Conductor Carl Topilow closes out 41st season with National Repertory Orchestra

#Breckenridge #Colorado

Summit Daily

Summit Daily Link

About to close out his 41st season as the principal conductor for the National Repertory OrchestraFriday, Carl Topilow says he's is looking forward to many more.

Founder of the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Topilow is known for his exceptional versatility, which blends a wide variety of music genres. He began his career with the NRO as its assistant conductor from 1972-75. Technically speaking, that means he's been with the group for 46 years now.

He admits that sounds like "a substantial amount of time," but the more someone talks to him the more it seems as if he's not feeling it the least bit.

"I'm used to the altitude and attitude and everything it takes to make this program successful," he said. "I've enjoyed what I do very much, and I personally don't see any stopping."

Comprised of 89 gifted young musicians from around the world, the NRO is about to close out its 59th season and 26th in Breckenridge.

After tonight's season finale, they will have performed almost two-dozen full orchestral concerts and 22 free chamber concert series events within Summit County this summer alone.

The NRO will close out the season with "Symphony No. 2" by Sergei Rachmaninoff, the kind of challenging piece that the orchestra loves to perform.

But Topilow remembers the group's humble beginnings, when they were inside the Marshdale Lodge in Evergreen. Calling the lodge "rustic" might be an understatement, but somehow they made it all work.

"We had great musicians and we all managed," Topilow recalled.

In 1987, the NRO moved to Keystone and then Breckenridge in 1993, the same year the Riverwalk Center was built. In Evergreen, the orchestra had to play at a high school auditorium some years, but in moving to Breckenridge, it was a big leap forward for the group.

"Just to have our own space with the magnificent Riverwalk Center, it was a tremendous step up," Topilow said of the 750-seat venue.

Along the way, he's worked with some amazing talents, too. Trumpeters like Michael Sachs and David Bilger, who went on to become the principal players of the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, respectively, are just two examples.

Now the NRO puts on a minimum of two different orchestral programs a week, which is a high volume, especially for orchestra music, and unique among summer festivals.

Despite the heavy workload, the NRO remains in the top echelon of summer festivals, said Topilow, who every year looks forward to putting on a fresh lineup of concerts.

"It's pretty exciting stuff," he said. "I really enjoy it immensely."

To maintain such a feverish pace, the NRO relies on annually recruiting some of the top talent across the country, positioning representatives all over the U.S. and holding hundreds upon hundreds of auditions in places like New York, Los Angeles and everywhere in between.

They have NRO representatives at "all the big music sites" and at all the big music schools, Topilow said, which is one major reason he thinks the NRO has been so blessed to have such a high caliber of talent.

The conductor stands at the helm, but Topilow knows "it's a big team that puts us in the position to succeed."

With that, he's quick to credit to the board of directors, NRO staff and the audiences who've enjoyed so many of their shows. Without them, the NRO wouldn't be such a "top notch" summer festival, and people otherwise probably wouldn't be so interested in auditioning for the group.

For the principal conductor and music director, it always comes back to the talent they put on stage.

"We always have been blessed with a lot of very talented folks to join our orchestra and it's been quite something," he said. "The quality has been maintained over the years … It was never bad, but it's only gotten better and better. To do high-quality programing like this, it's important to have musicians who can handle all that's involved with it."

As for when he might consider retirement, Topilow isn't ready to even start thinking about it yet.

"Nope. How's that for an answer?" he said. "I feel great, my health is terrific, and I thrive on that mountain air."

Mini cell phone towers might be coming to Frisco

#Frisco #Colorado

Summit Daily Link

Overheard at the Summit County Commissioner's work session meeting on Tuesday: Small cellular facilities, basically mini cell towers, might be coming to Frisco. The facilities are meant to supplement cell coverage in a small geographical area. Verizon Wireless has started the process of applying for a license to operate several of these 17-cubic-foot facilities on Frisco's Main Street, which has become notorious for spotty cell coverage. The county commissioners gave planning staff approval to start working with Verizon to see what such an arrangement would look like, and there is no timeline for when or if the facilities will be installed

Other cities — like Denver and Longmont — are already using small cellular facilities to supplement tower coverage in areas of spotty or high data use.

Summit County denies rock-crushing permit on Tiger Road, but fears for future of river restoration

#Breckenridge #Colorado

Summit Daily

Summit Daily Link

Summit County's Board of County Commissioners were stuck quite uncomfortably between a rock and a hard place Tuesday. They ultimately sided with residents of Tiger Road by denying a permit appeal that would have allowed Peak Materials to mill rocks on Mascot Placer into gravel for sale elsewhere. The decision may slow down or jeopardize the Swan River Restoration Project, as the Mascot Placer is a key portion of the project that needs to be cleared and restored.

