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Mountain News:

Talk softly and carry a small housing stick

Compiled by Allen Best

EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. — In Eagle County, the official policy regarding affordable housing is to talk softly and carry a tiny, padded stick.

Again, the county commissioners have rejected any notion of mandating affordable housing in conjunction with other development projects, a concept under discussion for seven years now. By a 2-to-1 vote, the commissioners have instead opted for "guidelines" that suggest 10 per cent of a project should be devoted to affordable housing.

Eagle County has had affordable housing problems since at least 1962, when Vail began operations. In booming times, housing commensurate with wages is scare or worse. In slack times, there’s an oversupply. The last two or three years have been among those rare times of abundance.

How long will it last? Not much longer, according to various projections. Retiring baby boomers are expected to flood the Eagle Valley, driving up prices while fuelling demand for services. That, in turn, will cause massive commuting by service workers, some 36,000 a day by the year 2025. Predictably, there will be calls for government-subsidized housing. Even more predictable will be calls for highway improvements and mass transit. Most of the new workers are expected to live in neighbouring counties, near Leadville and Rifle.

One way or another, there will be a subsidy to ensure the business of leisure continues. The question is to whom the buck will be passed and when.

The guidelines adopted by Commissioner Tom Stone, a Republican, and commissioner Michael Gallagher, a Democrat, suggested 10 per cent of the housing needs that are generated by specific developments be provided by those developments. Commissioner Arn Menconi wanted the 10 per cent mandated, but called the guideline a "good starting point," reports the Vail Daily.

In a sure-fire winner of anybody’s No-Kidding Award, Stone said that guidelines give the county flexibility in dealing with housing shortages on a case-by-case basis. "Regulations wouldn’t have allowed that," he said.

There has been an abundance lately of affordable housing, in part due to several new projects mandated or funded by local towns, i.e. Vail, Avon, and Eagle, as the front-end affordable housing for major projects soon to be built. Pointing to those mandated or subsidized projects as evidence, Stone, said the "free market is doing a pretty good job."

Economy returning to hyper

EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. — The economy seems to be back to its old, vigorous, almost hyperventilating self in Eagle County.

The Vail Daily reports passenger counts at Eagle County Regional Airport up 12 per cent for the winter. Sales tax receipts have been up 18 per cent this year, after being down 5 per cent last year, reflecting in part the opening of new big-box retailers, Home Depot and Wal-Mart Supercenter. In Vail itself, sales tax receipts were up 10 per cent in mid-winter.

Only in building does the pace seem to be slower. Building permits issued by county government are up, but the dollar volume down by more than half. Construction expected at Vail may well change that. Plans call for $1 billion in redevelopment to get launched this summer.

Understanding present requires context of past

DURANGO, Colo. — Durango is known as one of those beautiful places in the West. Its history, though, is of ugly industrialization.

"The town emerged from the smoke of smelters, the dirt of the farms, and the danger and dust of the mines," notes Jonathan Thompson, writing in the Silverton Standard.

Not much of all this remains, and the towns’ railroad legacy is also threatened, he says, despite continued operation of the tourist steam locomotive. But it would be a mistake to let this smudged past be covered entirely, he argues.

"What is sad is that so many vestiges of these older times have been erased so thoroughly. Having a sense of what a place is requires knowing from whence that place came. And such knowledge is boosted by physical reminders – symbols of what life once was. The freight cars that straddle the business district of Durango are some of the few such symbols remaining in that town."

Expert warns of inferno

CANMORE, Alberta — A wildfire expert says Canmore is an inferno waiting to happen unless significant measures are taken.

The outbreak of wildfire in Canmore’s peripheral areas is "a matter of when, not if," says Stew Walkinshaw, fire manager for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, a provincial agency.

"We need to plan upfront," Wakinshaw told the Rocky Mountain Outlook. He said residents must embrace fireproof methods wholly by removing trees from their backyards, using stucco instead of cedar siding, and by other methods.

The town’s mayor, Glen Craig, said he was aware of Canmore’s exposure to fire risk long before last year’s nearby blazes, but he said the provincial government is the only one able to absorb the cost.

