Real estate moving sharply again in ski towns
Compiled by Allen Best
KETCHUM, Idaho — Real estate brokers in most resort towns of the West are reporting sharply increased sales volume this year. Many also report rapidly rising prices in certain market segments, particularly lower ends.
For example, prices of single-family homes in Hailey, a down-valley town from Sun Valley, averaged $272,000 last year, but this year are at $306,000. Brokers attribute part of the activity to retirement buyers.
In Colorado, sales volume in the Winter Park area through September was up 65 per cent as compared with last year. Prices were also on the rise, with the single-family homes averaging $367,000, compared to $303,000 last year.
As in the Sun Valley region, vacant land prices have escalated most rapidly at Winter Park. A new record for Grand County was set for a lot price, $875,000, for a lot near the base of the ski area.
"Especially to see second homes move, buyers must believe that the economy and the stock market are strong and steady," said Ray Steinbach, an agent in the Winter Park area. "If they don’t have that comfort, then they aren’t going to buy."
Similar news has been reported in Durango, Aspen, and Telluride. In Jackson Hole, the action is somewhat mixed, but definitely more vigorous at the lower price points.
Snowmaking allows A-Basin to get early weekend crowds
ARAPAHOE BASIN, Colo. — One of Colorado’s oldest ski resorts, Arapahoe Basin, became nearly the last resort to get snowmaking.
But the guns were finally put to full use this year, resulting in an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 skiers and snowboarders during the opening weekends, reports the Summit Independent Daily. Plus, ski company officials say that the earlier opening allows A-Basin to recruit seasonal employees, instead of waiting until after Keystone, Breckenridge, and other nearby resorts have already opened. With snowmaking, A-Basin very probably will gain the longest ski season in the Rockies.
As well, A-Basin has inked another five-year joint marketing and ticketing agreement with Vail Resorts. Under the deal, A-Basin gets a cut each time a Vail Resorts buddy pass is scanned at A-Basin.
Second $1 million‘affordable’ house
ASPEN, Colo. — Aspen will soon have its second $1 million "affordable house."
The town obviously takes a broad view of affordable housing. In this particular project the developer sold lots to qualified workers, who then built their own homes or had them built. There was no limit on how much they could spend on their homes. When one is sold, the owner can set a price based on cost plus 4 per cent annual appreciation, explains The Aspen Times. The high-end "affordable" project is designed with doctors, lawyers and such in mind.
Breck backcountry folks get the boot
BRECKNRIDGE, Colo. — Beyond the golf course, the ice arenas, and the houses with glass windows that seem to be measured by the acre, there’s another side to Breckenridge. There, far from the busy streets and along the forested flanks are little mining cabins from a century ago.
These cabins constitute what is, in effect, a substantial affordable housing project. Some residents are industrious, many back-to-the-land rugged sorts, and more than a few clutch the bottle or their bags of drugs. But now they all have something more in common – they’re looking for new homes.
Summit County and Breckenridge are collaborating on a $9 million purchase of 1,840 acres of land, including many of these cabins. As dedicated open space is not supposed to have people living there, eviction notices have gone out, reports the Summit Daily News.
Developer agrees to group’s de-light plan
SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — Night-sky partisans won a small battle for darkness recently, persuading a developer to replace or retrofit at least some of the acorn-shaped street lamps he had placed in the Redstone commercial development. The development is located in the Kimball Junction area along Interstate 80.
Those acorn-shaped lamps are intended to look vaguely old-timely, something like a gas flame. As such, the lights beam into the sky, not down to the ground. Because of this light pollution, a county ordinance restricts their use.
County authorities dragged their heels about forcing compliance, reports The Park Record, but organizers from the nightlight organization, Utah Skies, gathered 400 signatures on a petition demanding changes. The developer than agreed to modify the lighting, among other things putting on reflectors to deflect the light toward the ground instead of into the sky.
Formula seeks value for scenery and remoteness
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — So, can you eat the scenery? That’s the age-old question for people in pretty (and expensive) places of the West. In Wyoming, a college professor is trying to figure out how much prettiness should mean to the paycheques of school teachers.
Robert Godby, an economist from the University of Wyoming, is calculating pay based on three primary criteria: 1) how close a school is to a national park; 2) how close to a city of 50,000 or more; and 3) the cost of living. In his thinking, teachers would get bonuses proportionate to how far they lived from cities and national parks, as well as proportionate to the cost of living.
In Jackson, where the starting pay is $32,000 a year, teachers would get bonuses for cost of living and for remoteness, but not for scenery. The intent of the proposed formula is to determine how much money is paid by Wyoming to local school districts for paying teachers, explains the Jackson Hole News & Guide.
Activists urge new name for American’s favourite tub
MOAB, Utah — An effort is underway to replace Lake Powell, America’s favourite bathtub, with a new name, Glen Canyon Reservoir. And it would appear that the activists for this name-change have federal policy on their side.
That’s because a Lake Powell in Colorado already existed before the Colorado River was dammed to create the Utah reservoir. The original Lake Powell is located in Rocky Mountain National Park, at the headwaters of the Colorado River. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names rules state that no two geographic features in a single watershed can have the same name, argues Bill Bernat, of the Glen Canyon Institute, writing in the August/September issue of the Canyon Country Zephyr.
Less valuable to name-change proponents is the federal policy that suggests modification "where ambiguity is likely to occur." The two Lake Powells are roughly 500 miles apart, one tiny and located near timberline, the other vast and surrounded by desert.
For some, there’s another matter involved. The name "lake" should be reserved for natural bodies of water, while "reservoir" should apply to artificial creations.
Outfitter argues for diversity of forest use
CARBDONALE, Colo. — Tim Fitzgerald is an outfitter who spends his summers and fall in the high country around Aspen.
"Here recreation is king," he writes in an essay in The Denver Post. "The few active grazing permits are tucked away between popular hiking areas. There is no timber program, no active mining. The only controversy is whether to hike, bike, ski or run. Multiple use is no longer in vogue."
Fitzgerald sees danger in this shift to public lands becoming solely a playground.
"Like the timber and grazing programs of the past, there is a large subsidy inherent in public land recreation," he says.
He credits the Political Economy Research Center in Bozeman, Mont., with research that found federal agencies lose as much money on recreation as timber and grazing combined.
"People don’t want to pay to play," he adds.
He expresses hope for a "middle ground where recreation can be balanced with responsible commodity production. Monoculture, especially a monoculture of recreation, is less stable than a diversified economic base."
Deal bars development on 4,700 acres of land
CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — A deal is being put together that will prevent development on 4,700 acres of ranches between Crested Butte and Gunnison. The cost is $9.5 million. A primary intent of the preservation is to provide continued habitat for the Gunnison sagegrouse, a species that is a candidate for Endangered Species Act protection. The ranchers will be able to continue ranching the land, and apparently there will be at least some public access, according to the Crested Butte News.
Sheep Mountain proposed to be sheared of its name
TELLURIDE, Colo. — Wherever you are in the mountain towns of the West, there’s probably a Sheep Mountain nearby. Colorado alone has 33, including one hulking white-backed 13,188-foot summit south of Telluride.
But a man from New Mexico is proposing to rename this peak Mount Kiamia, an amalgam of acronyms (Killed in Action and Missing In Action). The U.S. Board of Geographic Names is to decide upon the proposal, but the agency makes it clear that no approval will be forthcoming unless there is local consensus in support.