The commissioners' meeting room ran out of standing space as residents waited for hours to voice their disapproval. Peak sought to open a new gravel operation concurrent with the county's operation at William Placer, which residents fear would prolong and exacerbate the truck nightmare they've been living with for two years.

The hearing began with senior county planner Dan Osborn recommending that the commissioners deny Peak a conditional use permit based on the uncertainty to the amount of truck traffic that would be generated by the milling operation.

In defending the recommendation, Osborn cited a portion of the county's land use code requiring existing infrastructure to support the use being applied for, or that the applicant provides it. In this case, Osborn said his staff believed that Peak's additional truck traffic would create a negative cumulative effect for Tiger Road, which is a "collector" road meant for residential use.

Peak, through its representative Joanna Hopkins, disagreed with the county staff assessment. Peak argued that the current truck traffic issue was caused by the county. The company said it would start with few trucks and gradually increase over time as county trucks going to the Williams Placer decreased, resulting in the same road traffic. County Manager Scott Vargo later pointed out that no timeline was guaranteed, and there was a chance that more trucks could very well wind up on the road.

Peak also introduced consultants to prove that Tiger Road can handle the truck traffic and that existing road damage was caused by weather, not trucks. Thus, there should be no cumulative effect on the road infrastructure.

Peaks' attorney, Bob Gregory, pointed out that the county has not imposed any limitations for its own conditional use permit for Williams Placer, allowing its own contractor's trucks to freely haul material. By denying Peak a permit, Gregory argued that the county would be choosing its own operation over Peak.

"Denial would be abuse of this board's discretion," Gregory said.

For the water conservation side, Jennifer Hopkins of the Blue River Watershed Group and Greg Hardy of Trout Unlimited both asked the commissioners to approve the permit, saying a denial would threaten the Swan River Restoration project and its grand ambition to rejoin two vital watersheds, as well as deny $1.5 million in in-kind donations promised by Peak to offset costs for the project.

However, that's all the support Peak had at the hearing. Over a dozen Tiger Road residents went to the podium to vent the frustration they've been living with for years.

Jerry Belver said that he "felt trapped in his own home" because he had to close his windows and not be able to use his deck from all the noise being generated.

Pamela O'Neill and her husband Jack echoed that sentiment, saying the 2,000 property owners near Tiger Road had a right to enjoy their property.

Deb Spears, a cyclist, said that the road doesn't have enough room for both trucks and cyclists. Anne Marie Chapin added that her grandkids biked down the road and she didn't think it was safe for them.

Laurel Harris said that she was delayed getting to the hearing because a truck hit her garbage can.

"I saw in real life what it takes a truck to stop," Harris said. "That truck had 140 feet to brake to a stop and it couldn't do it."

After the parade of comments ended, the commissioners had to come to a decision, and it was begrudgingly unanimous: the Upper Blue planning commission's denial of the permit was upheld.

Commissioner Karn Stiegelmeier said that despite how important the Swan River Restoration is, she could not feel comfortable allowing the permit given the cumulative impact on Tiger Road, as well as the impact on residents and the safety concerns they raised. She was also not satisfied with the mitigation strategy proposed by Peak.

Commissioner Thomas Davidson agreed with his colleague on upholding the permit denial, but did so very reluctantly. Davidson agreed that subjecting Tiger Road residents to the possibility of more truck traffic was unfair, but also expressed his dismay that the Swan River Restoration might be threatened, as it was a huge benefit for the community as well as Tiger Road residents.

"It's really painful to say no to this," Davidson said. "We're taking a risk that we'll never see the last reach restored the way we hoped."

Davidson added that the state's gravel operations would continue unimpeded, and the booming economy meant that material would be hauled out and cause an inconvenience anyway.

Commissioner Dan Gibbs put in the final "no" vote for the same reasons given by his fellow commissioners, the Upper Blue planning commission and county planning staff. However, he pointed out to Chapin, who was worried about her grandkids' safety with the trucks, about what the future stood to lose if the Swan River Restoration was halted.

"In a generation from now, people might think, 'Why didn't they finish it?'" Gibbs said. "Your grandkids would be missing out on that legacy."

In signing the resolution ending Pike's appeal process, Gibbs left on a optimistic note.

