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Mountain News: Converted continue to preach wisdom of infill

Compiled by Allen Best JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — In Jackson the converted continue to preach the virtues of infill development, otherwise known as density in lieu of sprawl.

Compiled by Allen Best

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — In Jackson the converted continue to preach the virtues of infill development, otherwise known as density in lieu of sprawl.

A town planning commissioner, Greg Miles, recently attended a conference in Portland to study that city’s infill development. "What a cool town," he reported upon returning. "Portland has fully embraced smart growth and green building techniques."

All development, he explained, must go within a pre-determined boundary. The result: "The city ends, bingo. There’s a clear definite boundary."

In November 62 per cent of Jackson voters killed a higher density development for the town core, in part out of fears it would foster a more city-like atmosphere. However, opponents also noted that the increased density within the city was not coupled with a commitment from the county commissioners to put more of a lid on development beyond city limits.

Rebuffed by voters, Jackson town officials continue to attack the density issue from another perspective. They are now creating a rezoning that would allow smaller lot sizes. With smaller lot sizes, they argue, the city’s less wealthy can afford to have single-family homes as an alternative to condos. As is, the existing lots in the auto-urban residential zone are large enough, 7,500 square feet, to accommodate one primary and two accessory homes.

Aspen raises ‘green’ bar on affordable housing

ASPEN, Colo. — Aspen’s next chunk of affordable housing, called Burlingame Ranch, may be much more environmentally benign, even if that pushes up the cost $1 million for 225 to 330 homes.

Aspen has an elaborate point system in its building code that is designed to push environmentally friendly construction practices, as well as measures aimed at energy efficiency in the completed buildings. All affordable housing projects must get 70 such points or more, but the last project got 130 points. This time the bar is being set at 145 points. In so doing, homes will be built in such a way that they will use 40 per cent to 70 per cent less energy than conventional homes.

County looks at capping size of houses

KETCHUM, Idaho — County officials in Blaine County, home to Ketchum and Sun Valley, are considering laws that would require affordable housing be part of new subdivisions, a concept called inclusionary zoning.

Also being considered is a cap on home sizes, to reduce the number of service workers necessary to take care of them.

Planning and zoning commission members didn’t agree on all the details, reports the Idaho Mountain Express, but the P&Z members generally said they believe the underlying concept – that large new homes require more support and generate more local jobs that need to be accommodated – was a valid one.

According to a 2002 Blaine County Residential Job Generation Study, larger homes do create more jobs. "Most importantly, (the study) shows an exponential relationship exists between residential size and the number of employees they generate for property maintenance and operation, on average," the study concluded.

Plumbing getting more elaborate

WINTER PARK, Colo. — The ideas for how to divvy up the water in the Winter Park-Granby area gets curiouser and curiouser. Among the latest ideas is to take water from the Colorado River at Granby and pipe it about 20 miles to Winter Park. There, the additional water would be piped through the Front Range of the Rockies to metropolitan Denver. That’s already the unnatural direction for a majority of the valley’s water.

The fundamental story is that the urbanized corridor along that Front Range is growing rapidly, and particularly needs more water during drought years. The alternative is to take some of the water now used for farms, but in Colorado that idea, even if it makes economic sense, is met with stiff resistance.

Releasable bindings for boards?

TELLURIDE, Colo. — In the 1950s Earl Miller Sr. developed one of the first releasable bindings for alpine skis. In the 1960s, he designed a brake for skis. Then, before he died in 2002 at the age of 77, Miller invented a releasable snowboard binding.

Now, his son, Matthew Miller, is trying to get snowboard manufacturers to buy into his father’s technology. The releasable binding, called Miller’s Revolution Z Interface, is manufactured by his Utah-based company, Miller Snowboarding Corp. He claims it will prevent up to 90 per cent of snowboard-related injuries.

Why wouldn’t a snowboard manufacturer want this binding? If the story is really as simple as explained by The Telluride Watch, manufacturers worry that releasable bindings could cause more injuries due to premature ejections. The real story, the newspaper suggests, is that equipment manufacturers are slow to embrace technological change. After all, says the newspaper, manufacturers took 17 years to embrace brakes on alpine skis.

Aspen trying to become ‘hip’

ASPEN, Colo. — Aspen may try to become a "hip" destination resort. It’s not what you think.

In response to a financial crisis, officials at Aspen Valley Hospital are pursuing affiliation with Manhattan’s Hospital for Special Surgery, a "leader in selective joint-replacement surgery, such as knee and hip replacements," reports The Aspen Times. The goal is to get people to fly to Aspen to become disjointed and rejointed. Also part of the strategy is to get Aspenites to stay at home for such procedures.

There’s a precedent for this ski town catering to the rich and sometimes famous. For more than a decade professional football, hockey, and basketball players (including Kobe Bryant) – as well as many others who can afford premium prices – have been going to Vail to get their knees and shoulders fixed at the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic. But Dr. Richard Hawkins has decamped for the East Coast and Dr. Richard Steadman is nearing retirement. In this shift Aspen seems to see opportunities.

