real-estate inventory in the Breckenridge area works against any “rapid expansion of Realtor offices in the near future.”
But the Summit Daily News says the group believes residential units are another matter. The town council is being advised to adopt “immediate restrictions… that allow no further ground-floor residential development or conversions in the core areas of town.” But the economic development group does like the idea of more second-floor residential units.
Retail sector expands
SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. – Walgreens is moving into Dillon, and Silverthorne has just approved something called the Silverthorne Lifestyle Center, a 100,000-square-foot retail centre consisting of five junior anchor stores.
With these and other business expansions in Summit County, questions continue to percolate about who will be there to work all these new jobs. The Summit Daily News cites a report from the Center for Business and Economic Forecasting that Summit County, which last year had 23,800 jobs, will have 41,600 jobs by the year 2025.
Linda Venturoni, an economic analyst, says these numbers verify that Summit County and other resort valleys are heading into a tighter workforce vice. The proportion of people from 45 to 60 is growing rapidly, owing to an influx of retiring baby boomers. The proportion of people aged 25 to 40 is not declining.
Summit County is looking outside its borders for help, but the situation immediately to the west, in Eagle County, is probably more severe yet.
Arts centre gets efficient
DURANGO, Colo. – An old junior high school in Durango in the late 1990s was converted into a community arts centre. But when the doors were opened, the developers discovered $5,000 in gas and electricity bills.
In response, the developers then set out to “green” the 45,000-square-foot building. The first order of business was to use existing energy more efficiently. To that end, they installed thousands of compact-fluorescent lights bulbs and also on-demand water heaters, and a host of other modifications.
“The first step is always efficiency and conservation,” Tom Bartels, a project consultant, told the Durango Telegraph.
With a lighter footprint, the developers then set out to capture the energy of the sun, installing an array of photo-voltaic solar collectors at a cost of $200,000. Most days, the collectors generate a surplus of electricity that is fed into the region’s electric grid, allowing the building to draw upon the coal-fired electricity provided by the utility at night.
While this seems like a substantial add-on to the cost of the building, development partner Charles Shaw estimates it will be good for 30 years, while insulating the building from increasing costs of electricity. Further, this long-term independence is achieved at the cost of only four SUVs.
A mandate for less
DURANGO, Colo. – The election of three new city council members in Durango is being widely interpreted as a signal for less development and redevelopment.
“It looks like this represents a sea change in Durango,” Leigh Meigs, the top-vote getter, told the Durango Herald. But the affordable housing advocate Connie Imig fears the consequences. “I’m very concerned about affordable housing, because no-growth doesn’t go with affordable housing.”
Durango itself is not growing particularly fast compared to many amenity-laden towns in pretty places of the West, but population growth and development have been lightning-rod issues.
Outside toys targeted
MT. CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – Owners of snowmobiles and dirt bikes are feeling picked on in Mt. Crested Butte, the town at the base of the Crested Butte ski area. A new community plan proposes to require indoor storage of all recreational equipment.
“Tightening up on this restriction seems to be an unnecessary infringement on the lifestyle of those few RV enthusiasts living in the town,” said Don Janney. Mayor Chris Morgan indicated the town has been hearing comments on both sides of the issue for eight years.
Skier sets records
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – By early April, ski instructor Mark Eakin had descended Corbet’s Couloir, the notoriously steep and narrow chute at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, 214 times. Included in that staggering number is a single-day mark of 32 descents.
The Jackson Hole News & Guide describes the couloir as a run so vertical that it requires a controlled leap to enter. The average steepness down the 500 vertical feet is 40 degrees.
Eakin, a native of Virginia, said he was drawn to Jackson Hole by the late Doug Combs, a famed alpinist who died in a fall in France a year ago. “This lady told me it made her sick just to look in there,” he said of the couloir. “It‘s made me feel that way too. I hear some people talk trash, but then they don’t go in it.”
Fire a warning of what may lie ahead
GRANBY, Colo. – April 2 dawned quietly in Granby, but by mid-morning winds were gusting and a fire at a log-processing area near the town was spreading rapidly.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze within 12 hours, but local fire chief Dave Boyes said the story might have been much different had the fire occurred in mid-April, after the snow line had receded.
The Sky-Hi News reports apprehension prevailed in Middle Park, where bark beetles are killing up to 90 per cent of lodgepole pine forests. “Fire is the main fear for locals and second-home owners. A major fire could wreak havoc on our local economy. It could take lives. It would be ruinous,” said the newspaper.
Early rising bears are hungry
CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – Bears were raiding trash cans and Dumpsters in Crested Butte by early March this year, far earlier than usual.
Just what provoked the early appearance of the bruins is not clear, but town officials are now talking about what they can do to make Crested Butte less inviting. They are talking about a rash of measures similar to those previously adopted in the Snowmass-Aspen and Beaver Creek-Vail areas.
Already, the town has ordered 70 bear-resistant trash cans for use in business areas and parks. In addition, the town has ordered bear-resistant steel-reinforced trash containers to be sold to town residents at $200 each.
Still on the table is a law that would mandate wildlife-resistant containers, both for homes and businesses. Bear-resistant Dumpsters can cost over $1,000. One alley behind Elk Lane, the restaurant-lined main street in Crested Butte, is called “fast food lane.”
The Colorado Division of Wildlife urges community-wide measures. In addition, wildlife biologists urge that trash cans and recycling containers be frequently cleaned with ammonia to eliminate strong food odours.
A bear’s nose has almost 100 times the number of scent membranes found in an average human’s nose. If the wind is right, it’s possible for a bear to smell your barbecuing steaks from three to five miles away.
Rancher cleared in wolf shooting
KETCHUM, Idaho – A rancher near Picabo, located in the Ketchum-Sun Valley area, shot and killed one of three wolves seen harassing his cattle in late March. Idaho Department of Fish and game officials cleared the rancher of any wrongdoing, reports the Idaho Mountain Express. The investigators linked a dead calf to the same wolves and are now trying to capture them, to relocate them. Because of the area’s agriculture emphasis, say the state wildlife biologists, it’s unsuitable for wolves.
