Hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure. Millions each year to pay for municipal services to Brown Ranch households. How to pay the costs of constructing the supporting foundations of an entirely new urban district.
New neighborhoods start with unseen essentials. At Brown Ranch, three miles west of Old Town Steamboat and six miles away from the ski resort, those rudiments will be key to transforming the 534 acres into.
While the number of units planned at the Brown Ranch 2,264 has been a headline number in the 167-page community development plan, the actual number of residents intended to live there isn’t as.
While a geothermal system would have roughly double the installation cost for the Yampa Valley Housing Authority’s Brown Ranch development than other options, it could save future residents as much as $195 million over 30.
On Thursday, Dec. 15, the Yampa Valley Housing Authority board opted to further investigate three options for heating homes at the Brown Ranch, with one of those options being a communitywide geothermal system. The other.