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Mountain News: Revelstoke urged to stand its ground

REVELSTOKE, B.C. – The dialogue continues to sharpen in Revelstoke as housing prices rapidly increase.

REVELSTOKE, B.C. – The dialogue continues to sharpen in Revelstoke as housing prices rapidly increase. The problem of rapid change is such that one letter-writer, Cornelius Suchy, proposes a go-slow approach to authorizing new development, such as at the new Revelstoke Mountain Resort, until existing problems have been addressed.

The community is not getting what it needs from the developer of the new ski resort, he says. “The simple formula is: no affordable housing, no development permit — a practice common in most resort communities,” he contends. He says that the affordable housing requirement for the new resort was scrapped, “letting the developers off the hook.”

He also takes issue with the conversion of existing house stock into vacation homes for “Albertans, New York millionaires, and European wannabe eco-tourists.” He argues for confining recreational housing to specifically zoned resort areas, plus heavier taxes on non-resident property ownership.

In scouting out its future, he says, the Revelstoke municipal council studied other resort communities, who warned that affordable housing would be the city’s single-greatest challenge. “Why Council decided to disregard these and other warnings and push ahead with the maximum size resort development remains a mystery.”

 

Personal concierges at Arabelle

VAIL, Colo. – The Vail Resorts got a free advertisement on the front page of the Denver Post business section on Monday. The story was about Arabelle, the new boutique hotel in Vail that is being completed. It has 36 hotel rooms and 67 condominiums.

Arabelle oozes with the ornate architecture described as Old World, the theme currently sweeping the resorts. Some $250 million of real estate altogether, it’s modeled upon buildings in Prague, Innsbruck, and Munich.

Vail is thick with five-star lodging properties, but Vail Resorts claims a distinction at Arabelle. Rooms during mid-winter will cost $1,300 to $1,400 per night, and in summer $450 to $500. And for this, guests will get butlers or, to be more precise, personal concierges.

But where will these butlers come from? As required by Vail town authorities, the company is responsible for providing 144 beds of employee housing, notes the Vail Daily. The company has offered to buy one existing employee housing complex or, if that fails, to pay an in-lieu fee of $17 million.

 

Affordable housing not for rent

ASPEN, Colo. – Christmas is just around the corner, at least for those in ski towns hoping to rent their homes during the lucrative holiday week.

In Aspen, that included a resident of one deed-restricted affordable housing condominium, who was discovered offering the unit for $5,000 per week in a website posting. Such short-term rentals are prohibited.

Officials were chagrined by the news in Aspen and Pitkin County, where building more affordable housing remains a top priority. That effort is damaged by the perception that existing affordable housing is being abused, notes the Aspen Daily News. The Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority manages 2,700 units of both rental and for-sale housing.

The rules are that the occupant cannot own other property in the Roaring Fork Valley, must live in the unit usually nine months or more per year minimum, and work in Pitkin County.

The agency is doubling its budget for enforcement, to $450,000 per year, but operates only on complaints. “We don’t do bedroom checks,” said Cindy Christensen, manager of housing office operations.

 

Green by law or market?

TRUCKEE, Calif. – The conversation is underway in Truckee about whether more energy efficient buildings should be mandated or voluntary. Among those arguing for a mandate is Bob Johnston, a retired professor of environmental science and chairman of the town’s planning commission. He cites the impacts of global warming on Truckee in arguing for more efficient use of energy, but says better buildings will reap energy savings that will in turn benefit developers, builders, and then tenants. Taking the opposite viewpoint is the Nevada County building inspector, Ted Owens, who is himself a contractor. He argues that market forces are encouraging green-building, and that’s how it should stay.

 

Real estate soars ever higher

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Again, it’s the same old story. Sales have slowed, but total dollar volume of real estate during the first nine months of the year puts Jackson Hole on track to establish a new record. So far, sales volume is up 30 per cent, despite 2 per cent fewer sales.

David Viehman, owner and associate broker with Jackson Hole Real Estate and Appraisal, noted the prices for commercial properties, mostly within Jackson, the valley’s only town. “The sales, he said, indicate that Jackson still has its commercial appeal, and businesses are not migrating to Teton Village, at the base of the ski area.”

Those sales also show that buyers put more value in the land than in the structures on it, and that most commercial structures will likely be razed for “bigger, newer facilities.”

