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State of the Valley News
Fall
2008
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The State of the Valley News is a periodic newsletter from
Healthy Mountain Communities. Valley News contains
information on initiatives, trends, ideas, and events
impacting the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Valleys. |
HMC hosts its 6th State of the Valley Symposium at the
Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs on Oct. 24th.
This years program covers the collision between second
home and energy economies in the region (read
recent article in Aspen Times) and the impact of the
financial meltdown on Wall St. on local communities.
Keynote Speakers include:
With the November ballot being the longest in recent
memory, State Senate
Candidates Rep. Al White and Ken Brenner will
join the day's agenda to discuss the pros and cons of a
number of critical ballot questions.
There will also be panel discussions on economics and
affordable housing.
Visit
www.hmcnews.org to register online and for
additional information. To reserve you seat and pay at
the door, fax this
registration form to 963-5942.
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Garfield County has been called a lot of things, but could
it be a microcosm of Colorado and purple?
As Nancy Lofholm writes in the Denver Post,
"... trying to pigeonhole voters in this "swing" county
is not as simple as some redneck versus hippie paradigm.
It is a stew of energy workers, retirees, longtime
ranchers, moneyed mansion owners, Latino laborers,
committed environmentalists, avid outdoor-sports
enthusiasts and middle-of-the road Americans."
Like the rest of the state, Garfield County has more
unaffiliated voters than Republicans or Democrats. And
these voters will be critical to whomever wins election in
November. As Lofholm continues,
"Forty-two percent
of Garfield County voters are unaffiliated, and that
category has been steadily growing. Even double-digit,
real estate-squeezing and traffic-snarling growth hasn't
been a boon to the major political parties. A decade
ago, the county had 8,470 Republicans. It now has 9,634.
Democrats had 6,565 and currently have 7,153."
At this rate, Garfield County might become a more
important bellweather of political fortunes than Iowa -
okay, maybe not.
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The town of Carbondale made the cover of a
National Geographic Adventure for an article titled,
"Where to Live & Play Now: The 50 Next Great Towns."
The article cites a number of cities and towns around the
country for their outdoor recreational and adventure
possibilities, and Carbondale ranks third on the list on
the cover, after Missoula, Mont., and San Francisco, and
ahead of Boston, Hood River, Ore., San Antonio, Texas, and
Seattle.
Carbondale shares another distinction with these
communities - they have a high cost of housing.
Forty applicants recently participated in
a lottery for eight affordable units in the Keator Grove
project. There are 8 two-bedroom, one-bath
condominium units in the 52 unit Keator Grove Project.
The units are selling for $218,487 and are targeted to
families making 80 percent or less than the area median
income.
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The Denver Post ran and interesting article on the
conflict between natural gas development and recreational
tourism on the Western Slope. As the article details,
 "In
2005, oil and gas generated $17 billion in revenues [in
five northwestern counties Garfield, Mesa, Rio Blanco, and
Moffat], while travel and recreation brought in $8.5
billion, according to a study by the Colorado Energy
Research Institute.
Travel and recreation, however, accounted for 16,000 jobs,
more than double the number from the oil and gas sector."
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Garfield County is growing out of its position as an
economic stepchild to neighboring Pitkin and Eagle
counties.
Fueled by the natural gas boom in western locales,
Garfield County's economy added 1,738 workers in 2007,
according to the Colorado Department of Labor. The work
force grew by 7 percent to 27,206 workers from 25,468 the
year before, the state's latest data showed.
Garfield County's surge far outpaced growth in Eagle
County. The work force there grew by 1,263 workers, or 4
percent last year. Eagle County still has more business
establishments and more workers, but Garfield County is
closing the gap.
Meanwhile, Pitkin County's business base and work force
were stagnant between 2006 and 2007. The number of
businesses grew marginally from 1,938 in 2006 to 1,959
last year. The number of workers was nearly unchanged at
16,858, the labor department reported.
Read Scott Condon's article in the Post Independent . . .
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The town of Parachute is adding commercial entities at a
rate that should make the town grow by a third, Town
Administrator Robert Knight said.
On the south side of Interstate 70, in the Spring Lakes
area on Cardinal Way, the Phillips 66 gas station is
getting re-hauled and there will be a large truck wash
station to go with two restaurants, one possibly a Dominos
pizza, Knight said. Work on those facilities is expected
to be completed by January.
At the western end of Spring Lakes, the town is working to
get an economy hotel, Microtel. Next to the existing
Holiday Inn, Candlewood Suites is a hotel offering
kitchenettes and will open in the early spring, Knight
added.
On the other side of I-70, a new Shell gas station is
being built and should be completed by the beginning of
November, Knight said.
Read full article in the Citizen Telegram . . .
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Growth costs Eagle County $1,000 a resident
Eagle County estimates
that each new resident costs the county $1,242 in
services.
The figure was
estimated from population growth numbers, the fiscal
impacts of new developments and changes in the county
budget according to County Financial Director John
Lewis.
The biggest costs
included $110.36 per person for road and bridge work,
$101.74 for public transportation, $115.86 for the
airport, and $125.83 for Sheriff's Office services.
Those estimates don't
include the cost of second-home owners or tourists.
