Beyond the Boom

The Rocky Mountain News did a series on the energy boom rocking parts of Colorado and how communities are enjoying, coping, and mitigating the impacts (or at least trying to). The series offers a a number of perspectives and the challenges involved in local-state-federal policy making and planning.

The day 1 article in the series, entitled "The billion dollar question: What if?", is particularly interesting because two state legislators have taken seemingly opposite positions from the ones you would think they would take given their respective political ties. Their perspective is likely influenced by their location place in the state and the energy boom.

Representative Josh Penry, a Mesa County Republican, is witnessing the energy boom first hand and is a big supporter of creating a permanent trust fund from oil and gas severance taxes - similar to what Wyoming did a decade ago. Chris Romer, a Democratic Senator from the Denver Metro area, favors the more measured approach of analyzing how taxes are currently collected and allocated before the state tries to set up a permanent fund.

Who's the conservative in this debate?

Read the entire series

Economies collide with nature

The natural resource based economy that dominated the Western Slope of Colorado for so many years is making a come back.

As Jason Blevins writes in the Sunday Denver Post, mining is coming back to a number of communities due to increasing demand and prices for precious minerals like molybdenum.

If the recent natural gas boom in Garfield County offers any crystal ball, more Western Slope communities are due increasing revenues, stressed infrastructure, a quick disappearance of affordable housing, and a shortage of workers.

The natural amenity and natural resource economy are colliding and the only thing they have in common is a reliance on nature.

Garfield County sees explosive growth

Garfield County received front page space in the Sunday Denver Post due to the energy boom driving the county's economy.

Jason Blevins story captures the essence of life in Garfield County since the boom began five years ago. As New Castle Mayor Frank Breslin says, “It's just all happening so fast out here. I just dart around like a bumblebee.”

The economic growth has been a boon to a county mired in a slump cause by the overnight departure of Exxon (Black Sunday) in 1982 and the county now has more jobs than it has workers. The challenge for the public sector is to try tokeep up and pay for the infrastructure to support the increases in traffic, homes, and wastewater while competing with the gas companies for workers.

Blevins quotes Christy Hamrick, the finance director for Garfield County's 4,500-student school district, “We pay drivers $14 an hour, and they pay $22 an hour. We have to compete with that, and we've seen lots of turnover. ”

States differ in health spending per capita

Robert Pear writes in the NY Times about a new federal study that shows that there is a significant range in health care spending per capita among the 50 states.

Massachusetts led the way in per capita health spending at $6,700, while Utah was less than $4,000 per capita. As he writes,

The study, published on Monday in the Web edition of the journal Health Affairs, said that Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Alaska and Connecticut had the highest per capita spending on health care in 2004.

The lowest-spending states were Utah, Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico and Nevada. Per capita spending in Utah was 59 percent of that in Massachusetts. [ . . .]

Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University, said, “The variations help explain why some states can achieve health care reform on their own, without a huge infusion of federal money, while others cannot.”

“In a low-spending state like New Mexico, you have less money in the health care system that can be recaptured and invested in coverage for the uninsured,” she said. “In a high-spending state like Massachusetts, the health care system has the resources to subsidize coverage of the uninsured.”

Read the full article . . .

Communities innovate to provide health insurance

The lack of leadership at the national level to provide health insurance to the over 45 million Americans that do not have it, has driven states like Maine, Massachussetts to create programs for the uninsured within their borders. As Kevin Sack writes in the New York Times, some cities are becoming local laboratories for health insurance innovation.

[...] Healthy San Francisco, is the first effort by a locality to guarantee care to all of its uninsured [82,000 resident], and it represents the latest attempt by state and local governments to patch a inadequate federal system.

It is financed mostly by the city, which is gambling that it can provide universal and sensibly managed care to the uninsured for about the amount being spent on their treatment now, often in emergency rooms.

After a two-month trial at two clinics in Chinatown, the program is scheduled to expand citywide to 20 more locations on Sept. 17.

Whether such a program might be replicated elsewhere is difficult to assess. In addition to its unique political culture, San Francisco, with a population of about 750,000, has the advantages of compact geography, a unified city-county government, an extensive network of public and community clinics and a relatively small number of uninsured adults. Virtually all the city’s children are covered by private insurance or government plans.

Read the full article . . .

Counter intuitive approaches to managing traffic

Many people in the U.S. have heard the expression "changing the rules of the game." In some European cities, however, traffic engineers are just about eliminating the rules of the road and removing all the streets signs American drivers are so familiar with.