"I do think Swan River Restoration will go ahead, and that this is just a speed bump along the way," he said.

#Colorado

Western States Lead Single-family Residential Permits Growth, Northeast Lags

By Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington on July 16, 2018 • (0)

Over the first five months of 2018, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 363,327. On a year-over-year basis, this is an 8.0% increase over the May 2017 level of 336,410. The results from the SOC are similar, year-to-date single-family permits over the first five months of 2018 was, 363,700 which is 8.6% ahead of its level over the same period of 2017, 335,000*.

Year-to-date, across the country, single-family permits grew in all the regions except in the Northeast where it declined by 1.0% compared to May 2017 YTD. Out of the nine Northeastern states, only three, New Hampshire, New York, and Pennsylvania recorded an increase in single-family permit growth during this time while the other six states declined. Western region had the highest growth in single-family while South recorded the highest multifamily permits growth during the last 12 months.
Between May 2017 YTD and May 2018 YTD, 33 states saw growth in single-family permits issued while 17 states and the District of Columbia registered a decline. Colorado recorded the highest growth rate during this time at 28.7% while single-family permits in the District of Columbia declined by 72.8%, but from a small base, from 180 in 2017 to 49 in 2018. 
In the single-family sector, Texas led with 53,293 permits issued year-to-date in May 2018 and Florida came in second with 39,173 during this time. Meanwhile the lowest number came from the District of Columbia with 49 permits.  The 10 states issuing the highest number of single-family permits combined accounted for 61.0% of the single-family permits issued.
The 8.0% increase in the nationwide growth rate of year-to-date single-family permits, is largely due to the aggregate increase in single-family permits across the Western states. Out of the 13 which are classified as Western states, nine states recorded single-family permit growth exceeding the national average. A total of 20 states recorded growth rates higher than the national average. Nine of these came from the Western region of the county, seven from the South, and three from the Midwest. New Hampshire was the lone state to record single-family permit growth higher than the national rate from the Northeast region.
Year-to-date, ending in May 2018, the total number of multifamily permits issued nationwide reached 187,605. This is 13.3% ahead of its level over the first five month of 2017, 165,645. The increase in nationwide growth rate is due to the increases across Southern and Western states which posted growth rates of 17.9% and 17.0% respectively. The results from the SOC show an increase of 9.5% in multifamily permits over the first five months of 2018, 186,900 compared to the same period of 2017, 170,700.
Between May 2017 YTD and May 2018 YTD, 34 states recorded growth while 16 states and the District of Columbia recorded a decline in multifamily permits. Rhode Island lead the way with a growth rate of 365.2%, from 23 to 107, while Mississippi had the largest decline of 85.9% from 866 to 122.

Mortgage rates remain "flat."

#Colorado

Mortgage rates remained flat this week, likely due to a lack of construction activity, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market survey.

Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said mortgage rates moved sideways, primarily because of the mixed bag of economic data released this week.
“Manufacturing output and consumer spending showed improvements, but construction activity was a disappointment,” Khater said. “This meant there was no driving force to move mortgage rates in any meaningful way, which has been the theme in the last two months. That’s good news for price sensitive home shoppers, given that this stability in borrowing costs allows them a little extra time to find the right home.”

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“Unfortunately, don’t expect much relief from the tight inventory conditions plaguing many markets,” Khater added. “As seen again last month, new home construction is not picking up to meet demand, and as a result, home prices are still rising at double the pace of income growth.”

(Source: Freddie Mac)

According to the report, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.52% for the week ending July 19, 2018, down from 4.53% last week, and up from 3.96% last year.
The 15-year FRM fell to an average 4% this week, down from last week when it averaged 4.02%. This time last year, the 15-year FRM was 3.23%.

The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.87% for this week, up from 3.86% last week, and up from this time last year when it was 3.21%



Mortgage rates remained flat this week, likely due to a lack of construction activity, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market survey.

Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said mortgage rates moved sideways, primarily because of the mixed bag of economic data released this week.

“Manufacturing output and consumer spending showed improvements, but construction activity was a disappointment,” Khater said. “This meant there was no driving force to move mortgage rates in any meaningful way, which has been the theme in the last two months. That’s good news for price sensitive home shoppers, given that this stability in borrowing costs allows them a little extra time to find the right home.”

“Unfortunately, don’t expect much relief from the tight inventory conditions plaguing many markets,” Khater added. “As seen again last month, new home construction is not picking up to meet demand, and as a result, home prices are still rising at double the pace of income growth.”

