City hosts ADU forum Sept. 9

The mother-in-law will be front and center next week. The City of Durango will be holding a public forum on proposed changes to its accessory dwelling units (ADU) at 6 p.m. Mon., Sept. 9, at the Rec Center. The forum is sponsored by the City's Community Development Department as a part of the Land Use and Development Code rewrite. Members of City Council and the Planning Commission will be present to hear comments on the proposed draft as well.

Under the proposed change, ADU's would be allowed on lots of 5,000 square feet or larger in the city’s historic neighborhoods closest to downtown and along the avenues parallel to North Main. Currently, detached duplexes are only allowed to be built on so-called "double lots," which are 7,500 square feet or larger. There are about 200 properties in town that would be affected by the change.

The meeting is a result of public request for an additional opportunity for residents to weigh in on the somewhat controversial topic. Proponents argue that ADU's create more affordable housing options in a tight and expensive real estate market. However, opponents worry about overcrowding, parking, urban blight and absentee owners.

Durango City Council will hold public hearings on the proposed change Oct. 15.

For more information, go to: durangocodeupdate.com.

Resorts gear up for 2013-14 season

While most of us have put away the white for the summer, the folks at Colorado Ski USA already have white on the brain. The state trade organization, which represents most of the state’s ski resorts, has already sent out a flurry of press releases on the upcoming season.

For starters, parents of pretweens will have at least one reason to smile once the snow flies. Once again, CSUSA will be offering the popular 5th and 6th grade passport programs. The former gives fifth graders three days of free skiing at each of CSCUSA’s 20 participating resorts while the 6th Grade Passport allows students four days of skiing at the same 20 resorts for $99.

Additionally, CSCUSA will offer registered 5th Grade Passport holders who have never skied or snowboarded a free lesson and rental equipment during the month of January.

Participating resorts include: Arapahoe Basin, Aspen Highlands, Aspen, Buttermilk, Copper, Crested Butte, Durango Mountain Resort, Eldora, Howelsen Hill, Loveland, Monarch, Powderhorn, Ski Cooper, Ski Granby, Snowmass, Steamboat, Sunlight, Telluride, Winter Park and Wolf Creek.

To register kids for the passport programs, go to www.ColoradoSki.com/Passport.

Other highlights at Southwest CSUSA resorts include:

-DMR: Purg will be adding snowmaking to the frontside with the addition of 16 new energy-efficient tower guns along with a state-of-the-art fan gun. Two new snowcats will be added to the snowmaking fleet, helping to better establish a solid early-season base.                                         

For those wanting a less manicured experience, San Juan Untracked (formerly San Juan Ski Co.) will offer cat skiing on its 35,000 acres of skiable terrain.

-Silverton Mountain: New for the 2013-14 season, in addition to its regular helicopter trips, Silverton will now offer overnight heli trips for $429 per person, per day. Trips include two days of guided heli skiing and a night on high “glamping” in “the finest North Face Dome tent” (sleeping bags, food and beverages, and hot towels not included.)

-Wolf Creek: The dreaded shin bang will be a thing of the past at Wolf Creek as the aging and occasionally user unfriendly Treasure Lift is replaced by a new high-speed quad. The “Treasure Stoke Lift” is sure to provide guests with an “easier and more pleasurable loading and unloading experience.”

In addition, the Elma Lift and Sports Center Remodel have recently been approved by the United States Forest Service and will have a two- to three-year completion timeline. The Elma Lift will provide a way to get back to the base area from the bottom of Alberta and eliminate the long traverse across the mountain. The Sports Center upgrade includes a “tasteful” expansion of the existing facility into two stories.

-Telluride: Like its neighbor resort to the east, Telluride also will be adding snowmaking capabilities as well as more snowcats to improve grooming capability on its “famous and glamorous slopes.”

Off the slopes, the Inn at Lost Creek will open in Mountain Village, a “true Colorado boutique hotel reflecting the town’s Western hospitality.” The Inn will also be home to Siam’s Talay Grille, sister restaurant to the ever popular Siam in downtown Telluride. It will offer much of the same menu as the flagship eatery while striving to fill a “much-needed niche in the Mountain Village gastro scene.”

Apparently Diggity Dogs wasn’t cutting the mustard with the well-heeled resort crowd.

River Trail picks up at Memorial Park

The City of Durango is beginning to fill in the blanks on the Animas River Trail near 32nd Street. This week, Animas Valley Construction started work on the 2,055-foot link of the trail between 29th Street and 32nd, through Memorial Park.

The project will include extending the trail through the narrow park as well as removal of the existing pump house and intake structure at the to 29th Street put-in and improvements to the intersections of 30th, 31st and 32nd streets with E. 3rd Avenue.

The majority of the project should be completed this fall, with landscaping and the final touches competed by next spring. However, during construction, Memorial Park, the parking lot at the 29th Street put-in and the 29th Street put-in will be closed.

– Missy Votel