Those numbers are
pretty significant considering the state demographer's
prediction that the population of Eagle County will
double over the next 20 to 25 years.
The county is also
working on a "sustainable community index," which would
measure environmental impacts and quality of life for
residents as the county grows. Traffic engineers are
also mapping out possible locations for transit hubs and
mass transportation systems, including a rail system
through the county.
Read Melanie Wong's full article in the Vail Daily . . .
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Garfield County partners win $1.6 million clean energy
grant award
On Oct. 14, Gov. Bill Ritter awarded a $1.6 million grant
to a partnership of local governments and nonprofits in
Garfield County as part of the state's New Energy
Communities Initiative.
The award to the Garfield partnership was the largest of
14 grant awards announced during the Colorado New Energy
Economy Conference in Denver. The grant recipients from
around the state will divide $10 million in state energy
impact funds offered by the Colorado Department of Local
Affairs and the Governor's Energy Office, using the funds
to advance a clean energy economy at the local and
regional level.
Read more on CLEER's website . . .
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Competing ballot questions seek to use severance tax
revenue
The ballot this election season will not only be historic,
it will be long. In addition to County Commissioner
races, there will be local and regional funding
questions. There will also be questions asking voters to
direct some severance tax revenue to important state
concerns - transportation and education.
State Senator Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, has helped
create Amendment 52, which could funnel more than $90
million a year into transportation projects.
Amendment 52 would cap the amount of severance tax revenue
flowing to Colorado's Natural Resources and Local Affairs
departments and send the spillover into the state's
transportation budget.
"We're not selling this as a global solution," Penry said.
"Even if Amendment 52 does not fully address the state's
looming transportation problems, it starts the state
toward a solution."
Governor Ritter would like to see more severance tax revenue
go to education purposes.
Consequently, he is pushing for Amendment 58, which
would remove a property tax credit for the oil and gas
industry that has been in place since the late 1970s.
Ritter has espoused the measure as a way to give some
financial relief to parents of college-age students amid
constantly rising tuition prices. If the credit is
repealed, the state would receive a projected $300 million
more a year in revenue - money that energy companies
otherwise would have been allowed to keep, 60 percent of
which would fund scholarships for Colorado students
wishing to attend in-state universities.
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Aspen voters will be asked Nov. 4 to approve three ballot
questions related to affordable housing.
The city of Aspen wants to renew the city's
housing/daycare sales tax and Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT),
both of which fund the affordable housing program and are
set to expire in coming years.
A third question is two part and relates to the Burlingame
Ranch housing project and whether the city should proceed
with construction according to recent recommendations or
increase the number of units to from 236 to as many as
300.
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 The
Maroon Creek Bridge and new bus lanes on Highway 82 on the
outskirts of Aspen were formally opened this week.
The bus lanes, which allow Roaring Fork Transportation
Authority buses to slip past what is likely to be a
clogged lane of private vehicles and construction trucks
at certain times of the day, will "revolutionize transit
in the upper Roaring Fork Valley," said RFTA President and
CEO Dan Blankenship.
The bridge construction cost nearly $14 million, and the
entire bridge project, including utility relocation and
design, cost about $17 million. Local governments in the
upper valley kicked in $1.5 million for the design and
$900,000 toward the construction.
The new bridge features the first solar-powered lights of
any state highway bridge in Colorado, according to Joe
Elsen, CDOT program engineer. The lights illuminate the
pedestrian/bicycle path on one side of the span.
Read the article in the Aspen Times . . .
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Three free events are upcoming for everyone to hear how an
island in Denmark became an energy exporter and reduced
its carbon footprint by 140 percent.
Monday, Oct. 27, 2008
Noon
to 1:30 pm
Aspen Center for Environmental Studies
100 Puppy Smith St., Aspen
A light lunch will be served
7 to 9
pm
Glenwood Springs Community Center
100 Wulfsohn Road, Glenwood Springs
Light refreshments will be served
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008
10 am
to noon
An in-depth meeting for utility staff, elected officials,
local government staff, community energy and climate
boards.
US Bank community meeting room
1901 Grand Ave., Glenwood Springs
Light refreshments will be served
Learn more . . .
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Thanks to the
Colorado Office of Smart Growth, you can receive
timely information on upcoming smart growth events around
the state and nation.
Sign up for their list serv to have information emailed to
you or check out the list of upcoming events on their
website, such as:
- Rail-Volution 2008, Oct. 26-30 (San Francisco)
- DRCOG Aging Short Course, Oct. 29 from 4-630pm
(Denver)
- NEW DOH Advanced Finance Academy, Nov. 4-5
- NEW 2008 Annual Demography Meeting, Nov. 7 (Arvada)
- Main Street Institute Session IV: Building Main
Street's Economy, November 14th
- Traffic Calming and Traditional Neighborhood
Streets, Nov. 20 (Commerce City)
- Colorado State Brownfields Conference, Nov. 20-21
(Denver)
- Southern Colorado Sustainable Communities
Conference, Nov. 20-21 (Colorado Springs)
- 2008 E-Star Summit, Dec. 1-2 (Denver Tech Center)
- Community Matters 2009, Nov. 10-12 (Denver)
Get more detail from the Smart Growth website . .
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