Summit County given one week to improve virus case numbers

 #Breckenridge #Colorado

Summit County released its third amended public health order in the span of one week Thursday, Oct. 29, implementing further restrictions to quell the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Under the new order, outdoor events are capped at 75 people with indoor events being capped at 25 people. An event is different than a gathering, which is currently capped at six people from no more than two households.

People who want to host an in-person event — such as a wedding reception, concert or fundraiser — have to use the state’s physical distancing calculator to determine how many people can fit in the venue space. Previously, outdoor events were capped at 175 people, with indoor events limited to 100 people.

At a Summit County Board of Health meeting Thursday, Oct. 29, Public Health Director Amy Wineland gave an update on the county’s consultation with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. 

In that meeting, state officials gave the county one week to improve case numbers or risk moving into safer-at-home Level 3, which is labeled “high risk.”

Breckenridge passes plastic bag ban on first reading

 

BRECKENRIDGE — A plastic bag ban is coming to Breckenridge.

Breckenridge Town Council members unanimously passed an ordinance on first reading Tuesday, Oct. 27, that bans plastic bags beginning Sept. 1, 2021. The topic has been discussed in other Summit County municipalities, but Breckenridge is the first town to begin the legislative process of banning plastic bags. 

Until Sept. 1, the current disposable bag ordinance, which charges 10 cents for paper and plastic bags, stands. After Sept. 1, only paper bags made from a minimum of 40% recycled content can be distributed for a 10-cent fee. The ordinance establishes distributing plastic bags, or paper bags that don’t meet the 40% recycled content criteria, as unlawful.

Mayor Eric Mamula noted that waiting until fall of next year to ban plastic bags will give businesses time to get rid of the plastic bags they currently have in stock.

Exceptions to the rules include produce and meat bags, bulk item packaging, prescription drug bags and small bags for loose retail items such as jewelry, spices and marijuana. However, the exemption for plastic bags that are 2.25 millimeters thick no longer applies. 

Farmers markets, which originally were exempt from the disposable bag fee, are included in the new disposable bag ordinance. Jessie Burley, Breckenridge Sustainability Coordinator, said in her memo to council that farmers markets have been included in the ordinance “in order to discourage the use of disposable bags across all retail venues” and noted that farmers market vendors require the same business license registration and sales tax remittance as retail stores. 

At restaurants, bags used for takeout orders cannot be plastic after Sept. 1. Bags must be paper, made from 40% recycled content, or reusable; however, restaurants are not subject to the 10-cent fee.

Council member Erin Gigliello asked whether restaurants could keep track of the number of bags used even if there are no bag fees. 

“Actually, that would be quite nice to know, because I feel like that’s a piece of the puzzle, which I understand we don’t have a solution for right now, but if there is any way to track how many bags are used for carryout, that would be great,” Gigliello said.

“The solution is to ban them,” Mamula responded.

Council member Dick Carleton, who owns Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant and Cantina and Hearthstone Restaurant, said he doesn’t want to legislate counting bags in restaurants but that he can run purchasing reports as an owner.

Council member Jeffrey Bergeron said he doesn’t want to make it harder for restaurants to provide takeout options amid the pandemic, and council members agreed.

In a previous council work session, town attorney Tim Berry pointed out that a state statute precludes a ban on plastic bags. In the Oct. 27 council meeting, Berry noted that the Colorado Municipal League has proposed a statutory amendment that would change this law, though it has not yet been voted on.

Despite the state statute, several other Colorado towns have moved forward with plastic bag bans, including Aspen, Steamboat Springs and Telluride.

Council members are expected to formally approve the ban at their next meeting Nov. 10.

Existing-Home Sales Soar 9.4% to 6.5 Million in September

 

Key Highlights

• Existing-home sales grew for the fourth consecutive month in September to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million – up 9.4% from the prior month and nearly 21% from one year ago.
• The median existing-home price was $311,800, almost 15% more than in September 2019. Total housing inventory declined from the prior month and one year ago to 1.47 million, enough to last 2.7 months – a record low – at the current sales pace.
• More than 7 in 10 homes sold in September 2020 – 71% – were on the market for less than a month.
• Existing-home sales grew for the fourth consecutive month in September, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Each of the four major regions witnessed month-over-month and year-over-year growth, with the Northeast seeing the highest climb in both categories.

Summit County ski areas weigh in on newly released state guidance for ski season safety

 

 Ski area guidance released Monday by the state health department didn’t come as a surprise to the ski industry, though it might lead to some tweaks to operating plans that were previously released by each resort.

