{"id":33648,"date":"2023-05-31T19:13:53","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T01:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-new-report-helps-colorado-mountain-towns-navigate-growth-challenges\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:11:51","slug":"a-new-report-helps-colorado-mountain-towns-navigate-growth-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-new-report-helps-colorado-mountain-towns-navigate-growth-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"A new report helps Colorado mountain towns navigate growth challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=0bc8a03f-29ec-5c8d-9ef8-ffe6adb0780b&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1126\" alt=\"Tourists eating at downtown restaurants during the peak tourism season cause increased maintenance for city infrastructure. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Tourists eating at downtown restaurants during the peak tourism season cause increased maintenance for city infrastructure. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>The late Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm once ominously warned that the state\u2019s treasured fourteeners were at risk of being loved to death by growing numbers of waffle-stomping hikers.<\/p>\n<p>Now it is the state\u2019s mountain towns that are threatened by too many people with too much appreciation.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s according to a report issued last week by Montana\u2019s Headwaters Economics, which outlines the challenges facing communities paradoxically blessed with natural attractions that make them great places to live but cursed with growing pains that threaten resources and lifestyles.<\/p>\n<p>The economists and researchers at Headwaters Economics call it the amenity trap and they\u2019ve mapped out a way communities can escape confounding stresses in rural, amenity-rich regions that are drawing visitors and new residents in record numbers.<\/p>\n<p>The economists and researchers at Headwaters Economics spent more than a year compiling the 37-page report \u2014 with 122 footnoted sources \u2014 that identifies a diverse dashboard of potential policy solutions for communities grappling with growth and impacts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-pdf-embed\"><iframe class=\"article-pdf\" src=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/F-M3c3JSVKonOLSphzrGYx7NuFo.pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:500px;border:1px solid #ddd\" loading=\"lazy\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/F-M3c3JSVKonOLSphzrGYx7NuFo.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2023HE-Amenity-Report-R3b-LOWRES.pdf (Download PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p><\/iframe>\n<p class=\"naviga-pdf-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/F-M3c3JSVKonOLSphzrGYx7NuFo.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2023HE-Amenity-Report-R3b-LOWRES.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI think a lot of reporting and coverage and attention gets paid to the troubles these places are facing, especially since the pandemic,\u201d said Megan Lawson, the lead researcher for outdoor recreation and public lands for Headwaters Economics. \u201cBut what I really got out of this was just how many communities are digging in deeply on these topics and getting really creative in tackling these issues. In the end I think the report weaves together all these different solutions that communities are trying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmenity Trap, How high-amenity communities can avoid being loved to death\u201d urges communities to develop robust fiscal policies along with plans for housing, infrastructure development and natural-disaster mitigation to help dodge the most acute problems caused by a sudden growth in residents and visitors.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=0ce903d0-b679-5316-8152-5330bca253a2&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"780\" height=\"538\" alt=\"Rocky Mountain Youth Corps members Jenny Green, far left, and Parker Smedley, far right, allow a hiker to pass through during the trail construction leading to the summit of Mount Elbert on Aug. 2, 2021, outside Leadville. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Rocky Mountain Youth Corps members Jenny Green, far left, and Parker Smedley, far right, allow a hiker to pass through during the trail construction leading to the summit of Mount Elbert on Aug. 2, 2021, outside Leadville. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Lawson hopes the report can be a one-stop shop for communities seeking to escape or avoid the amenity trap.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have so many examples in here because we want folks to possibly see themselves in another community anywhere across the country and give them a call,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cAsk what has worked, what hasn\u2019t, what advice do you have for us, what would you tweak?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Innovative policies in Colorado\u2019s smaller municipalities play a starring role in the report.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado\u2019s mountain towns have been on the frontlines of the amenity trap dilemma for decades. With innovative leaders in remote regions seeking any and all potential solutions to the repercussions of being loved to death, Larson sees a growing \u201copen-mindedness and willingness to explore different ways of doing things\u201d in rural Colorado enclaves.<\/p>\n<p>The pandemic amplified the long, sustained pressure in Colorado\u2019s mountain towns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it created opportunities to bring new folks to the table who are demanding action and changes to policies,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the people who have been in the trenches for ages. Now it\u2019s the business owners and the big employers who can\u2019t hire people and can\u2019t retain employees. There is a much broader group of people who are shining a light on these problems now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cColorado has been a laboratory for a long time,\u201d said Jon Stavney, the head of the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, an organization of high country leaders exploring progressive strategies to ease housing and labor problems in mountain communities.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, the NWCCOG and Colorado Association of Ski Towns conducted a survey of 4,700 residents in six mountain counties to study the impact of the pandemic on housing, rentals and high-country lifestyles.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=efad641e-59d0-5684-9f40-b6af9561d26c&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" alt=\"A tractor pulls a new modular home, wrapped in protective covering, from the Fading West building facility, Oct. 28, in Buena Vista. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">A tractor pulls a new modular home, wrapped in protective covering, from the Fading West building facility, Oct. 28, in Buena Vista. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/21041-Mtn-Migration-Report_v2-1.pdf\" id=\"link-91db477ff44de46b5dfa744af643346c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">70-page \u201cMountain Migration Report\u201d<\/a> showed wealthy new residents squeezing out locals and revealed the struggle of business owners seeking workers in tourism economies as well as the impacts of increased traffic in the backcountry.<\/p>\n<p>The survey showed overwhelming concern over the lack of attainable housing in the six, resort-anchored counties \u2014 Grand, Eagle, Pitkin, Routt, San Miguel and Summit \u2014 where only about half the homes are occupied by full-time residents and populations more than double during peak travel periods.