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People enjoy an evening at Mountain Tap Brewery earlier this week. (Photo by John F. Russell)
Over the past several years, Steamboat Springs and Colorado’s other mountain towns have found themselves in a dilemma: relying on tourism to sustain their economies while also preserving community character, protecting natural resources and ensuring longtime locals and employees can still afford to live in town and do their jobs.
“It’s definitely a balancing act between preserving town character and the environment that attracts these people and a city’s tourism-based economy,” said Margaret Bowes, executive director of the Colorado Association of Ski Towns. “Our communities absolutely need to protect the things that have made them a destination in the first place.”
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS The Steamboat Springs City Council is exploring a stormwater utility fee that would be charged to city residents and used to cover costs of stormwater management, such as water quality and drainage.
As the city’s infrastructure grows older and federal and state governments increase their standards for environment and watershed health, the city’s general fund has faced a significant strain in trying to keep up, Steamboat Water Resourced Manager Kelly Romero-Heaney and Steamboat Public Works Director Jon Snyder told council members Tuesday.
“Providing these services can be costly, and it is common for cities and towns in Colorado to finance these expenses through a user fee based on storm water utility,” Romero-Heaney said.
FORT COLLINS and STEAMBOAT SPRINGS Triple Crown Sports Inc., the Fort Collins company that
in January lost its contract with the city of Steamboat to host multiple youth and adult tournaments, will be permitted to host at least two baseball tournaments in June this year.
The Steamboat City Council voted this week to permit the tournaments after being threatened with lawsuits if access to Steamboat fields was denied to the company and allowed to other tournament organizations.
In a three-page letter to City Manager Gary Suiter, Triple Crown CEO Keri King outlined the economic impact that his company has had in Steamboat Springs since 1982 and outlined what the company would do if denied access to fields.