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Mountain News:

Ketchum considers ban on gated roads

Compiled by Allen Best

KETCHUM, Idaho — Planners in Ketchum want to make it illegal to install a gate on any private road or driveway that provides access to more than one residence. The city council will next take up this proposal.

The city’s attorney, Ben Worst, said the city has the authority for the prohibition "as long as it’s in the interest of public health, safety, and welfare."

From a report in the Idaho Mountain Express, it would appear planning commission members believe the town’s welfare would best be served by excluding the gates. "I just went to Palm Springs, and after being there, I don’t want to see another gate in my life," said Greg Strong, chairman of the commission. Added Jolinda Saidon, an ex-Californian who operates a massage and yoga business, "The whole sense of community just disintegrates."

However, one member of the commission questioned whether the new policy would infringe on individual property rights.

Park City goes with the wind

PARK CITY, Utah — Park City has exceeded its goal of buying electricity generated by wind.

A year ago, the city council made it a goal that 5 per cent of the community would participate in the program. In fact, participation is now at around 7 per cent. A second goal was that 2 per cent of the community’s electricity would come from wind-power sources. By a hair, that goal has also been met.

The municipality itself purchases 10 per cent of its power from Utah Power's Wind Energy. "We've achieved the first step in a process that will hopefully result in a state-wide policy on renewable energy," said Mayor Dana Williams.

In Colorado, both Vail Resorts and the Aspen Skiing Co. have made sizable investments in wind-powered electricity, as has the City of Aspen. Latest to join this gusty parade is the Steamboat ski area, which is making wind power 3 per cent of its total electrical use. Wind power, while becoming competitive, remains more expensive to consumers than electricity made by using coal.

Record real estate year

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — With $625 million in sales recorded through early October, Jackson Hole appears likely to surpass the previous one-year record of $700 million for real estate sales. That record was set four years ago.

Sale of several big ranches are driving these record-breaking numbers. Ross Perot Jr. bought a ranch that had been listed at $110 million, while another ranch sold for $37 million. On the other hand, fewer of the $1 million-plus houses have been sold this year as compared to the benchmark year of 2000, noted the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

David Viehman of Jackson Hole Real Estate & Appraisal, who compiled these numbers, said that after five straight quarters of increased sales and dollar volume, it’s clear the buyer’s market in Jackson Hole has ended, but it is not yet a seller’s market to the degree it was four years ago.

Kremmling reusing water

KREMMLING, Colo. — From outward appearances, Kremmling looks like it has changed little since when, a century ago, Zane Grey spent a summer roaming the surrounding hills while writing a book called Mysterious Stranger. Located centrally in the triangle of Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs, and Winter Park, the town of 1,650 people has an unkempt, yesteryear look.

But sometime next year Kremmling will become the first Colorado mountain town to put into place a water reuse system, something relatively new even for their big-city cousins. Wastewater just shy of potable will be returned to the town’s parks, ball fields, and cemetery through a new system of pipes, instead of being released into the river.

The system has two benefits, says Phillip Johns, superintendent of the sewage treatment plant. In times of drought, fresh water drawn from the nearby Colorado River will not be needed for the fields. "We live in a desert here," he noted. Although surrounded by mountains whose melting snow supplies cities as distant as Las Vegas and Los Angeles, the valley floor where Kremmling is located gets only 11 inches of precipitation per year.

But the reuse system, while costing $1.3 million, ultimately will cost the town much less than the alternative, a new mechanical treatment plant at a cost of $3 million to $4 million. That new plant would be necessary to clean the water to the level of purity necessary to release it into the river. "It’s one or the other," says Johns.

State grants are expected to pay for much of the work, and the sewage district hopes that the town will buy the wastewater in lieu of new treatment.

The wastewater that will be used to irrigate ball fields will be close to, but will not meet purity standards for drinking water. It will be disinfected by ultraviolet light.

Can you stop growth?

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new book, "The Changing Face of America in the Twenty-First Century," should cause pause in anybody’s expectation that growth will be slowed in their particular valley.

The U.S. population has more than doubled in the last half-century, and is now at more than 281 million. Big gains in population lie ahead. Within 20 years the population is projected to be 338 million, and then 404 million by mid-century.