(Source: Freddie Mac)

According to the report, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.52% for the week ending July 19, 2018, down from 4.53% last week, and up from 3.96% last year.
The 15-year FRM fell to an average 4% this week, down from last week when it averaged 4.02%. This time last year, the 15-year FRM was 3.23%.

The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.87% for this week, up from 3.86% last week, and up from this time last year when it was 3.21%

Voluntary fishing closures in place for several rivers near Summit County

#Colorado

Michael Yearout Photography

Summit Daily Link

Due to high water temperatures and low flows, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is implementing voluntary fishing closures from 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. on sections of the Eagle River, Colorado River, Crystal River and Roaring Fork River. The fishing closure is effective immediately, until further notice.

Although anglers are not legally prohibited from fishing in these stretches, CPW is asking anglers to fish early in the day and find alternative places to fish until conditions improve.

Sections for the voluntary fishing closures include:

Eagle River from Wolcott downstream to its confluence with the Colorado River.

Colorado River from State Bridge downstream to Rifle.

Crystal River from Avalanche Creek downstream to its confluence with the Roaring Fork River.

Roaring Fork River from Carbondale downstream to its confluence with the Colorado River.

CPW will place signs along the four sections of rivers to notify anglers and encourage them to consider fishing at higher elevation lakes and streams where environmental factors are much less severe, particularly during the afternoons and evenings.

If current conditions persist, CPW may consider further fishing restrictions which could include all-day voluntary fishing closures or mandatory fishing closures.

CPW recommends anglers contact their local CPW office for the most recent information relative to fishing closures, conditions and opportunities.

For more information contact the Glenwood Springs CPW office at 970-947-2920.

Summit County struggles to keep up with workload from chipping program

#Summit County #Colorado

Summit Daily

Summit Daily Link

Summit County's chipping program has become a victim of its own success, as the county tries to catch up with the sheer volume of wood left out by residents in the program's fifth year.

The program, which started in 2014 to encourage homeowners to create defensible space against wildfire, has the county sending chipping teams to pick up trees and branches cut and discarded by homeowners to chip them on-site and haul the material away.

Dan Schroder, director of the CSU county extension office overseeing the program, said that this has been the most popular year for chipping so far, seeing double the participation of years past.

"In the first week of the program, we had a 43 percent increase in chipping volume over last year," Schroder said. "But because of that increased initial volume and more homes to cover, we've fallen behind schedule."

The chipping program began on June 26. Crews have been doing the rounds, going to every residential street in the area looking for piles to pick up, process and take away. Some may have noticed their piles not picked up yet and Schroder assures residents that they will be eventually.

"We thank the public for their participation and are asking them to be patient," Schroder said. "We know there are slash piles out there and we will get to them as soon as we can."

Summit County Commissioner Dan Gibbs said that the chipping personnel is being doubled on Monday from four to eight to deal with the workload.

"Our chipping contractor has been putting in a tremendous amount of work, with crews operating on evenings and weekends to address this incredible volume," Gibbs said. "We're in the process of adding more capacity, in the form of labor and equipment, so that we can get caught up."

Chipping programs have become increasingly popular in wildfire-prone areas around the country. Aside from the homeowner benefit of creating defensible space around their homes, firefighters have fewer homes to worry about defending if a wildfire manages to reach neighborhoods.

"We've been asking people for years to help with wildfire prevention by creating defensible spaces, and it seems there's now a widespread buy-in to this idea," Schroder said.

Gibbs thanked homeowners for their patience and the work they've put in to reduce fuels on their properties.

"We know the community is out there working hard too," Gibbs said. "It takes real elbow grease to get out there and remove that flammable vegetation from around your homes. We absolutely recognize that, and we salute everyone for their efforts."

For anyone who left their piles out on schedule, but never saw them picked up by the following Sunday, the chipping program offers a missed chipping pile form that can be submitted online. The form will note a missing pile's address and make sure it is hit on subsequent runs. The form is available at the chipping program's website, CO.Summit.CO.US/chipping.

The county reminds homeowners that improperly stacked piles and any piles stacked after 8 a.m. on Monday may not be identified or collected. The county will collect piles that meet the following guidelines:

Stack piles neatly (no bags), with the large ends of branches facing the road.

Place piles within 5 feet of the roadway, but not touching the road or in drainage ditches.

Maximum pile size is 5 feet high, 5 feet wide and 5 feet long. There is no limit on the number of piles you may put out. If you have more than 20 piles, please notify the county one week prior to your chipping week.