As Matthias Schulz writes at Spiegel Online:

The plans derive inspiration and motivation from a large-scale experiment in the town of Drachten in the Netherlands, which has 45,000 inhabitants. There, cars have already been driving over red natural stone for years. Cyclists dutifully raise their arm when they want to make a turn, and drivers communicate by hand signs, nods and waving.

"More than half of our signs have already been scrapped," says traffic planner Koop Kerkstra. "Only two out of our original 18 traffic light crossings are left, and we've converted them to roundabouts." Now traffic is regulated by only two rules in Drachten: "Yield to the right" and "Get in someone's way and you'll be towed."

Strange as it may seem, the number of accidents has declined dramatically. Experts from Argentina and the United States have visited Drachten. Even London has expressed an interest in this new example of automobile anarchy. And the model is being tested in the British capital's Kensington neighborhood.

EnCana wins approval to house nearly 750 workers at well pads in GarCo

EnCana USA has won Garfield County approval to operate up to 31 temporary facilities housing nearly 750 natural gas development workers north of Parachute.

Each of the facilities, known informally as man camps, is allowed to hold up to 24 employees and contractors. None would be operated more than one year under the county permits.

Energy companies have used temporary housing facilities under the permission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, but the county learned it had authority to regulate them and instituted its permitting process last November.

Parachute Mayor Roy McClung wrote to the county that while the onsite housing will help, the town still will see traffic impacts related to EnCana's drilling plans and is worried about overloaded intersections and the lack of funding to improve them.

He suggested in the letter that the county needs to be collecting impact fees from such developments to meet highway improvement needs.

Read Dennis Webb's full article . . .

Garco bicyclists to find smooth sailing

To the joy (and relief) of bicyclists, Garco Commissioners decided spend extra funds to use smaller-diameter gravel on chip seal projects for six county roads that cyclists frequently use.

The Garfield County commissioners also said they will consider spending extra taxpayer dollars on some road projects this summer to accommodate cyclists.

Garfield County budgeted $1.1 million this summer for routine maintenance of some of its road network. The roads in roughest shape will receive a new chip seal surface, with the 3/4-inch gravel.

At Commissioner Tresi Houpt's suggestion, the county got a second bid on topping the 3/4-inch gravel with a 3/8-inch mixture. The bid came in at $652,000 for all the projects.

Houpt supported spending that amount and topping all roads scheduled for work this summer with the smoother surface.

Read Scott Condon's full article . . .

Changes to state's oil and gas commission moves closer to reality

The Colorado Senate endorsed Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to overhaul the state's oil and gas regulatory process.

The Senate approved House Bill 1341, which will expand and change the makeup of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to include environmental, wildlife, public health and landowner representatives.

The bill will reduce from five to three the number of industry voices while expanding the commission to nine members.

The seven-member panel is dominated by oil and gas
representatives, which critics say amounts to the industry regulating
itself.

Read the full article . . .

Glenwood Meadows affordable housing project fizzles

Despite two and a half years of planning and support from both the City of Glenwood Springs (deferred payment of $800,000 in development fees and construction of a park on the property) and Garfield County ($1.5 million in cash), a proposed 120-unit lower-income apartment project at Glenwood Meadows is dead.

The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority turned down a request from the Aspen-based Dunrene Group for $8.9 million in tax credits.

Arny Porath, the project’s developer, is hoping to build the project on another property, but finding that property could be a challenge.

CHFA previously had awarded the project the tax credits, but developers couldn’t meet the deadline to use them. They reapplied once they had put together a package that included the city and county assistance, but CHFA worried about continuing increases in construction expenses for the project.

While the developers can reapply for the tax credits later this year, but Dunrene Group's Robert MacGregor said he couldn't afford to losing another construction season and the prospoect of even higher construction costs.

Macgregor said he expects he will look to partner with a developer of more traditional middle-class housing on his property. Such a project would have to comply with Glenwood Springs requirement to provide 15 percent affordable housing, or contribute an equivalent amount to an affordable housing fund.

Read Dennis Webb's full article . . .

Eagle County voters head to decide on charter proposal - again

Eagle County residents are considering their second proposed home rule charter in six months. Voters rejected the last charter proposal in November 2006. The ballots are due back to the County Clerk's Office by May 1.

The biggest changes proposed in the new charter would be the addition of two county commissioners, the re-districting of the county for elections, the ability for citizens to put their own proposed laws on election ballots and the removal of the county surveyors position.

Article Seven of the proposed charter calls for the ability of citizens of Eagle County to have the right to petition initiatives and referendums onto the election ballots. Citizens would be able to create or repeal laws through this process on everything except land use and budget issues. To start a citizen-led initiative in an election, 15 percent of the total number of registered voters in the county would have to sign a petition in order to introduce the question on to the ballot.