Among single-family homes, the median sales price increased 20 per cent from a year ago. Of the 153 homes currently for sale, only nine are available for less than $1 million.

Something similar occurred among condos and townhomes, where there have been 19 per cent fewer sales, but median sales prices have increased 32 per cent.

 

Everest skier heeds Buddhist monk

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Last year Kit DesLauriers skied from the summit of Mt. Everest. Others had done so before, but she was the first to ski from the summit of the high mountains on all seven continents.

But while traveling to the mountain, she had talked with a Buddhist monk, who gave her advice that stuck: “You must have the kindness of other beings at the root of your reason, for only then will you find continued success,” said the monk, Lama Gieshe.

She vowed after her success on Everest to help others less fortunate than herself pursue personal balance, worthy projects, and self-fulfillment. Recently, using money from her own benefactor, who remains unnamed, she has awarded $18,000 to eight applicants.

Recipients include an 18-year-old who will get $500 for violin lessons and a Jackson Hole couple who got $4,000 for a Habitat for Humanity mission in El Salvador.

 

Bear death total at 14

ASPEN, Colo. – The number of bears killed by state wildlife biologists in the Aspen area this year is up to 14 after a bear that broke into a woman’s home was finally killed.

The woman had been awakened by a noise in the kitchen of her condominium, located on the outskirts of Aspen near the hospital. When she entered the kitchen, she was struck by the bear, which then fled. It had entered the condo through a closed but unlocked sliding glass door.

The bear had been seen several times since then, but always near homes, and Colorado Division of Wildlife officials said they didn’t want to risk a shot.

 

Kirkwood aims for a city

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Kirkwood Mountain Resort wants to expand and also build more base-area housing. Bud Klein, a founder and principal shareholder in Mountain Springs Holding Co., says he foresees 8,000 to 9,000 people at the mountain’s base. But the Tahoe Daily Tribune says that a protesting environmental group called the Foothill Conservancy thinks that’s way too many people, because of traffic congestion and the resort’s dependency on burning diesel fuel to create electricity.

 

Silverton gets 40-year permit

SILVERTON, Colo. – Silverton Mountain Ski Area now has a 40-year permit to use 1,300 acres of federal lands along with 519 acres of private land. The combined acreage makes Silverton Mountain one of Colorado’s largest ski areas, if ironically one of the least busy.

Because of its steep terrain, it calls itself North America’s lone “all expert” ski area. It has operated since 2002, but only with customers accompanied by guides. Now, customers are allowed to ski without guides during early and late seasons, at a cost of $49 per day. But guided-only season lasts from mid-January through March.

The maximum capacity of the ski area is 476 per day. It’s only the second ski area to open on federal land in Colorado since Beaver Creek opened in 1980.

 

Mountain named after missing soldiers

SALIDA, Colo. – After many years of work, Bruce Salisbury has realized his dream of having a mountain peak named to memorize all U.S. soldiers killed in action (KIA) or missing in action (MIA).

The new Mt. KIA-MIA is located on an 11,293-foot peak along the Continental Divide between Salida and Gunnison, explains Colorado Central Magazine.

Salisbury, a retired military officer now living in Aztec, N.M., first proposed to rename Sheep Mountain near Telluride, one of 29 mountains in Colorado so-named, as Mt. Kiamia. Ute Indians of the region seemed to concur, but commissioners in San Miguel County, where the mountain is partly located, did not.   The idea went no further. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names, which has say-so, normally seeks consensus for new names from local authorities.

Despite being on the Continental Divide, this new nomination is entirely within Saguache County, which agreed. The peak previously bore no name — although nearby is another peak named, you guessed it, Sheep Mountain.

 

Red Lodge ski area sold

RED LODGE, Mont. – The ski area and golf course at Red Lodge have been sold to San Francisco-based JMA Ventures. What this portends for Red Lodge wasn’t immediately clear, although the new owner clearly has the means to effect upgrades to the ski area. Expansion of snowmaking is a top priority.

Rob Ringer, the ski area manager, told the Billings Gazette debt had been reduced to a manageable level, but that the ski area remained undercapitalized “and they have the ability to make the improvements that are really needed. This deal will raise capital and make those things happen. But it won’t happen overnight.”