After crews have removed your pile, clear away any remaining branches, needles and debris.

Do not combine piles with neighbors' piles or place piles in other neighborhoods.

If you would like to keep your chips, tie a piece of red yarn or flagging in a prominent spot on the pile.

After 2017 cancellation, more than 4,000 come out for Triple Bypass 30th anniversary

#Colorado

Summit Daily

Summit Daily Link

The Peak 2 fire prevented the 2017 Triple Bypass tour from passing through Summit County. Though this summer has been scarred with several dangerous fires and an ongoing Stage 2 ban throughout the mountains, the 2018 Triple Bypass went off without a hitch on Saturday.

This time more than 4,000 riders took part.

Under partly cloudy skies and pedaling in beautiful dry conditions in the sixties, the full 120-mile ride traversed from Buchanan Park in Evergreen before reaching the first of the original three bypasses for which the event is named, Squaw Pass, at 16.2 miles. Riders then climbed to the second checkpoint at 38.7 miles, the Georgetown Easter Seals Camp. This was also the five-mile mark for those competing in the Double Bypass, a shorter, 75-mile excursion from Georgetown to Avon.

Cyclists then targeted the Continental Divide and the second of the three traditional passes, Loveland Pass, reaching the event's third checkpoint at 56.1 miles and 12.8 miles from the event's Georgetown start.

Riders then descended into Summit County and down toward Sapphire Point for an immaculate view of Lake Dillon and both the Ten Mile and Gore Ranges, reaching the fourth checkpoint 74.6 miles into the ride and 31.3 miles from the Georgetown start. The riders circled the backside of the lake via Swan Mountain Road before arriving at the fifth checkpoint, Copper Mountain Resort, at mile-marker 87.5.

It was at Copper Mountain where those partaking in the 30-mile Single Bypass from Copper to Avon began pedaling up and over the full Triple Bypass' mile-marker 92.7 at the summit of Vail Pass.

After re-fueling one final time at Vail Pass, all riders descended the hill to the finish line at Nottingham Park in Avon.

Breckenridge Music Festival’s orchestra takes stage Thursday

#Breckenridge #Colorado

Summit Daily

Summit Daily Link

After the first performance this summer for the Breckenridge Music Festival on Tuesday, organizers are bringing "Danzmayr conducts Mozart" to the Riverwalk Center in Breckenridge this Thursday.

The performance featuring David Danzmayr as guest conductor goes from 7:30-9:15 p.m., as he will lead the music festival's first orchestra concert of the season. Additionally, his wife, Kathrin, will be signing soprano.

The performance is inspired by the Luminous theme, and will compare the radiance of Mozart's youthful and energetic music to Osvaldo Golijov's evocative and lamenting compositions, including "Three Songs," a melody composed in memory of a close friend that celebrates the luster of life, according to the nonprfit group.

The Breckenridge Music Festival stand as the core summer festival for the nonprofit Breckenridge Music, and the festival is built upon a 45-piece, resident chamber orchestra that performs from mid-July through mid-August.

Thursday night's concert will also honor Schmitt Piano Competition winners 14-year-old Jason Cui and 16-year-old Pearl Enssle.

Tickets are $25-$40. Purchase them online at BreckenridgeMusicFestival.com or by calling the box office at 970-547-3100.

Silverthorne eyes new regulations for short-term rentals

#Silverthorne #Colorado

Summit Daily

Summit Daily Link

As Silverthorne dives into the arduous task of regulating short-term rentals, local officials are a long way from uncharted water. Exactly which route they may take, however, has yet to be decided.

With the rapid growth in the short-term vacation rental industry, Silverthorne is intent on crafting new regulations that town staff hope will be effective and enforceable.

Many local governments have undertaken similar efforts, and for a Wednesday work session devoted to STRs in Silverthorne, town staff prepared an informational packet detailing for town council existing regulations in Minturn, Salida, Manitou Springs, Georgetown, the Estes Valley, Durango, Crested Butte, Frisco, Vail and Breckenridge.

Silverthorne officials are trying to take stakeholders into consideration such as the property owners who own the units and those who live next to them while they look to rein in the burgeoning industry.

The town doesn't want to forget about the business owners managing Silverthorne's STRs, nor do they want to create an uneven playing field for the businesses that have to compete against them. Neighborhood and homeowners associations and the people most affected by Summit County's housing crunch were also brought up during conversations.