More info is available at www.homerulefacts.com

The confusing directives of CO school financing

Mark Counch's article "Poorest pay more school taxes," in the April 9th Denver Post is a facsinating analysis of the impacts of competing constitutional ammendents on school financing in Colorado.

The article discusses how state goals of equilizing per student funding across the state combined with the constitutional amendments such as TABOR, Gallagher, and Amendment 23 have created an odd financing equation that ironically eases school spending demands on wealthier communities more than poorer ones.

As the article illustrates, since at least1993, "Colorado taxpayers have picked up an increasing share of the cost of educating children in some of the state's wealthiest school districts. Although the state's share of school bills in poorer districts has also grown, homeowners in those districts are paying higher property-tax bills than they used to pay."

Although the amendments all seemed like good ideas at the time, their combination and location in the state constitution will continue to create headaches for legislators, the Governor, and taxpayers for the forseeable future.

Read the full article . . .

Read Ten Years of Tabor by The Bell Policy Center (PDF)


Click for larger image

TOD can save the planet

Transit oriented development is gaining traction around the U.S. (it's already popular in many other countries) because it can address many community issues -- provide affordable housing, increase transit service, prevent loss of open space, create public places -- at the same time.

And now, in case you needed another reason to support TOD, it can also save the planet. As San Mateo County Supervisior Adrienne Tissier writes,

The solutions to global warming are found in modern urban planning and zoning and three little words: Transit Oriented Development. Build well-designed, affordable housing within walking distance of efficient mass transit, and the air-fouling traffic jams will unclog themselves. Better yet, build well-designed, affordable housing within walking distance of jobs, schools and retail, and car use will plummet.

It is nice to know that something good for a community has a global benefit as well.

Green buildings get preference in Saanich

Saanich, BC wants residential builders to build "green" by cutting "red" tape. It is giving priority to applications for housing projects using energy-efficient components and provide those builders rebates of up to 30 per cent on building-permit fees.

Read the full article . . .

Lack of affordable housing on both coasts

Seattle and Boston are on opposite coasts but they share a common concern -- a lack of affordable housing. And not just a lack of affordable housing for lower income residents. Each city is facing a severe affordable housing shortage for low and middle income residents.

As the Post-Intelligencer reports, the median prices for a house in Seattle was about $450,000 and $290,000 for a condo, while the typical single person in Seattle earned enough to buy a home for just under $200,000. Many median-income workers choose to buy and commute rather than rent and hour commutes each are becoming more and more common and today, only 49 percent of Seattle's workforce lives in the city.

Boston is looking for ways to build affordable housing lost to the free market. Robert Kuttner writes in the Boston Globe, that the $60 billion of federal money spent between 1965 and 1990 to subsidize private developers to build affordable housing in Boston is now being squandered since there were no requirements to keep the units affordable in perpetuity. Once the initial federal loan is paid off, developers/owners are free to sell or rent the housing to the highest bidder. Consequently, the affordable housing built with at taxpayer support is now becoming a windfall profit for the developer/owner.

Aspen mayoral race heats up

Although there is still time for other candidates to enter the race, the current candidates for Mayor of Aspen began their first debate in the media by sparring over the city's affordable housing program. Candidate, and former City Council member, Tim Semaru recently suggested increasing the appreciation cap to 5% annually on deed restricted units . The current cap is 3 percent or the national rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

Candidates Mick Ireland and Torre both discarded the suggestion. Ireland, who lives in deed-restricted affordable housing, said Semaru's suggestion would be a negation of the deal between the city and citizens more than 20 years ago. Torre commented that he didn't think the change was neccessary since people "who are in employee housing aren't using it to make money, just to get in the door."

Tom McCabe, director of the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority, said he is worried that the Semaru's plan would hurt local government's ability to prevent the conversion of some 224 housing units into free-market condominiums in the future.

Learn more about Aspen's Affordable Housing Program . . .

Carbondale's educational challenge

Combine a diverse student body, two charter schools, a well known private high school, a number of private elementary schools, and a statewide open enrollment policy and you get a number of challenging educational and community issues in Carbondale.

A couple of weeks ago, Town Trustees heard various opinions about a proposed state bill to create more accountability for state approved charter schools, which brought up issues of segregation in Carbondale's elementary schools, and now parent concerns about enrollment and academic standards at Roaring Fork High School has reached public attention again.

Perhaps, as an editorial in the Valley Journal suggests, it is time for a meeting of the minds on the Carbondale's school.