The state guidelines ask ski areas to provide numerous details about their plans for the upcoming season, and the ski areas are required to undergo an approval process prior to opening.

Ski area leaders are working with Summit County public health officials to develop a plan. Once a plan is developed, ski areas must submit them to the local public health agency for approval. Once approved locally, public health officials will submit the plan to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for the final thumbs up. 

County Manager Scott Vargo said the county and its ski areas got an early start on the process and that public health has received plans from all four Summit County ski areas. He said Arapahoe Basin Ski Area’s plan has been submitted to the state but that the state has requested additional information prior to approval. Copper Mountain Resort’s plan has been approved locally and is on its way to the state, Vargo said. 

While the county has received plans for Breckenridge Ski Resort and Keystone Resort, they have not yet been submitted to the state because the county has requested additional information, Vargo said. After state guidance was released, Keystone and Breckenridge spokesperson Nicole Stull wrote in an email that the resorts will update their operating plans, including their approach to loading lifts, to align with state guidelines.

Over the past few weeks, local ski areas have discussed changes that will be made for the upcoming season regarding mask-wearing, reservations, protocols for lessons and physical distancing. However, the state guidance also asks ski areas to obtain regular community feedback on what is and isn’t working, to work with the community to provide isolation housing and to enforce health protocols. 

Summit County’s adoptable pets for the week of Oct. 25, 2020

 

Baby

Call the shelter at 970-668-3230 with questions. The most recent list of animals available for adoption can be found via their website.

Cats

BABY, 4 years, domestic shorthair, black and white, neutered male

BIRDIE, 2 years, domestic shorthair, calico tabby, spayed female

DEWEY, 9 weeks, domestic shorthair, gold, unaltered male

ENIE, no age, domestic shorthair, gray and white tabby, spayed female

JO, 2 years, domestic shorthair, calico, spayed female

LORELEI, 3 years, Siamese, blue point, spayed female

MEANIE, no age, domestic shorthair, gray and white tabby, spayed female

Dogs

DAISY MAY, 16 years, smooth-coated Chihuahua, tan, spayed female

DOC HOLIDAY, 2 years, German shepherd, black, neutered male

LUCAS, 4 years, pit bull terrier, blue and white, neutered male

OCTAVIA, 3 years, pit bull terrier mix, brown and white, spayed female

RENI, 1 year 1 month, German shepherd and Siberian husky, black and tan, spayed female

Summit County implements ban on sale and consumption of alcohol after 10 p.m.

 

Summit County Public Health Director Amy Wineland signed an amendment to the county’s public order Thursday, Oct. 22, to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol at restaurants after 10 p.m.

Wineland informed county commissioners and the public about the amendment to the order at a Board of Health meeting Thursday. The order goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, Oct. 23, Wineland said.

With the order in place, restaurant staff will have to remove any remaining alcoholic drinks from tables at 10:01 p.m. Restaurants will continue to have to close at 11 p.m., a rule that the county has had in place since mid-July.

Wineland said the goal of the amended order is to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus by not allowing people to linger at restaurants late at night.

“I do think that this is one of the areas where we continue to see issues and cases rise — gatherings that involve alcohol,” Wineland said. “Sometimes, restaurants are turning into more of a bar scene after this time. So we really needed to address this one right away.”

The amended order also prevents after-hours consumption of alcohol by staff at restaurants, an activity that has led to a few outbreaks within local restaurants, County Manager Scott Vargo said.

“We really are trying to target the areas where we’re seeing the cases in whatever mitigation strategies we’re putting forward,” he said.

Breckenridge discusses restaurant plans for outdoor dining tents, rethinks events

 

At a Breckenridge Town Council special meeting Tuesday, members discussed the town’s vision for events going forward as well as new regulations for temporary outdoor structures, which may throw a wrench into local restaurants’ plans to use tents for additional dining space this winter.

Tent restrictions

Restaurants that were planning to use outdoor tents to expand their seating capacity might have to adjust their plans. While the town of Breckenridge put together a permitting process in August for restaurant owners who wish to set up tents for outdoor dining, guidance regarding these outdoor structures now has been released by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The guidance classifies a temporary structure like a tent with a roof as outdoor setting only if two nonadjacent sides are open or if the structure is for a single party and will allow for ventilation between uses. The guidance does not specify how a structure would be ventilated between uses. If the structure is not classified as outdoor setting, it will have to follow indoor capacity limits. In Summit County’s current safer-at-home Level 2 designation, this limits capacity to 50%. If the county is downgraded to safer-at-home Level 3, indoor capacity would be limited to 25%.