During the work session, some consensus emerged among council's members and they framed the push to better regulate STRs as an effort that will come on two distinct fronts.

The first actions people are likely to see will be administrative in nature, concerning things like licensing, the fee structure and town code.

The bigger discussion, council said, is one its members don't feel comfortable deciding without more community input. It could mean restrictive actions like limiting the areas eligible for STRs, how often they might be allowed to rent them out or capping the number of STRs allowed in specific neighborhoods or the town altogether.

While town council isn't ready to make any decisions about caps, its members generally favored creating a separate business license in place of the standard business license that's currently required of STRs and hiring an outside company to identify unlicensed businesses operating in town.

Town staff said they aren't looking to make any profits with a new business license just for STRs, and corresponding fee structure, but they'd like to recoup the town's administrative costs from managing STRs by accounting for things like monitoring and the additional time staff spends on STRs that's uncommon to most local businesses.

"With business licensing, sales tax and lodging tax, there's a lot of staff time involved with that," said Laura Kennedy, Silverthorne's director of finance and administrative services, to town council. "It isn't your typical business that would have an accountant running the show."

Council was also favorable for requiring that business license numbers be included in STR advertisements, like Breckenridge currently does. This helps identify properties that have not obtained proper licensing or the owners not remitting sales and lodging taxes back to the town.

Requiring that STRs have a local contact within a specified response time to address complaints was another topic of discussion. Many council members voiced that they could support some kind of complaint-escalation process that revokes the business licenses for STRs if there are repeated complaints.

Summit County is also working on regulations regarding STRs that would apply to properties in unincorporated areas of the county, and Silverthorne is keeping a keen eye on that conversation, too.

There were also questions during Wednesday's work session about assessing STRs at the commercial tax rate. Silverthorne does not currently assess a property tax, but the one bed-and-breakfast in town pays an assessment rate in line with a mixed residential and commercial property, whereas STR properties are generally treated as residential entities.

Toward the end of the workshop, council asked the handful of people who attended the meeting about their interest in the topic. One man who lives in Silverthorne said STRs are destroying his neighborhood and, at least to him, they seem like commercial entities.

"I feel the sense of community is gone," the man said as he talked about the housing crisis and a shortage of workers.

Speaking from a very different perspective, a woman who rents out a room in her home told council that if the regulations are too restrictive and encompass all STRs, including owner-occupied rentals, people like her could be forced to give up that piece of their income, even though she said she only rents out the room a few months out of the year and carefully screens all of her guests.

"We're a smaller subset of the VRBO community," the woman said, "but there are a few people out there that, you know, if it became so burdensome or the license was $750, we would probably consider not doing it."

Some residents ‘skeptical’ of Silverthorne’s plans to slow traffic downtown

#Silverthorne #Colorado

Summit Daily

Summit Daily Link

Split down the middle of the Silverthorne Pavilion, a well-attended community forum on Thursday night focused half the room on a major downtown development and the other half on a closely related Highway 9 traffic plan. Public opinion concerning the overarching goal of the two projects, however, was all over the map.

On one side of the room, representatives of Milender White, the company chosen to pursue the Fourth Street Crossing project, were offering the latest updates on the project that is framed as a major piece of Silverthorne's future that starts with razing almost everything between Third and Fourth streets, west of Highway 9, for a new mixed-use development.

On the other, town staff and a group of consultants with the Denver-based firm Felsburg Holt & Ullevigwere dishing out details about how they plan to knock down traffic speeds on Highway 9 and make the highly traveled route fronting Fourth Street Crossing feel more like a "Main Street."

"I think it really indicates the interest everybody has in seeing something happen downtown," said Silverthorne town manager Ryan Hyland of Thursday night's turnout. "People have been very patient over the years waiting for the delivery of a vibrant downtown."

Many residents came to the community forum with their own ideas and comment cards filled small wicker baskets about as fast as town staff could empty them.

The town hired the Denver-based consulting firm last summer to help craft a Highway 9 traffic plan and together they've been working on it for roughly a year now, according to Silverthorne Public Works director Tom Daugherty. A lot of different ideas have been kicked around and everything will ultimately need Colorado Department of Transportation approval, but Daugherty believes some new ideas would likely emerge from the forum.

During the gathering Holly Buck of Felsburg Holt & Ullevig went down a bullet-point list of 12 recommendations included in the traffic plan and told the crowd that the town and its consultants have considered everything from on-street parking and pedestrian crossings to signal lights and reducing speed limits.

