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The State of the Valley News is a periodic newsletter from
Healthy Mountain Communities and the
Watershed Collaborative.
Valley News contains information on initiatives, trends, ideas, and
events impacting the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Valleys. It
builds on and replaces the
Planners and Managers Roundtable News, which Healthy Mountain
Communities has helped publish since December 2001.
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State of the Valley Proceedings Online |
Healthy Mountain Communities would like to thank all the
participants, speakers, and sponsors of the 2nd annual State of
the Valley Symposium at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs.
As a resource from the event, multiple presentations on second
home construction, TABOR issues, and polling results from the
symposium are now online.
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Watershed Collaborative meeting on June 16 |
It is time to reconvene the Watershed Collaborative's Water
Committee, and all of you who have been tracking water matters or
would like to catch up, there is plenty to catch up on. The
Committee's starting mission is to compile, formulate, and provide
information related to current and foreseeable water quantity
challenges in the Roaring Fork Watershed.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 16, 10am to 12:30pm
WHERE: The Eagle County Community Center in El Jebel,
Sopris Room (refreshments will be provided)
WHAT: The agenda will include:
- An update on the Stream Flow Survey Project, which is an
outgrowth of the data-focused discussions we had in previous
meetings last year;
- A chance to provide input on issues and questions that we
would like to address with the Project's mapping tool;
- Updates on other water-related and habitat mapping
initiatives going on by RC&D, USGS, and the Nature Conservancy;
- Next steps, including exploring data sharing/compatibility
among initiatives; and
- Discussion about developing a sustainable watershed
management plan for the Roaring Fork Basin.
A more detailed agenda and other materials will be emailed
before the meeting. For more information, contact Kristine
Crandall (927-1290;
birke@comcast.net) or Cindy Houben (927-5097;
cindyh@ci.aspen.co.us).
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Aspen hires Dowtown Catalyst |
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Lisa Baker is Aspen's Downtown Catalyst, prevailing against 42
other applicants for the job of improving Aspen's downtown core.
The Aspen Chamber Resort Association announced Baker's
appointment yesterday, months after the Aspen City Council began
discussing hiring someone to coordinate downtown business
relations.
Baker will be employed by ACRA but will answer to a
three-member executive committee comprising a member of the
Commercial Core and Lodging Commission, an ACRA board member and
City Manager Steve Barwick. She will also report to an advisory
board comprising representatives from a cross section of the
business community.
Adapted from article by Naomi Havlen, 4.28.2004,
www.aspentimes.com.
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Garco and Rifle reach agreement on office location |
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Rifle City Council and Garfield County Commissioners agreed May 2
to consider the Garfield County Fairgrounds as a new site for the
county services building.
City and county officials entered an agreement that calls for
building the county facility at the Cooper Field ballpark at the
fairgrounds instead of the previously approved Airport Road site.
The new building will house the Department of Social Services and
Garfield County Public Health.
City officials and staff of the county Human Resources
Department have also urged the commissioners to stay within city
limits to better accommodate those who use the services.
However, the fairgrounds site comes with stipulations. Cooper
Field, which is used by the Garfield Re-2 School District for
baseball games, must be relocated from the fairgrounds to
Deerfield Park by February 2005 in time for play next year. City
and county staff will complete the agreement by early June.
Adapted from article by Heidi Rice, 5.5.2004,
www.postindependent.com
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LoVa Hires Executive Director |
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LoVa, the Lower Valley Trails Group, has selected and hired its
first Executive Director, Larry Dragon. A Valley resident for 23
years, a professional mediator and consultant, the contract
mediator for the Ninth Judicial District, and an avid trail user,
Dragon also has extensive experience in non-profit development and
management.
LoVa arose in 1999 from a group of citizens, public officials,
and business people who were concerned about the quality of life
in Garfield County. The mission of LoVa is to plan and promote the
development and use of non-motorized transportation and recreation
on trails and other designated routes connecting communities and
destinations in Garfield County along the Colorado River.
For more information on LoVa or to get involved as a volunteer
or contributor, please contact Larry Dragon at 876-LOVA or
LoVainfo@LoVatrails.org.
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Garco gem of Rockies in new report |
Garfield County has scored very well in this year's State of
the Rockies Report Card, finishing near the top of the heap in
the categories of "Healthy Places to Live and Work" and "Small
Business Vitality."