Aspen surgeons were reported to be cautiously supportive, but expressed fears that Aspen, with its elevation of nearly 8,000 feet, might not be the best place for generally older people to go for major surgery. The flip side of that, however, is that with improvements in medical technology, it’s not just old people getting hip, so to speak. Increasingly younger people are getting joint replacements.

Jackson Hole getting preppy

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The first private college prep high school in Jackson Hole is expected to open in September. Tuition will be $10,000 per year. During the first several years, enrolment will start at 25 students per grade, growing only to 30 to 35 students per grade, reports the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

Brotherhood stresses social aspects

VAIL, Colo. — The ski industry has had a hard time getting people to come back for seconds and thirds. Overall, the industry’s retention rate is only 15 to 20 per cent.

But the National Brotherhood of Skiers, a group of African-American skiers, says it has a retention rate of 75 to 80 per cent. How does it achieve that? It stresses social activities, says Andrea Yowman, president of the group. "We have a really big social aspect that helps us with the retention rate," she explained to the Vail Daily.

Carbon monoxide alarms installed in lodges

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Another case of carbon monoxide poisoning at a lodge, this time sending 11 people to the hospital, has caused the owner of that and other motels in Jackson Hole to install carbon monoxide alarms. Also fresh in the minds of hoteliers, notes the Jackson Hole News & Guide, is the carbon monoxide-caused death of a doctor at the base of the ski mountain in 2001. That led to a multimillion-dollar judgment against Vail Resorts, parent company of the lodge.

Beetlemania hits Breckenridge

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — Again, the talk is of war. Again, the "enemy" is the beetle. This time the battle line is in Breckenridge, where the mountain pine beetle is moving into epidemic stage, threatening lodgepole pine trees.

The town is looking into a law that would require homeowners to remove infested trees. Cost, however, is a consideration. Furthermore, second-home owners are often oblivious to the insects and how they spread.

The town is looking at working with landowners, foresters, and the ski company to identify "hot spots" and remove infested trees, helping at least slow the spread of the insects, reports the Summit Daily News.

What is the long-term prognosis? In a story in Forest Magazine called "Beetlemania," Forest Service etymologist Frank Cross says that thinning and use of pesticides can minimize damage by beetles in specific areas, such as near towns and ski areas. However, in the long term, beetles have their way with forests. Usually beetles don’t stop munching until their epidemic stage ends, or else it gets colder – minus 40 or less – than what their natural antifreeze will protect them from.

Claims filed for effects from workplace smoke

BANFF, Alberta — There’s a new twist to the anti-smoking movement in Canada. Some workers have filed for workers’ compensation when second-hand smoke from their workplaces has aggravated other conditions, such as asthma or allergies. Also, reports the Banff Crag & Canyon, a woman who has lung cancer after waiting tables 40 years in a smoky restaurant – having never smoked herself – is filing for workers’ compensation.

Banff town leaders are considering banning smoking in public places, but some bar and restaurant owners fear the economic consequences, as the resort draws a large international crowd. A bartender of 19 years, Bunny Julius, says such concerns are misplaced. Many of those owners and managers don’t actually spend seven or eight hours daily in a bar, he said. "It’s almost like society looks at us (service industry workers) as bottom feeders, and it doesn’t really matter what they do to us."

In Colorado’s Summit County, that was the crux of a similar argument. A key opponent of smoking, Gary Lindstrom, argued that the public has a right to legislate restaurants to prevent the spread of diseases. It only makes sense, he said, that the public can also regulate another public health hazard, smoking.

Summit County voters, by a two-to-one-margin, agreed with him. Indoor public smoking, except in select places, becomes verboten in June in unincorporated areas, which includes the ski resorts of Copper Mountain and Keystone. Meanwhile, Frisco, Breckenridge, and other towns within the county are adopting parallel laws.

Less snow but more rain with global warming

ASPEN, Colo. — Less snow but more rain. That seems to be the short-and-not-so-sweet prediction for alpine areas of North America if global warming continues at its current pace.

Some computer models and research indicates snowpack in mountains of the Northern Hemisphere will fall by up to 50 per cent if current conditions persist, said Daniel Lashof, science director of the Natural Resources Defense Council Climate Center.

That isn’t necessarily the case at the higher elevations of the West, though. Lashof told The Aspen Times that Aspen may get as such snowfall, but warmer temperatures through the winter will chew up the snowpack sooner. As well, winter is likely to start later and end sooner. Already peak runoff in major rivers is five to 10 days earlier than a half-century ago. In coming years, the big water may hit 30 to 40 days earlier yet.