To slow drivers, she said, they plan keep all four lanes on Highway 9 through Silverthorne, but narrow their widths to 11 feet each while reducing the 35-foot median to 16 feet. The highway is quite wide through Silverthorne and with the narrowing there could be more room for improvements like new planters, landscaping, large sidewalks and even patios for potential downtown restaurants, Buck said.

"What you don't see on state Highway 9 are bike lanes or any kind of a bike facility," she continued, describing how the planners have heard "pretty loud and clear" that the community wants bike lanes, just not along the highway.

"One of the things we've been working with CDOT on is how we can use the road design to really slow people down naturally," Buck added, referencing a proposed bend in the highway at Sixth Street. The design feature won't quite slow cars like a roundabout, but would be enough to make most drivers check their speeds. The town also anticipates having new gateway features that alert people coming into town from the north and south ends that they've entered a downtown area.

On Third Street, an atypically large right-of-way offers an opportunity to create a "southern edge for the town core," according to town planners, with a planted median and angled on-street parking. Drivers coming in by way of Kremmling would then know they've "entered the town core" simply by looking down Third Street, Buck said.

"We also know that there have been a couple pedestrian and vehicle incidents in the last year so that is a real priority, to make sure that we improve the safety of crossing state Highway 9," she said.

Hearing the town is looking at parallel parking at select places along Highway 9, one forum attendee was highly "skeptical" drivers won't have problems pulling in and out of the parking spaces, especially given the high volume of traffic on the highway. In the same vein, a woman told town planners a long line of ideling cars would be a major drawback for anyone trying to enjoy lunch outside a restaurant on the highway.

A couple who live north of the Fourth Street Crossing project also expressed their concerns about how the development might affect traffic, especially since cars are already stacking up for blocks in the direction of their home.

"I don't think they're addressing it," the husband said of the traffic problems on Highway 9. "But they can't; the problem is I-70. If you can't get the cars onto I-70 faster … that's not going to help anything. But I don't know ( if the town's plans are) going to hurt anything, either."

As far as the overall direction of downtown development, "the jury's still out," the couple said. They think the concepts are "beautiful," but said they are holding off final judgment until cost estimates come to light and they better understand how all of these ideas might come to fruition when the town starts moving dirt.

While fielding questions, Hyland acknowledged he's been hearing a number of concerns recently, mainly over on-street parking and slowing speeds along Highway 9. He said those feelings are natural, but he also hopes that, like the couple has done, people will see the interchange with I-70 as the primary culprit for Silverthorne's congestion, and not attach those problems to efforts to dramatically remake its downtown area.

Tappable equity sets new record

#Colorado

Michael Yearout Photography

Tappable equity ballooned by more than $380 billion in the first quarter, according to new data from Black Knight Inc. The first quarter data represents the largest single-quarter growth since Black Knight began tracking the metric in 2005, while the $5.8 trillion in total tappable equity held by homeowners with mortgages is 16 percent above the mid-2006 peak, setting a new record.

 

Tappable equity is defined as the share of equity available for homeowners with mortgages to borrow against before reaching a maximum total combined loan-to-value ratio of 80 percent. Black Knight noted that the average mortgage holder gained $14,700 in tappable equity over the past year and has $113,900 in total.

 

However, the quantity of available equity did not automatically spur new usage. Black Knight also noted that the amount withdrawn in the first quarter fell nearly 7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017, with only 1.17 percent of available equity being tapped—the lowest share since the first quarter of 2014 and the second lowest quarterly share since the beginning of the housing recovery. And the $35 billion withdrawn via home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) in the first quarter marked a two-year low.

 

“In the first quarter of 2018, homeowners with mortgages withdrew $63 billion in equity via cash-out refinances or HELOCs,” said Ben Graboske, Executive Vice President of Black Knight’s Data & Analytics Division. “That represents a slight one percent increase from the same time last year, despite the fact that the amount of equity available for homeowners to borrow against increased by 16 percent over the same time period. Collectively, American homeowners now have $5.8 trillion in tappable equity available.”

 

Graboske added that one key reason behind the drop in HELOC equity utilization was “increasing spread between first-lien mortgage interest rates, which are tied most closely to 10-year Treasury yields, and those of HELOCs which are more closely tied to the federal funds rate. As of late last year, the difference between a HELOC rate and a first-lien rate had widened to 1.5 percent, the widest spread we’ve seen since we began comparing the two rates 10 years ago. The distance between the two has closed somewhat in the second quarter as 30-year mortgage rates have been on the rise, which does suggest the market remains ripe for relatively low-risk HELOC lending expansion.”