The author, Sam Roberts, notes that the population is less "American" than it has ever been. The foreign-born population has increased by 57 per cent during the 1990s. Hispanics are already the majority population in both California and New Mexico, and they are nearly at that level in Texas. At current growth rates, more than 24 per cent of the U.S. population will be Hispanic, and non-Hispanic whites will officially become a minority sometime between 2055 and 2060.

The book, which was reviewed in The New York Times, also points out that families are becoming steadily less conventional. The number of families headed by a woman grew five times faster in the 1990s than the number of married couples with children. Americans are more locally transient, moving around more frequently if not necessarily leaving their home states.

The largest immediate change, of course, is the aging of the baby boomers. From 2000 to 2025, the number of elderly will more than double to 70 million. And by mid-century the number of Americans who are 65 and older is expected to be more than double what it is today, creating an unprecedented drain on entitlement programs like Medicare. Estimates show a gap of $51 trillion between payroll taxes and costs of medical care and Social Security by 2030.

A billion here, a billion there

WOLF CREEK PASS, Colo. — Mineral County Commissioners on Monday approved basic development plans for what investors say would be a 2,172-unit ski area base village at Wolf Creek Pass. Investment is estimated at $1 billion. Now the only thing that the developers need is a road to their land. However, a thicket of lawsuits is also expected.

The case goes back to at least 1986, when the U.S. Forest Service quickly reversed itself and approved a land exchange that gave Texas billionaire Billy Joe "Red" McCombs 288 acres along the periphery of the ski area. At that time, he was in a partnership with the Pitcher family, which owns the ski area. The Pitchers have since sold their interests and now are trying to block the village. Dave Pitcher, the ski company’s president, said the original plans were for only 200 units.

Virtually nothing beyond the most minimal skiing support facilities — not even a restaurant with evening operating hours — is found at Wolf Creek now. This new town would be located at an elevation of 10,300 feet, making it the highest such development in Colorado. Wolf Creek is also normally Colorado’s snowiest resort, with often 400-plus inches falling.

McCombs owns the Minnesota Vikings and was a co-founder of Clear Channel Communications. Although growing up poor, he made his first fortune in auto sales.

Access remains the single biggest question. While the Forest Service is obligated to provide access, the only existing road is a two-track Forest Service road that is currently closed in winter. It’s not clear whether the agency is required to provide improved access. Opponents believe that McCombs had hoped to get a Congressional authorization, bypassing the Forest Service, through the House of Representatives last spring. U.S. Rep. Mark Udall of Colorado had promised to be on the watch for such a law tacked on to another piece of legislation.

In Pagosa Sprigs, the closest town, the town council was expected to pass a resolution this week objecting to the approval by the commissioners. Although containing only 1,700 residents, Pagosa is in the centre of one of Colorado’s fastest-growing second-home areas.

Gay students meet in Steamboat

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – A chapter of the Gay/Straight Alliance has been established at Steamboat Springs High School. About 20 students meet each week, some openly gay, others questioning, and some there simply to show support.

An anonymous survey given to students last year showed that of the 480 students who responded, 4 per cent of boys and 5.4 per cent of girls said they were gay or unsure of their sexual orientation, reports The Steamboat Pilot.

But the survey also revealed that more than a third of the students who questioned their sexuality had attempted or considered suicide. Authorities says that homosexual adolescent boys are 14 times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual boys.

Several students interviewed by the newspaper said they had come "out" even when in eighth grade, and some were surprised to discover how supportive their family and friends were. But while being gay is more – but not always – accepted, it is not often talked about. "A lot of people still squirm when you mention it," said one girl.

Hospital taking shape

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — A $40 million hospital is little more than a year away from being completed in Summit County, reports the Summit Daily News. To be operated by St. Anthony/Centura Health, the 25-bed hospital will be located in Frisco. Most hospital patients currently either go to Vail, 27 miles to the west, or to Denver, 80 miles to the east.

Restaurateur goes organic

TELLURIDE, Colo. — It’s not easy finding organic food when you run a Mexican restaurant, says Luca Price, owner of Telluride’s La Cocina de Luz. But he tries.

Price’s latest innovation has been to use only cheese made from the milk of cows who have not been treated with bovine growth hormone. Those growth hormones are illegal in Europe and Canada, he told The Telluride Watch, and he does not want to feed them to his customers.

Finding bulk organic cheese wasn’t easy. Searching the Internet, he found a dairy in Wisconsin that sells growth-hormone-free cheese, both jack and cheddar, in 75-pound wheels. The cost adds more than a dime per plate to his food.