Your mission: Create proposal to address health care crisis

Imagine that you have one month to create a proposal to address healthy care in Colorado, and if it's a good proposal it could be presented to the State Legislature in November.

Well, there is no need to imagine, you can be busy putting your ideas to paper.

The Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform ('the Commission') has just released a call for Health Reform Proposals due to the Commission by 5:00pm on Friday, April 6, 2007. Prospective proposers should submit, by mail or email, a 'Notice of Intent to Submit a Proposal' by 5:00 PM March 13, 2007.

The purpose of the Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform is to 'study and establish health care reform models to expand health care coverage and to decrease health care costs for Colorado residents. For any questions regarding proposal, contact Sarah Schulte, Technical Advisor to the Commission, at sarahschulte@mindspring.com.

And you thought no one would listen.

Basalt wrestles growth

When you are the first town downvalley from Aspen and Snowmass Village, and stradle the boundary between Pitkin and Eagle Counties, you would expect some challenging planning and community development situations.

Nowadays, just about every where the Town of Basalt turns presents another significant challenge. For example:

• Last month, one Basalt's two downtown affordable hotels, The Green Drake Inn, sold for $4.4 million to an investment group that could repeat the trend in Aspen of converting small lodge and hotel rooms to fractional ownership luxury units;


• The town is working to connect the older part of town to the newer south side with an underpass, since the 6-lanes of State Highway 82 presents a formidable barrier between two parts of town;


• The booming second-home market is creating a shortage of affordable housing and every undevelopmed parcel in Basalt's urban growth boundary has a development proposal in the review process; and,


• The town hopes to complete the update its of 1999 urban growth boundary and master plan by this summer.

No wonder a recent Aspen Times Weekly article by Scott Condon asked 'What's happening to my small, quirky town?'

Housing prices continue upward

The national housing market may be stagnant, but housing in the mountains continues on an upward trajectory. According to a recent article in the Aspen Times, the average price for a three-bedroom home jumped, often substainally, throughout the region in 2006.

Basalt: $694,880 (up 21%)

Carbondale: $476,000 (up 4%)

Glenwood Springs: $383,932 (up 21%)

Rifle: $231,851 (up 14%)

The median income for a four person household in Garfield County was $62,300 in 2005.

System versus Silo Thinking

Neal Peirce writes about the the "green revolution" happening in America's cities and towns in the January, American Prospect. 

Peirce describes a number of cities (Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle) that are re-connecting the commons (parks, roads, rivers, and everywhere there is public investment) through public infrastructure investments to create heatlhy places.  The projects are bold, exciting, and hold promise for state and national policy.  But, he points out, the work ahead requires a change it the way we think and approach problem solving.  He writes,

"[...] there's the challenge to the professionals -- the architects, planners, designers, engineers, builders, utility representatives, city and county housing officials, and others engaged on the front line of building and reshaping communities. Historically -- and often, still today -- they have worked sequentially, first doing the land planning, then the underground pipes, then roadways and buildings and so on.

In a smart 21st century, that won't do. It costs too much and it misses opportunities for better aesthetics, energy efficiency, and quality of life. The time's at hand to move from silos to systems [emphasis added]. It's the right moment to ask the professionals to start thinking more broadly, to work closely with colleagues from the other disciplines from start to end of any project."

Deja vu commuting in the Roaring Fork Valley

A decade ago, writing about the hellacious commute many put up with to get into Aspen, was almost a daily occurance. It looks likethe region is heading into another similar cycle of concern

As Charles Agar writes in the Aspen Times Weekly,

Perhaps the most obvious human cost of the upper valley’s stratospheric real estate market is the ever-longer commutes from affordable homes to higher-paying jobs in or near Aspen. Long commutes cost time and money; they pollute the environment and erode people’s sense of community. Most of the those who spend hours of each working day on Highway 82 have accepted the commute as a necessary trade-off, but it’s getting harder for upper valley employers to find the help they need . . .

More and more Aspen workers are commuting over the Grand Hogback, an area named for a ridge along Interstate 70 west of Glenwood Springs, to towns like New Castle, Silt and Rifle.

“Ridership is going through the roof,” said Dave Iverson, operations manager with Roaring Fork Transportation Authority. Statistics for city transport in Aspen and Glenwood have increased sharply, and the number of riders traveling the length of the valley and along the Hogback are rising steadily. In December 2006, nearly 23,000 riders made the round trip to Carbondale, and nearly 6,000 made the trip through the Hogback area, he said, a rise of 13 percent since 2005 . . .