The
State of the Rockies Report Card is a research project
compiled annually at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. It
rates counties in the eight Rocky Mountain states - Arizona,
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming -
on characteristics that might make counties desirable places to
live. The counties are divided into metropolitan and
non-metropolitan groups.
The report card rates Garfield County second only to Gallatin
County, Mont., in the "Healthy Places to Live and Work" category,
among non-metropolitan counties.
Adapted from article by Jeremy Heiman, 5.13.2004,
www.postindependent.com
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Next Watershed Challenge: Growth Scenarios |
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The next major work effort for the Watershed Collaborative will be
to fine tune population projection numbers down into workable
areas for planning purposes. This was one of the overview tasks
the Watershed Collaborative agreed to take on as a group when it
formed in 2002.
"We have a pretty good handle on what the economic drivers are
going to be and who's going to be generating jobs," says Randy
Russell, Garfield County Long Range Planner, "But, we haven't
really worked together to project where that new resulting
population will take up residence."
State Demographer, Jim Westkott, has agreed to work with the
region for this process. A Steering Committee will be established
with representatives from each jurisdiction invited to participate
in developing and overseeing a work plan. At least one open
workshop will be held targeting planning commission members and
elected officials. Steering Committee membership is open to anyone
willing to work on this effort.
The exercise may show demands for rental units and affordable
housing that aren't currently being met or projected, depending on
location. It should also help the Demography Section fine tune for
the new impacts of gas drilling, and check on retirement activity
in the area.
"We aren't going to impose a set of numbers on anyone,"
stressed Russell, "But we need to do some reality checking from
Aspen down to Parachute on what's realistic and likely. We can't
to sub-area planning as counties, and cities can't do master plans
with numbers, in a vacuum." (See related story on
Garfield/Glenwood Joint Planning effort) Special Districts, school
districts, transit agencies, and health and human services
providers will benefit from this information as well in their
planning processes and are more than welcome to participate.
Randy Russell is coordinating this effort, and will be in touch
with some of you shortly. He can be contacted at 970-876-2093 or
970-945-8212 or
randyrussell@juno.com.
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Glenwood and Garfield County join in planning effort |
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Through the encouragement of Garfield County Commissioner Tresi
Houpt and Glenwood Councilman Dan Richardson, the Glenwood Springs
and Garfield County Planning Commissions have now met twice to
jointly explore ways to better interface and plan in shared city
and county planning areas. One initial outcome, of this effort is
a
CommunityViz "fly through" for the Four Mile Road area
developed by Mike Pelletier, Long Range Planner for Glenwood
Springs.
(Those of you attending the recent Symposium got a sample of
flying up and down the Four Mile Creek drainage area, showing
conservancies and probable development scenarios in that area.)
Planning Directors Mark Bean and Andrew McGregor supplied the
process with parcel specific data and some intuitive guesswork
about probable development patterns. Very sketchy Sunlight Ski
Area development alternatives were looked at, and some cursory
analysis was done on road impacts, as just samples of what this
type of analysis process could achieve.
As a next step, a 'Request for Concept' proposal has been
circulated to all consultant firms in the region capable of
employing CommunityViz software in their work. The Request asks
for feedback on tasks and costs to generate parcel mapping based
on a range of values that could be utilized for a joint Planning
Commission and eventual public planning processes that would
include "gaming" desired future development scenarios. This is not
a Request for Proposals, as that would come later if there is
support from the two entities to support funding for the project
once those costs are better known.
Responses are due June 15, and copies of the Concept Paper are
available from Randy Russell at
randyrussell@juno.com.
Questions about CommunityViz should go to Mike Pelletier at
mpelletier@ci.glenwood-springs.co.us. If successful, Garfield
County would explore using a similar joint planning process with
all its municipal study areas.
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Local & Regional Travel Patterns Study Update |
The collaborative effort between area governments to better
understand travel in the region is moving steadily forward. The
survey component of the local and regional travel pattern study is
now complete with over 1000 random individual responses (compared
to 500 in 1998) and approximatley 125 responses from businesses in
the Parachute to Aspen region (up from 98). Note that this year's
survey included some new questions that look at bus ridership, and
other aspects of transportation choices. The information received
from this large sampling of local residents should permit more
segmentation of responses by geography, household type, income,
and some other key variables that help to define transportation
use patterns.
"We are very pleased with the survey response rates," said
Chris Cares of RRC Associates and the lead firm on the study team.