As well, there seems to be some dispute about wildlife habitat. Developers say provincial biologists object to their efforts to remove vegetation. However, Chris Ollenberg, manager of land development for Three Sisters, a huge project being planned, said developers have learned to use golf courses as fire breaks.

Dog survives slide

LEADVILLE, Colo. — Occasionally, there is good news amid the bad. The bad news occurred April 9 when a 25-year-old man from India, Jigmet Dawa, died in an avalanche in the Sawatch Range southwest of Leadville.

After being swept by an avalanche that broke at the 12,600-foot elevation, Dawa was found pinned against a tree under three feet of snow on Brown Peak, which is located about a mile from one of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks, Mt. Huron. Unharmed were two human companions and three dogs.

But still missing was a fourth dog, called Tiga, a Burmese mountain dog. So, in mid-April, six searchers set out to find his body. In digging through the avalanche debris they found nothing. So, after hanging a prayer flag on the tree where Dawa died, they set back down the mountain. But the dog, famished and limping, showed up at the trailhead. Nobody seems to know how the animal escaped the avalanche, reports the Summit Daiily News.

Patrol boss calls it quits

ALPINE MEADOWS, Calif. — Ray Belli is retiring as ski patrol manager after 34 years at Alpine Meadows.

The official story is that his rescue dog fell 30 feet from a chairlift, and although the dog didn’t break any bones, Belli took it as an omen. Less officially, he admits to tiring of 4 a.m. awakenings on storm days, and he no longer skis on his days off, unlike when he was young. He’s now 58.

Belli was a seasonal logger in the late 1960s when he joined Alpine Meadows. He wasn’t a very good skier, he confided to the Tahoe World, but he figured it was better than drawing unemployment. He moved from lift operator to snow groomer to patroller, and five years ago he became manager of ski patrol.

Alpine Meadows has a major avalanche control problem, as witnessed by two disasters. In 1976, an avalanche killed four people. Then, in 1982, an avalanche destroyed the main lodge, killing seven people.

Alpine is one of only eight ski areas in the United States to use military equipment for control of avalanches. The cache includes both 105 mm and 75 mm howitzers, which are cannons that fire explosive shells, plus an Avalauncher, which is a compressed-gas cannon, and finally high-explosive hand charges. In a single day, ski patrollers have thrown up to 360 hand charges in an attempt to dislodge unstable snow.

Almost the entire base at Alpine sits underneath a slide path.

Customs raids Kitchens

HEBER CITY, Utah — Bear Creek Country Kitchens, a firm that makes powdered soups and other food products from its location east of Park City, was forced to layoff 40 employees after an audit by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, formerly INS.

The agency had been getting complaints that American citizens were laid off and illegal aliens were being hired, a claim denied by Bear Creek and also hotly contested by proponents of Latino immigrants. A substantial number of the immigrants were from Argentina.

The federal agency found fraudulent Social Security numbers, false claims of U.S. citizenship, and other irregularities. Two of the 43 people being investigated were hired back, and two more could yet be if they can provide documentation, reports The Park Record. None were arrested.

"We’ve found that there are employers deliberately doctoring forms, hiding forms, withholding evidence and things like that," said David Ward, the immigration agency’s resident agent in charge. "They’re the ones we’re going to be targeting."

Synagogue seen as tourism boost

ASPEN, Colo. — A substantial chunk of property along Aspen’s Main Street has been purchased by a Jewish organization that intends to build Aspen’s first synagogue. Getting city approvals to build will take from six months to two years.

The centre will be run by a New York-born rabbi, Mendel Mintz, who says the centre’s construction will boost tourism. "There are a lot of Jewish people around America and the world at large who would like to come to Aspen but who are inhibited," Mintz told The Aspen Times. "The centre will provide access to Kosher food and to Jewish services. We really think it will bolster tourism."

Steamboat revisiting landscaping

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Winter is undeniably the high season for visitors in ski towns. You might think water use peaks then.

In fact, water use peaks during summer in many towns, including Steamboat Springs. A water official there recently reported 70 million gallons a day peak use in winter, compared to 180 million gallons a day in summer, two-thirds of that attributed to irrigation of lawns.