Aspen faces a shrinking labor market, and even Aspen’s affordable housing program, which provides the option of lower-cost home ownership in Aspen, is not enough to entice many to the area. Many home-buyers choose the free market, even if it means moving to western Garfield County, over the 3 percent appreciation caps on employee-housing units in the upper Roaring Fork Valley.

Read the full article . . .

Garfield County joins billionaires club

Garfield County joined the billionaires club in 2006 as the volume of all real estate sales in the county topped $1 billion for the first time last year. The $1.04 billion in total sales for 2006 was an increase of 22 percent over the 2005 mark and growth of 137 percent from 2003.

The oil and gas boom in western Garfield County is driving the real estate development boom in western Garfield County. An estimated $75 million of the $1 billion in commercial and residential sales in Garfield County occurred in Rifle last year.

Meanwhile, Pitkin County has remained above the $1 billion level in annual sales volume for each of the last four years. Sales volume topped $2 billion in 2005 and soared to $2.64 billion last year.

Read Scott Condon's full article ...

Kitzhaber pushes legislation to provide health care to all Oregonians

Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber wants the Oregon Legislature to reform the state's health care system.  As Sarah Skidmore writes,

Roughly one year ago, Kitzhaber created the Archimedes Movement to get public say on how to reform the health care system. The group, which included the input of about 40,000 citizens, health care leaders and others, decided that all Oregonians should have access to health care and the state could deliver it more effectively than the current system.

The Oregon Better Health Act is a product of that group's thinking. The act, if passed, would take the federal and state money currently being spent on health care and try and use it more effectively.

If passed, it would trigger a request to the federal government to grant Oregon the congressional authority to control state and federal health care dollars. Oregon would then design a system to provide physical, mental and other health benefits for all of its residents. The act would also create a process that allows the public to have a say on how the health care system would work.

Learn more about the Oregon Better Health Act . . .

Win-Win transportation solutions

Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute has just released a report on transportation programs and policy reforms that can support environmental, social, and economic goals - a triple bottom line. As he comments in the introduction,

People often assume that environmental, social and economic goals conflict. For example, policies to reduce climate change emissions and programs to improve accessibility for disadvantaged people are often opposed on grounds that they are costly and harmful to the economy. But such conflicts can be avoided. Some strategies that support environmental and social objectives also benefit the economy.

This paper identifies more than a dozen such strategies, which we call Win-Win Transportation Solutions. These are cost-effective, technically feasible policy reforms and programs that help solve transport problems by improving transport options and correcting market distortions that result in economically excessive motor vehicle travel. These are considered “no regrets” strategies because they are justified even if the severity of environmental and social risks is uncertain.

Read the full report . . .

CRES says Bienvienido to dual language

The Roaring Fork School District recently approved the start of a Dual language program at Crystal River Elementary School. The program was proposed by a committee of parents, teachers, and administrators to help boost student achievement.

As Gina Guarascio writes in the Valley Journal,

Crystal River Elementary School (CRES) teacher Kenny Teitler was instrumental in starting a dual language learning program at Basalt Elementary School more than 12 years ago, and he couldn’t really think of a negative thing about the program there.

He can easily talk about the positives of dual language learning, where students learn basic literacy in their native language first while also learning academic concepts in their non-native language. The result should be better written and oral communication in Spanish and English, said Teitler, as well as higher test scores for all kids. [...]

Board member Brad Zeigel said he’s excited about the program because it focuses on student achievement and is something that benefits the Anglos and Latinos.

“I can’t see a single thing wrong with knowing another language,” said Zeigel, who added he wished he would’ve learned Spanish in school. “It’s a real neat thing for Carbondale and we’ve got the core grassroots support that you need from parents and staff.”

Besides bringing up test scores, Teitler said the dual-language program in Basalt brought out a greater confidence in students of all cultures and more willingness to participate.

For more information on the research behind the proposed program visit the CRES wiki.

Russell George to head CDOT

Governor Bill Ritter completed his cabinet appointments with the selection of Rifle native Russell George to head the Colorado Department of Transportation. George is a well respected former state legislator, speaker of the house, and Director of the Department of Natural Resources under Governor Bill Owens.

During his tenure as legislator, George sponsored the Rural Transportation Authority Act, which enabled local communities to create transportation districts to fund transit and road improvements. Communities in the Roaring Fork Valley had asked George to sponsor the legislation and were the first to use it to fund transit operations in the region.

The selection releaves some of the angst felt by Western Slope residents over Ritter's the lack of Western Slope representatives to his cabinet. In selcting a Republican, Ritter also shows his willingness to work across political lines for the benefit of Colorado.

Read the article in the Denver Post . . .