The ski area opened in 1960 as Grizzly Peak, then became Red Lodge Mountain. It is located at the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park, about an hour’s drive from Billings.

JMA owns San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square, and in the last year purchased two ski areas at Lake Tahoe, Alpine Meadows and Homewood Mountain. The company has plans to upgrade Homewood and also build base-area real estate, including a boutique hotel and 120 multi-family and single-family residences.

The Gazette notes that the company, in a newsletter issued in June, articulates its intentions to “raise the bar for responsible resort development in the Western United States.” There are no plans to develop beyond the existing footprint at Homewood, and plans include use of solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources into resort development.

In Montana, skepticism about the change at Red Lodge was evident among anonymous bloggers on the Gazette’s website. Some contributors saw the new investors as tainted by their California base. “I don’t like Kalifornians moving to our state and/or buying up pieces of our state,” said one. “Kalifornians do not have the same values or attitudes Montanans have.”

Others expressed fear the ski area would be upscaled, and the locals made unwelcome. This is the perceived path of Aspen, Jackson Hole, and Sun Valley, as well as Vail and Park City.

But other bloggers were more accepting. “Ringer is right on when he says the hill has been crippled by debt and undercapitalized,” said one blogger. “So what if the new buyers are a California-based company? Their dollars are green, just like ours.”

 

Speak (well) of the dead

OAK CREEK, Colo. – Mike Yurich grew up in Oak Creek, a coal-mining town about 20 miles from Steamboat springs. Now retired, he spends much of his time devoted to history of the town, which this year celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Among his activities, he leads tours of the cemetery. It perhaps sounds ghoulish, but Yurich has a different take. “In our society, we make cemeteries a spooky place,” he tells The Steamboat Pilot & Today. “We scare people with them and dare them to go in, but everywhere else the dead are celebrated.”

He also likes cemeteries for the stories of those who are buried there. “You exist as long as someone recalls your name. When people cease to say your name, you cease to exist,” he said. “I’ve always felt that talking about these people and remembering them keeps them alive.”

 

Molybdenum mines in news

RICO, Colo. – The possibility that mining might resume near old mining towns is causing continued heartburn in Colorado.

The newest town to get jittery is Rico, located south of Telluride. As in the case of Crested Butte, the mineral wealth this time is molybdenum, which diminishes corrosion and strengthens steel, among other industrial purposes. The price of the mineral has increased from $2 per pound only five years ago to $35 per pound today. Mining executives are thinking the price may well remain that high for some years to come.

In Rico, silver and gold were mined for nearly a century. The last mining ended in 1965, however, and an investment group called Rico Properties, which purchased the property in 1984, indicated a willingness to relinquish mineral exploration and development. The size of the property in question is at least 640 acres.

For whatever reason, that right was never relinquished. Instead, a British Columbia-based company, United Bolero Development Corporation, has paid a non-refundable deposit of $100,000. The total purchase price is believed to be around $10 million, with a closing expected around Nov. 16, reports The Telluride Watch.

One former owner of the land, Anaconda Company, estimated that up to 273 million pounds of molybdenum could be extracted. In contrast, the Henderson Mine, located just north of I-70 in the Georgetown area, has produced 770 million pounds of molybdenum in the last 31 years.

The Watch notes some enthusiasm in Rico about the potential of renewed mining but also “alarm,” to use the word chosen by Rob Cummings, who has been appointed by the town to lead efforts to communicate with Bolero. The town master plan envisions nothing other than gravel mining, he said.

In Crested Butte, plans continue for a major mine called Lucky Jack. Crested Butte, an old coal-mining town, had fought the proposed mine 30 years ago. When the market for molybdenum crashed in 1980, the plans were shelved — only to emerge from hibernation within the last two years.

The community is deeply interested in the outcome, as witnessed by a turnout of 200 people last week to a meeting called by the local environmental group, High Country Citizens Alliance. Speakers explained the review process, and existing laws, emphasizing that the mine is by no means a done-deal.

One speaker questioned how to funnel emotion into hearings, but David Baumgarten, the attorney for Gunnison County, counseled facts, not emotions. Facts are how decisions get made, he said.

Gunnison County is updating a set of regulations called 1041, which in Colorado allow counties to regulate a wide variety of proposed land uses. In 1988, Eagle County used similar 1041 regulations to quash a water diversion project from the Holy Cross Wilderness Area near Vail.