With drought continuing in Colorado, Steamboat city officials wonder if existing regulations there unnecessarily encourage water use for landscaping, reports The Steamboat Pilot. There is even some talk of requiring xeriscaping, or planting of grass and other species that require less water, as well as application of mulches, to retain moisture. As well, the city is to review an incremental rate structure that penalizes larger-volume water users.

Group claims success in light limits

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — A group formed to minimize light pollution in Summit County is claiming some successes even while it calls for stiffer regulations.

In several calls, reports The Park Record, the group had worked with county planners in getting commercial developments to change-out their offending lights. At the same time, they think the existing laws give developers a "little too much wiggle room," in the words of Don Brown, co-founder of Utah Skies. Also, they would like to see the provisions extended to residential development.

The group planned to team up with a responsible-growth organization to put on a forum about light pollution. "People come here to get away from the things that spell urban, and light pollution is one of them," said Brown. "If things continue in this way – bad lighting at night – we’re going to lose that aesthetic."

Moab bests Park City

MOAB, Utah — Moab has bested Park City in an intra-Utah rivalry regarding renewable energy. The two had vied to see who would have the most people sign up to buy wind power.

In Moab, 1.85 per cent of total electrical use comes from the wind. In Park City, it’s 1.09 per cent, despite the involvement of all three ski areas there (Deer Valley, Park City, and The Canyons). Apparently, however, the citizenry has been somewhat less than enthusiastic.

Still, Park City Mayor Dana Williams tells The Park Record that this push for renewable energy won’t go away. "People want us to be on the vanguard of things, whether the issue is tourism, whether they are environmental issues or housing issues."

Coyotes attack dog

TELLURIDE, Colo. — Coyotes are being fingered in the attack of an 80-pound dog on the outskirts of Telluride.

A woman said the dog suffered puncture wounds and a gash while she was walking the dog, off-leash, at the town park. Coyotes had been heard in the area.

A veterinarian told The Telluride Watch that coyotes don’t often attack large dogs, and speculated coyotes had cubs in the area.

Xstream race planners putting on Moab race

DURANGO, Colo.–Will Newcomer is somewhat of an extremist, says the Durango Telegraph. He’s familiar with epic mountain bike rides, massive crag scaling, and torrential river crossings – all in a day’s work, whether in Canada, Hawaii, or Colorado.

He’s an adventurer racer, a genre that has grown big since Mark Burnett, the creator of reality television shows, started the Eco-Challenge. Newcomer, with 10 years in the recreation industry, founded Gravity Play Sports Marketing in 1999. Based in Durango, he put on his first Adventure Xstream race at Moab in 2001. The 12-hour race has now spread to Vail, Breckenridge, and Durango.

This series, notes the Telegraph, is a stepping-stone for people who are just entering the world of brawn and braveness. Participation has quadrupled since the inception.

Newcomer and his wife, Jenny, have also put on several other events. Next is an expedition race over a 250- to 300-mile course across six days in the canyon country near Moab, with the winners standing to make $8,000.

By Silverton standards, it’s a big building boom

SILVERTON, Colo. — What is happening in Silverton is not in anybody’s wildest imagination to be confused with the building booms of Vail, Jackson Hole, or Canmore.

Still, by standards of Silverton, the flurry of building permits being filed is the stuff of front-page news in the Standard & the Miner. "Silverton can probably expect to see seven new houses on the slopes overlooking town in the near future," reports the newspaper. "And more may be on the way."

The slopes in question are devoid of avalanche danger, something of a rarity in the rural precincts around Silverton, but there are questions about access by emergency vehicles as well as concerns about risk of future wildfires. Fires have been scarce in recent years, but a 20,000-acre fire raked the area 125 years ago.

Elsewhere, the newspaper reports a general surge in the economy. Local employment has increased 23 per cent in the last three years, and winter sales tax revenues have climbed, owing probably to the opening of a new ski area, Silverton Mountain. The ski area in late April was reporting a base of 107 inches in the final week of operations.