"After we tabulate the responses we will have a very accurate
picture of how, when and why people move about the region."
The Technical Advisory Committee, made up of staff from
throughout the region, will be meeting in June to discuss the
results of the survey and discuss the preliminary findings.
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Midland Building restoration a success in Rifle |
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The Midland Building (f.k.a. Midland Hotel) restoration project is
complete. A private/public partnership resulted in the restoration
of the 100 year-old Midland Building. In a period of 18 months the
building went from a 20 year vacant building and public nuisance
to the gem of Rifle's downtown. The building is now home to the
upscale Brickyard Square Restaurant and Bar, the Creekbend Bistro,
and over 6,000 square feet of office space (100 percent
occupancy).
One final note, the Midland Building restoration project was
awarded a Dana Crawford award by Colorado Preservation Inc, which
was presented to Israel Shapira (developer) on May 25, 2004.
(Contributed by Matt Sturgeon.)
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Rifle welcomes new planner and manager |
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The City of Rifle has completed its selection process to replace
Lochen Wood (who landed a terrific career opportunity down in
Austin Texas). We'll all miss Lochen, who was a frequent
participant and contributor in watershed meetings.
Rifle's new planner is Jason Naess, who has a BS in
Horticulture and a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning. He
brings to this position experience in trails development, economic
and demographic analysis, affordable housing issues, and grant
writing and project management. He starts work June 14. Welcome
Jason!
John Hier has begun his tenure as the Rifle City Manager after
eight years of service as Town Manager in Carbondale. We are
fortunate to keep John talents in the watershed. Good luck John!
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Town of Silt grows; improves infrastructure |
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The Town of Silt has approximately 2,150 people at the date of
this update. In the last two years, the Town has approved seven
annexations, totaling over two hundred acres. Five subdivisions
(or PUDs) have been approved for a total of eight hundred dwelling
units.
The Town has completed two soccer fields, is nearing completion
of a ball field, and have replaced park equipment in two community
parks. In the last six years, the Town has issued four hundred
permits for single-family dwellings and sixty permits for multi-
family units. The Town recently constructed and began operation of
a new wastewater treatment facility (.75 MGD capacity), which
included a sewer interceptor and a new road and trail in 1st
Street. The Town also began design of a new water treatment
faciity (1.0 MGD capacity) this year. Staff is currently working
on design of a roundabout at 9th Street and Main Street and design
of a new 1 million gallon domestic water tank. The Town eagerly
awaits much anticipated commercial development on Main Street.
Three buildings have been renovated and promise to increase
commercial activity. For more information contact Janet at
janet@townofsilt.org.
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State of the World Conference in Aspen July 9-11 |
The Sopris Foundation is hosting its annual State of the World
Conference 2004 - Creative Minds Address a Broken World - July
9-11, 2004 in Aspen. Speakers include such notables as Richard
Clarke, Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Jim Hightower, Amy
Goodman, and Lester Brown. You can register for a specific day or
the entire event by visiting
www.soprisfoundation.org or calling (970) 925-2521.
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Community development contact list update underway |
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In an effort to connect our diverse watershed, HMC and the
Watershed Collaborative will be updating the Planners and Managers
contact list over the course of June.
We will make an announcement when an updated version is
available online for review and additions.
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Kemmis lauds regional efforts at symposium |
The communities in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys
are "great examples of the West growing up," according to Daniel
Kemmis, former mayor of Missoula, Mont., and an expert on public
policy, land use and community building.
"This is a heck of a good example of getting it done right,"
Kemmis said of collaborative work being done in the Roaring Fork
and Colorado River Valley communities.
He said the West's aridity, and the region's dependence on
limited sources of water, are key factors in dealing with local
community needs like affordable housing, transportation and land
use planning.
"All of these things are affected by our need for water. It's
important to understand our interrelationships with watersheds,"
he said. "At this point in history, people are realizing the
importance of watersheds and the importance of working together.
It's a phenomenon of historical proportions that's happening right
here in this room, and in this valley.
"We've had a set way of doing things, and now we've had time to
understand what works and what really doesn't work," said Kemmis.
"I want to leave you with this thought," Kemmis said.
"Personally, I have great faith in the West. People like you are
taking responsibility for a highly impressive level of
citizenship."
Adapted from article by Carrie Click, 5.2.2004,
www.postindependent.com.
See full article in the symposium proceedings . . .
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