<\/p>\n<p>The pressures in those communities is forcing leaders to explore first-ever plans, like programs in Winter Park and Breckenridge that pay property owners to switch short-term rentals over to homes for working locals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese kinds of policies show how acute the problem is right now,\u201d Stavney said. \u201cThese folks have permission to get this wrong because of trying. This is a learning-by-doing process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2022\/03\/31\/mountain-housing-crisis-real-estate-prices\/\" id=\"link-b9c87e3e9bbb69b3088be345f19797af\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">home prices in Colorado\u2019s mountain towns have more than doubled<\/a> as urban buyers flock to mountain regions during the pandemic. The Headwaters Economics report details how wealthy home buyers paying cash push more buyers into lower tier markets, where they can more easily outbid people who were maybe stretching to purchase homes, forcing them into a lower tier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis process will continue to the least expensive homes, and potential buyers of the least expensive homes will postpone homeownership and continue renting,\u201d reads the report, which calls the downward shuffling of home buyers \u201cthe housing bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=90ca2556-bb02-5d57-825a-7433dc4d80ff&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" alt=\"Construction for Kindred Resort, Keystone\u2019s hotel and condo mixed use development, replaces former Hunki Dori parking lot by the River Run Gondola, Oct. 3, near Dillon. The new resort, with total construction cost of $232.5 million, features 107 rooms and 95 luxury for-sale residences with one to four bedrooms. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Construction for Kindred Resort, Keystone\u2019s hotel and condo mixed use development, replaces former Hunki Dori parking lot by the River Run Gondola, Oct. 3, near Dillon. The new resort, with total construction cost of $232.5 million, features 107 rooms and 95 luxury for-sale residences with one to four bedrooms. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>The report\u2019s authors call for communities to develop housing plans alongside economic development plans and encourage states to deploy \u201cgrowth management laws to require or incentivize municipalities to incorporate housing with economic development plans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mountain towns in April aligned to <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2023\/04\/17\/land-use-colorado-opinion-zornio\/\" id=\"link-96d0d414634f1f9a37df325b4ebc7a23\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">voice concerns over a state plan<\/a> that imposed guidelines to guide local development. There is a wariness in Colorado\u2019s local governments that an overarching state plan may impede local control of growth. It takes a deft touch to craft statewide policies that protect the ability of local governments to respond to specific growth pressures, Stavney said.<\/p>\n<p>That state land use bill \u2014 it was called Senate Bill 213 \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2023\/05\/08\/land-use-bill-colorado-legislature\/\" id=\"link-838d932227d022d218c4f67d3dc91f99\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">did not make it out of the statehouse<\/a> this spring but some version of it <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2023\/05\/01\/land-use-housing-affordability-213-amendments-senate\/\" id=\"link-8bc5a3c9af690219a4ccdf55d0c97758\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">will likely come back around in the next legislative session<\/a>. Mountain towns are working with state lawmakers to fine tune statewide land use policies, Stavney said.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe the state can help more communities navigate around a statewide ban on new real estate transfer taxes, which Headwaters Economics suggests as a possible policy solution to funding housing in stressed communities. (There are 12 Colorado communities that approved real estate transfer taxes before voters approved the Taxpayer\u2019s Bill of Rights in 1992 and those towns are <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2022\/08\/22\/colorado-mountain-communities-real-estate-transfer-taxes\/\" id=\"link-753e3fee3de1ecd89935cb1fd64fa55e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">harvesting record revenues in the post-pandemic real estate boom<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe there\u2019s a way the state can help create different tax structures for primary homes and secondary homes in Colorado, Stavney said. There are ways a state can help local governments better address growth and the Headwaters Economics report helps to float ideas for shaping regional policies that include multiple municipalities that cross all kinds of borders, Stavney said.<\/p>\n<p>When communities are unable to supply housing for residents at all income levels, the Headwaters economists suggest regional coordination with neighboring communities, limiting vacation rentals and using modular construction to bring down costs of building new housing.<\/p>\n<p>The Headwaters Economic report points to Durango encouraging residents to build accessory dwelling units for local workers, the regional partnerships in the Summit Combined Housing Authority and modular home construction in Norwood as examples of housing programs that are working. The report trumpets Winter Park\u2019s short-term rental program as a way to encourage property owners to rent to locals, not vacationers. The Town of Vail\u2019s InDeed deed-restriction program is offered as another strategy for creating attainable housing.<\/p>\n<p>Stavney sees the Headwaters Economics suggestion to develop multijurisdictional regional housing plans as the next step for many of his members in the NWCCOG, with county leaders working with neighbors in other counties to develop and fund housing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is the next step we are heading toward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The research urges smaller communities to look beyond other similar-sized towns for answers to vexing growth problems. Lawson said metro areas can be models for corralling growth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a dawning recognition that these rural places are dealing with big city problems,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cHaving that open-mindedness to look at big urban centers for ideas is key. How are Seattle, San Francisco and New York dealing with these issues? My hope and one of the goals of this paper is to bring some of these urban concepts to the smaller towns and rural audience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/\" id=\"link-8c7ed9f2c62a15ddd958c9f691580020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em id=\"emphasis-884a12423a71342c670cabeda0f22457\">The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>out a way communities can escape confounding stresses in rural, amenity-rich regions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,374,11,28,929,453],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-33648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-economic-development","tag-economy-general","tag-headlines","tag-house-building","tag-housing-and-urban-planning"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82284,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33648\/revisions\/82284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33648"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=33648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}