In recent years, both Vail and Aspen have experienced January rains, something that may be relatively common in New England but which, in the Colorado Rockies, taxed all available memories. Some of that warming is thought to be natural, but in what now seems to be consensus opinion, scientists say that artificial sources, mostly the burning of fossil fuels, is also heating the planet. Within this century, the annual temperatures will rise between 2.2 and 10 degrees, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

100 years after Aspen, Vail gets taste of opera

VAIL, Colo. — In the mining frontier of the 19 th century, the bigger mining camps all had opera houses. To this day, Aspen, Leadville, and Telluride, to mention three Colorado mining-come-ski towns, have functioning opera houses, even if opera is rarely, if ever, heard there.

On Johnny-come-lately, Beaver Creek has no opera house. But it recently hosted its first opera, a performance of Verdi’s La Traviata as performed by Europe’s largest and most successful opera touring company, Teatro Lirico D’Europa. The show was sold out.

The venue for that show, the Vilar Center, with 530 seats in a horseshoe arrangement, is not all highbrow stuff. Also on the itinerary this winter are Sam Bush, the bluegrass musician, and Derek Trucks, the blues guitarist. Trucks, who last played in Vail at a bar called 8150, named after the town’s elevation, told the Vail Daily that he was trying to get into more art theaters, where people are "more interested in listening than drinking."

Crested Butte throwing party for ski area buyers

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — The ski company and the townspeople are, often enough, like oil and water. But after a series of hard-luck years, the people of Crested Butte are almost giddy about getting new owners, Tim and Diane Mueller, of the Vermont-based Triple Peaks LLC.

Fully expecting the deal to be consummated, the Crested Butte Town Council allocated $4,000 for a giant community party. Speeches are planned, reports the Crested Butte News, as well as ski movies, a band, and fireworks. "We only get a new ski area owner once every 33 years," quipped Mayor Jim Schmidt.

Ugly lights blot out night sky even at two miles high

LEADVILLE, Colo. — Even at nearly two miles high in the Rockies, the Milky Way is getting blotted out by warehouse-type so-called "security" lights. That’s the report from one man in Leadville, elevation 10,182 feet, who is calling for a law mandating "smart illumination" to preserve the night sky.

"I feel we need an ordinance that has teeth," said Brad Littlepage. "This is one fix we can make cheaply, and it will give us long-term gratification so we can go outside, look up, and see what this universe is all about."

Although security is the intention of much of the lighting, often it is ineffective or actually makes a building less secure, because it blinds anybody looking at a building, notes the Leadville Chronicle.

"Many of us have moved to mountain areas for the aesthetics of the starry sky, and we’re not ready to surrender that by allowing less-than-smart lighting to proliferate," said Robert Stencel, an astronomy professor at the University of Denver. "We refer to bad lighting as litter."

Off-road bikers accused of imperiling artifacts

CORTEZ, Colo. — A national organization is accusing mountain bikers with degrading the quality of a new national monument in southwestern Colorado, called the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. The group, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, says bicycles should be required to remain on roads in the area, which has the highest density of Puebloan artifacts in the world.

But Bill Manning, executive director of Trails 2000, calls the charges misdirected. "We expressed our doubts that the average trail user is of big concern, regardless of his or her mode of travel," he told the Durango Telegraph. Pot hunters and vandals are the most worrisome threat to archaeological resources, he said.

County trims this idea of renaming Sheep Mountain

TELLURIDE, Colo. — The proposal by a retired military officer to rename Sheep Mountain between Telluride and Rico appears headed for defeat. It is one of 38 summits in Colorado named Sheep, and Bruce Salisbury wanted it renamed Kiamia, an acronym for Killed in Action and Missing In Action.

But Colorado, in addition to a flock of Sheep Mountains, also has hundreds of unnamed mountains, said the San Miguel County commissioners. They suggested that Salisbury draft one of those unnamed peaks to honour military combatants, leaving alone the 13,188-foot Sheep Mountain near Telluride that is the namesake for a local environmental group.

With that response, this proposal is all but dead. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names, which has authority over names on public lands, almost always defers to local governments.

New Aspen lifestyle magazine

ASPEN, Colo. — Aspen is to get a new magazine, called Aspen Peak, with 40,000 copies to be delivered this spring. The city already has two magazines, but the editor of this new magazine says Aspen Peak will be somewhat different.

What those differences will be wasn’t clear in a story reported The Aspen Times, except perhaps a somewhat more direct focus on second-home owners in the cities where they maintain primary residences. "It’s going to be a lifestyle publication as a whole, with culture, fashion, art, entertainment and business," explained Jason Binn, the publisher.

Binn’s company, Niche Media, also publishes magazines in New York City, Los Angeles, the Hamptons and Miami.

Get ’em hooked while young

PARK CITY, Utah — Ease them in, get ’em hooked young, and emphasize the social aspects. That sounds like a marketing campaign for a tobacco company, says The Park Record, but it’s actually the conclusion of a study about how to sell goods for human-powered recreation.

Hiking, bicycling on paved roads, and camping are the key activities to ease them into human-powered recreation. The ideal ages are 16 to 24. The study also found that consumers perceive discount stores as more convenient and lower priced, but specialty retailers have better advice and quality – and because of those attributes consumers will spend more money with specialists.