Renewed molybdenum mining near Leadville and Copper Mountain was also in the news last week. The long-shuttered Climax Mine is being refurbished for a possible resumption of mining in 2010.

The Leadville Chronicle reports that the owner, Freeport-McMoRan, edged closer toward an announcement, but fell short of tripping the reopening trigger. A final decision is expected by year’s end.

“It’s obviously very financially attractive when you’ve got a $3.50 (per pound) operating cost and a product that‘s currently selling at over $30 a pound,” said Richard Adkerson, chief executive of Freeport-McMoRan.

Some of the indecision can be traced to uncertainty about the market for molybdenum in China. Steel production there doubled from 2002 to 2005. Current perceptions are that China, while having molybdenum deposits of its own, will continue to be a strong market for molybdenum exports.

At its peak in the late 1970s, Climax employed 3,000 people and was the second largest consumer in Colorado of electricity and the largest taxpayer in the region, dwarfing the assessments of resort development in nearby Breckenridge, Vail and Aspen.

 

Ski towns in New Yorker

NEW YORK, N.Y. – There’s a huge connection between the high-end resorts of the West and Manhattan. Consider the last issue of The New Yorker. The magazine cover had a fiendish jack-o-lantern that seemed to bear a distinct resemblance to Vice President Dick Cheney, who gives his primary home as Jackson Hole. Inside was a memoir by comedian Steve Martin about his early days as a comic, including a two-week job at a club in Aspen in 1966. And on the penultimate page was an advertisement for Beaver Creek.

 

Bumper baby crop

GUNNISON, Colo. – The Gunnison Valley Hospital is having a bumper crop of babies. It may be coincidence, but the baby boom occurred approximately nine months after a natural gas pipeline serving Crested Butte ruptured last January. The Crested Butte News says it cannot be ascertained whether the outage drove young couples to drastic warming measures, but 30 babies were expected before October was out. The hospital usually delivers only 150 babies for the year.

 

Crested Butte switches with Telluride

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – Telluride is now being cited as evidence in favor of the ski area expansion in Crested Butte.

For the last five years the ski area has been arguing for an expansion onto Snodgrass Mountain, the better to attract and then retain destination skiers.

Right now, Crested Butte cannot compete with destination resorts that have 3,000 to 7,000 acres of intermediate terrain, says John Norton, the special consultant to the ski area. A survey done by Colorado Ski Country USA found Crested Butte ranks fifth from the bottom in intermediate terrain, sandwiched by Eldora and Monarch.

Crested Butte, said Norton at a recent public meeting covered by the Crested Butte News, “has performed more poorly than any other ski resort in Colorado because of the dearth of intermediate terrain.”

Backing up Norton at a recent community meeting was Ken Stone, the resort’s new chief marketing officer who previously was at Telluride. Stone said that Telluride has prospered because of ski area expansions that included intermediate terrain. That expansion, he said, has helped Telluride increase its market share within Colorado and insulated it from bad snow seasons.

“The real growth was in the longer length in stay and attracting a different customer,” he said.

Twenty years ago Crested Butte averaged 300,000 skier days each winter, while Telluride had only 175,000. Those numbers have flipped.

Unusual among ski towns, Crested Butte has a stronger economy in summer than during the winter. The perceived anemia of the tourism economy seems to be a hot-button issue, as evidenced by the concerns expressed by town council candidates.

As well, the town recently took action to limit the proliferating real-estate shops on the town’s main retail district. Whether the real-estate offices are symptom, or a cause, of the flagging economy, as one speaker in Crested Butte noted this past summer, it is notable that Crested Butte’s summer economy these days is stronger than its winter economy.

 

Real estate boom felt in Norwood

NORWOOD, Colo. – Twenty-five years ago Norwood was about as remote as you could get in the Colorado mountains and still have your foot on pavement. Located a half-hour-drive west of Telluride, it was beyond the reach of Denver newspapers.

It was, however, very affordable, and even then was attracting refugees from Telluride. It still is — although times, and prices, have changed. The Telluride Watch tells of a building that began life as the Oddfellows Hall now converted to other uses, including a Manhattan-style loft. The asking price for the 1,800 square feet unit is $450,000.