Real estate parade continues in Aspen
ASPEN, Colo.—Despite the real estate meltdown elsewhere in the country, it's the same-old, same-old in Aspen. Citing research from the Land Title Guarantee Co., the Aspen Times reports that real estate sales this year have topped $2 billion in Pitkin County. The number of transactions was down 30 percent, but the dollar volume through September was up 8.7 percent. This will be the third straight year that Pitkin County has exceeded $2 billion in real estate sales.
Meanwhile, downvalley in Garfield County and the communities of Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and Rifle, sales dollar volume is 27 percent higher than last year. However, the market cooled during the summer. Those communities offer lower-cost--but not necessarily cheap—housing, and are in demand from those both engaged in the resort and real estate economy, and those in the oil-and-natural gas economy of Northwestern Colorado.
Blind moose put down in Park City
PARK CITY, Colo.—Wildlife agents "put down" a moose that had been wandering around Park City, apparently too blind to find food. Rick Ryan, a police captain, says the moose bumped into cars and houses. The animal was young, but moose are vulnerable to several sorts of diseases and infections.
Water uncertainty fails to untrack real estate
WINTER PARK, Colo.—The drought year of 2002 provoked a great many concerns in Winter Park about whether there was sufficient water to meet the needs of all the real estate that was being contemplated. The town council has decided there is at least enough to allow another 138 units to be built in a project called Lakota. Still in the works, reports the Sky-Hi Daily, is a pumpback from lower down in the town, to ensure minimum stream flows through the town. Meanwhile, Intrawest continues its major buildup of real estate at the base of the ski area.
Snowmass puts kibosh on public land smoking
SNOWMASS, Colo.—The smoking ban in Snowmass Village, already in existence for all indoor public spaces, has been extended to all outdoor public land. As such, smoking will be prohibited in lift lines, at music concerts and on the mall.
"Some 3,800 people will die next year due to second-hand smoke," said Councilman John Wilkinson.
The Aspen Times reports there was only one dissension in the council vote.
Is it too late to emulate Lech at resorts in West?
LECH, Austria—For a model of how to do it right as a mountain resort, you could do worse than Lech, located in the Arlberg region of Austria. Dave Riley, chief executive officer of Telluride Ski and Golf, notes that Austria's first ski lift opened at nearby Zurs in 1936.
In trying to preserve a balance between the economic goals and the beauty of the natural environment, Lech focuses on high-end lodging properties, but also decreed that no second-home ownership would be permitted.
He also notes that Lech installed a biomass heating plant to reduce air pollution. Local biomass is transported from a conveyor system directly to a biomass oven, where it is heated to 1100 degrees C and distributed as warm water in pipes to 90 percent of the hotels, households and other buildings in the village.
"While I'm sure Lech has its issues," says Riley, writing in The Telluride Watch, "it appears they may have found a model which drives environmental protection, economic prosperity, and cultural stability -- without sprawl."
Denver airport beefs up its snow-removal ability
DENVER—Denver is spending $31 million in an effort to preclude anything remotely resembling the 45-hour closing of its airport just before Christmas last year.
Among the acquisitions, reports Denver's Rocky Mountain News, is a new type of machine, a snowmelter, which is said to be more efficient than plows because the snow doesn't have to be hauled away. In addition to new equipment, snow-removal crews have been augmented, and software has been improved to allow travel plans to be more easily modified.
Altogether, airlines had to cancel 4,000 flights in and out of Denver during last winter's shutdowns. United Airlines said it lost $40 million in revenue because of storms in Denver and, to a lesser extent, Chicago. Frontier lost $16 million.
More than 40 percent of the overall traffic at DIA comes from connecting passengers, such as in flights to Aspen, Steamboat, and Jackson Hole.
How much oxygen do babies need?
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLO. (MTN)—A study being done at Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs and other hospitals seeks to determine exactly how much oxygen is needed by newborns.
After neonatal nurse practitioner Tracie Line began working seven years ago in Steamboat Springs, she noticed many newborns were being sent home with supplemental oxygen.
"I previously worked at sea level, where home oxygen use was not as common. My question was, 'What is normal at this altitude?'"
The elevation of Steamboat is about 6,800 feet. Researching past studies, she found studies at 5,280 feet and below. She found studies at higher locations, including Colorado's Frisco and Leadville, 9,000 and 10,200 feet respectively, as well as from higher yet, in Peru and Tibet. But she found no studies from the middle-elevation band of 5,000 to 9,000, where many of the resorts in the West are located.
After talking to researchers, she finally lined up Dr. Patricia Ravert, a nursing educator at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. She has contacted hospitals in Aspen and Vail, and invites interest from other mountain town hospitals.
"We cannot run a research study by ourselves at our little hospital," Line told the Steamboat Pilot & Today. "But we can participate, and I am inviting hospitals in other Colorado mountain towns to join the study."
The research involves testing healthy newborns, to find out what the baby's oxygen saturation is. So far, 35 parents have consented to the testing, although data from about 500 babies will be needed.
The end result will be a better standard for differentiating between "well" babies and those who require special care during their first few hours, days or weeks of life. And by knowing that, doctors and nurses may learn if they can reduce the number of tests and treatments.
Groups trying to block new Sierra ski resort
WESTWOOD, Calif. (MTN)-- Three environmental groups have filed suit to stop development of a major ski- and golf-anchored resort near the small town of Westwood, which is located in the Sierra Nevada near Lassen National Park. This is about two hours from either Reno or Sacramento.
The groups -- the Mountain Meadows Conservancy, Sierra Watch, and a branch of the Sierra Club -- claim that the governing jurisdiction, Lassen County, failed to provide sufficiently detailed analysis of the impacts caused by the resort, when it was approved. The resort would include 4,000 housing units, three golf courses, and a ski resort. It is being called the Dyer Mountain Four Seasons Resort.
Steve Frisch, president of the Sierra Business Council, questions the location.
"The reality is the northern Sierra will be severely affected by climate change with reduced snowpack and early runoff, so putting a new resort at 6,000 feet and calling it viable is a little difficult to believe," he told the Sierra Sun.
Meanwhile, the development partners are recapitalizing. They tell the Sun that they have a potential dozen investors. Sara Duryea, one of the three managers, said she and her partner have almost 47 million invested in the project.
It will, she said, be the only master-planned community in the Sierra. "We get to see what's happened in Tahoe and learn from the mistakes of others," she said.
