Million dollar deals become common

ASPEN – Real estate prices down-valley from Aspen are rising at a startling rate.

 “Early signs this year indicate $1 million deals will be commonplace,” added the paper. And the million-dollar sales may well include not only single-family homes, but lofts.

Developers are blaming Basalt’s town government, which rejected two developments last year. It is, they say, a case of supply and demand. ButThe Aspen Times notes a counter-argument from former Pitkin County Commissioner Mike Ireland. Prices in Aspen and the Pitkin County, despite all the growth-limitation controls, weren’t all that different from those in Vail and Eagle County, where there were fewer growth control measures.

With escalating prices in the resort valleys, both service workers and even professionals have moved farther down valley. Forecasts see the Glenwood Springs-Rifle area becoming a burgeoning bedroom community for the Aspen and Vail resort valleys. One study predicts that 63 percent of jobs in Eagle County and 90 percent of jobs in Pitkin County will be staffed by Garfield County residents by the year 2030.

But that prediction didn’t fully contemplate the boom in gas and oil drilling in the Rifle area. Garfield County Commissioner Larry McCown told theGlenwood Springs Post Independent that he expects the county will be a job center, with more commuting into the area than those leaving the county.

Government and business officials in both resort valleys continue to be concerned about a lower-and middle-income housing base. In Aspen and Vail, efforts continue to expand affordable housing within the towns while also investing in down-valley properties.

Fruit trees now surviving at elevation

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Temperatures in mid-January dipped to 10, 20 and even 35 below zero in mountain towns. That’s plenty cold, but not the sustained, penetrating cold that was commonplace in the 1980s and before.

The climate has changed so much that trees once thought delusional in high mountain towns, such as apple and cherry trees, may now be possible, according to the National Arbor Day Foundation.

Based on average low temperatures, the Nebraska-based group issues a 10-zone hardiness scale for trees in the United States. Zones range from the most hostile, 1, such as would be found above timberline, to the most tropical, 10.

After gathering temperature data from 5,000 weather stations for the period from 1990 to 2005, the organization revised its hardiness zones. Many areas of the nation were one zone warmer, others even two zones warmer. Each zone shift indicated minimum temperatures that were warmer by 10 degrees.

The new broad-brushed ratings may surprise tree-growers in mountain valleys. The new map puts Idaho’s Wood River Valley, where Ketchum and Sun Valley are located, in zone 5, suitable for all manner of apples, peaches, plums and pears.

Ditto for Avon, at the base of Colorado’s Beaver Creek. It is, according to the Arbor Day Foundation website, a suitable place for apricots and cherries, similar to Denver.

Same goes for the Roaring Fork Valley, where Aspen is located, and even pecan trees are possible in some locations.

“There’s obviously something a little goofy,” says Nicola Ripley, director of the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail. “We all agree that the climate is softening, but no way is Avon the same as Denver.”

Several tree specialists told theJackson Hole News&Guide that cold temperatures have diminished, but not enough to warrant wholesale changes. “I would say that I have noticed some things do better than they used to,” said Jen Hall, a nursery manager at Porcupine Greenhouse and Nursery in Jackson for the past 15 years. “Not the big trees like you see back east. We’ve tried a couple of different varieties of the bigger tree maples, and they are kind of iffy.”

In Driggs, Idaho, on the west side of the Tetons, a nursery yard manager, Jared Searle, said he sees some hitherto unthinkable trees – like apples and cherries – surviving, if planted in sheltered areas or against a house. “I’d say the winters have gotten less nasty over the last 10 years,” he said. “I can see them bumping it up a level.”

Jackson Hole starts greening energy

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Jackson Hole continues to ramp up its response to global warming.

Sparked in part by Aspen’s Canary Initiative, the town of Jackson in October formed a green team, consisting of several department heads, to plot a strategy. The town is now partnering with the county to effect a joint response.

Some of this response is a continuation of previous efforts. The town for several years has tinkered with biodiesel in its fleets. More recently, it has conducted a lighting retrofit in town offices. Lower Valley Energy, the electrical utility, estimated the town will save $13,000 on its electrical bill, but also be responsible for 32 fewer tons of carbon annually.

“It’s funny how talking about a carbon footprint and saving money by managing facilities well goes hand in hand,” said Mark Barron, the mayor, who returned from the conference in Aspen with a reformer’s zeal.

The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce has also sponsored a forum on energy efficiency, the first of three meetings emphasizing sustainable business practices.

Carbondale may cap its ‘man camps’

CARBONDALE – Town trustees in Carbondale are considering a limit on how many people can live in one house or condominium. The town’s newspaper, theValley Journal, says that trustees and other town officials have discussed the touchy subject for several years but have resisted creating “bedroom police.” They are also uncertain how to define a family.

The proposed regulation is a response to a burgeoning job market of the last 20 years in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley that has drawn a flood of immigrants from Latin American.

Carbondale figured prominently in an hour-long television program about illegal immigration that was broadcast in late December. The program, which was narrated by Tom Brokaw, took viewers into a four-bedroom home occupied by 18 people.

At one town meeting last July, 12 Carbondale residents voiced their frustrations about parking, trash and noise in neighborhoods where so-called “man-camp” houses have an unusual number of people in one dwelling unit, or where families occupy single bedrooms in houses.

Breckenridge seeks breathing room

BRECKENRIDGE – The Breckenridge ski area is looking to expand during the next six to eight years.

In addition to a new mid-mountain restaurant, a new teaching area and more snowmaking, one or two more lifts are planned to service 400 new acres of intermediate and advanced terrain, reports theSummit Daily News.

The expanded infrastructure will give Breckenridge a comfortable carrying capacity of 18,000 skiers per day. It gets crowds of that size regularly, but does not accommodate them comfortably. Rick Sramek, vice president of operations, said Breckenridge does not foresee significant skier growth. “We’re not seeing an increase of peak days, but a filling in of the season,” he said.

New Jackson Hole tram gets approval

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – The Forest Service has given approval to a new aerial tram at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Capacity of the new tram will be 100 passengers per cabin, compared to 55 passengers for the old tram, and with an hourly uphill capacity of 650, more than double the old tram.

The owner of the ski area, Jay Kemmerer, had first appealed for funding from the state government and other public sources, but last August said he would privately finance the $25 million cost. Dopplmayr/CTEC is to build the new tram, the largest in size and scope among ski resorts in North America.

Town adopts a sustainability matrix

CANMORE, Alberta – Last November, city officials in Canmore adopted a sustainability screening matrix for evaluating whether proposed real-estate developments are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable for the community. Now, the regulations are being applied for the first time, to a major project called Three Sisters Mountain Village.

Chris Ollenberger, the president of the Three Sisters development firm, tells theRocky Mountain Outlookthat he is at a “dead loss” as to where to start. Gary Buxton, the town’s senior manager of planning and engineering, said the purpose of the early screening tool is for developers to get an idea of whether their project is on track toward achieving sustainability goals.

– compiled by Allen Best