Peak 8 hotel gets green light from council

#Breckenridge #Colorado

Summit Daily

Summit Daily Link

The developers seeking to build a branded, luxury hotel and 50 wholly owned condos at the base of Peak 8 in Breckenridge have secured the development agreement they need after more than eight months of negotiations.

The proposed project was framed as Breckenridge's best chance to "finish Peak 8 the right way," though many of the details in the development agreement that passed Tuesday night didn't change too much from the draft that failed last February.

The developers made a handful of key concessions between then and now. With that, what began as a highly contentious issue breezed through Breckenridge Town Council on second reading with a 7-0 vote.

The proposal first surfaced in public last November when the development team comprised of the local company Breckenridge Grand Vacations and the Miami-based real estate investment firm Lionheart Capital announced they would seek an unprecedented increase in the allowable density through a development agreement with the town.

The land is in a prime position at the base of Peak 8 with a resort administration building currently residing on site. The owner of Breckenridge Ski Resort, Vail Resorts, also owns the property off Skill Hill Road, adjacent to One Ski Hill Pace. Under an agreement with the developers, the resort will sell them the land so they could build the hotel and condos, and a subsidiary of Vail Resorts will manage hotel operations once it's been built.

While the property at the base of Peak 8 comes with enough density to accommodate a 150-key luxury hotel, the developers were looking to exceed that with the addition of 110,000 square feet of wholly owned condominiums which they have said are a necessary component to making the deal work.

Originally, the developers were looking to buy the additional density from a program that preserves backcountry space by stripping backcountry land of its development rights and allowing those rights to be moved elsewhere in town where elected officials feel upzoning might be more appropriate.

Density was the single biggest hang up and the developers addressed that issue by working out a deal with Vail Resorts, at council's request, to have the additional density for the condos come off the resort-owned parking lots in town. The effect was no net gain in the allowable development in town.

Other pot-sweeteners also helped push passage of the development agreement that Breckenridge's elected officials said they couldn't support only months earlier.

Councilwoman Erin Gigliello had told the development team she would like "a home run." She got it with the developers inking a side deal, giving Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, the nonprofit group that helps individuals with disabilities enjoy outdoor activities., 1,500 square feet of locker-room and storage facilities at the base of Peak 8.

The creation of a new environmental improvement fund to help protect Cucumber Gulch — supported by a $2 fee attached to hotel room rentals for 20 years — was another nice perk for the town that came out of the developers' second run at the agreement. In recent discussions, council asked the developers to increase the sunset clause, which was originally 10 years, but wasn't a problem and the development team essentially told the council to name the number.

The new fund comes on top of a $125,000 gift, also for the preservation of Cucumber Gulch, that the developers had included in the initial proposal.

Other guarantees included limiting the height of the proposed development below what the developers could have likely gotten approved through town code and abandoning the use of Saw Mill Run Road.

Securing Councilwoman Wendy Wolfe's support was key, too. Getting it meant satisfying three specific stipulations she put forth — including that the project must come with new workforce housing units, the agreement contain controls to limit its impacts on Ski Hill Road and that the whole project be thoroughly vetted in the community.

Before voting to support the project, she said all of those boxes had been checked.

April saw the election and appointment of two new councilmen, Gary Gallagher and Dick Carleton, though Gallagher has served on council before.

Still, both men came into office publically opposing the project at Peak 8, either through statements made at council meetings or via letters to council. However, they later reversed their position after meeting with the development team and attending community forums for the project.

Complicating matters for the developer's first run at the development agreement was then-Councilman Mike Dudick's position as the CEO and co-owner of BGV.

With his company spearheading the project, Dudick had to recuse himself from council discussions involving the Peak 8 project — and any related matters — often sitting in a hallway outside council chambers, gagged and unable to contribute as his colleagues picked at the project.

In April, however, Dudick resigned from his position on council, citing perceived conflicts of interest regarding the project on Peak 8 and BGV's plans to get into workforce housing, which often involves negotiations with the town. Dudick's resignation also allowed him to come back into the conversation as a developer and as a private citizen.

On Wednesday, Dudick said he believed his resignation helped move the development agreement along after it failed the first time, but he said he didn't want to go too deep into specifics.

"I think me resigning was the right choice for the company and for the community," he said, adding that he believes he can still accomplish many of the same things he set out to do when he ran for town council working "from the sidelines."