Some of the businesses that plan to use tents or yurts, including Aurum Food & Wine, already intend to use each structure for one party at a time. Breckenridge Planner Chapin LaChance said of the 10-12 businesses that have expressed interest in outdoor structures, the largest structure he had heard about was a 950-square-foot tent in a parking lot that would be used as a waiting area and to serve drinks, which Breckenridge Brewery is considering.

“Unless we hear differently (from the state), we’ll be following up with these applicants, and they may not be proceeding with this outdoor space,” Town Manager Rick Holman said.

Rethinking events

Also at the meeting, Breckenridge Tourism Office CEO and President Lucy Kay discussed the organization’s top goal for 2021, which is “returning the Breckenridge economy, and our community’s quality of place and quality of life, to a place that our leaders, business owners, residents and guests desire,” according to a memo.

About $500,000 in special-event funding is cut in the 2021 budget as Oktoberfest, Mardi Gras and other events are not part of the plan. Kay noted that if it becomes possible to host a large event by fall 2021, the tourism office will consider hosting Oktoberfest if it can at least break even.

Mayor Eric Mamula brought up the tourism office’s “build back better” messaging for moving forward and said he doesn’t want “better” to mean “more,” reminding everyone that as the town was talking about event fatigue before COVID-19 hit.

“What I don’t want to do is go back to an event a week,” Mamula said. “I really don’t think that’s healthy for our community. I would like to be a little more laser focused on good events that are branded events and not just a liquor event every weekend and an art show every weekend. This is a good time for us to get our hands around, ‘Who are we now? What are we going to become?’ This is a good time to stop what we were doing and do something different.”

Council member Erin Gigliello brought up pre-COVID conversations around having blackout weekends with no events, and Kay said historically there are no events in May or October. 

“I think we’re on the same page there that what comes back has to be really thoughtful,” Kay said. “I think going forward it might be a different set of parameters that we use to consider. We have moved from the ‘Can we do it?’ to ‘Should we do it?’”

“We have an opportunity to reinvent ourselves now, and we need to take a really hard look at events,” Council member Dick Carleton said.

Kay said it’s critically important for the town to stay focused on lodging numbers rather than general business levels in town because it can be busy with people who aren’t spending much money in the community, which she said might not be great for the long haul.

Summit County officials worry ‘irresponsible behavior’ will lead to more COVID-19 restrictions

 

KEYSTONE COLORADO — Rising case numbers in Summit County are the result of “irresponsible community behavior,” Public Health Director Amy Wineland said at a Board of Health meeting on Thursday, Oct. 15. 

On Monday, Oct. 12, Summit County’s novel coronavirus case numbers surpassed the threshold for the county’s current level of reopening, safer-at-home Level 2: Concern.

The state determines a county’s level of reopening — that is level of restrictions — by looking at the number of positive cases per 100,000 people. The county’s current data shows that there are 193.7 cases per 100,000 people.

If that number doesn’t drop below 175 per 100,000 in the next 11 days, the county will be moved to Level 3 of the safer-at-home phase of reopening, which is labeled as “high-risk.” 

“If we aren’t able to improve our numbers in two weeks we will have a consultation with (the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment) to discuss whether we need a bit more time to get our numbers under control, or whether we will be moving into that high-risk Level 3 category,” Wineland said at Thursday’s meeting. 

Level 3 would mean that restaurants, offices and places of worship will move from 50% to 25% capacity, according to the state website.

Wineland said it’s imperative for people to continue following the county’s six commitments for containment, which are as follows: 

1. Wear a mask
2. Wash your hands
3. Stay 6 feet apart
4. Stay home if you are sick
5. Get tested if you are sick
6. Get a flu shot

Lately, public health has heard of more and more people going to work when they feel sick, attending gatherings of more than 10 people and not wearing masks, Wineland said. 

However, if cases continue to rise as they are in Summit County, all of that planning for the ski season could be for nothing, Wineland said. 

“It’s a huge concern,” she said. “We have two choices, we can come together and practice those six commitments … or we can jeopardize our ski season and our economy again.”

As home prices increase, sellers have the upper hand

 For the second consecutive month, Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index, a composite index designed to track consumers’ desire to sell or buy a home, gained 3.5 points in September to 81.

Compared to this time last year, the HPSI is down 10.5 points, but has recovered more than half of its early pandemic-period decline when April’s HPSI hit its lowest reading since November 2011.

August’s HPSI survey revealed both a confident seller’s and buyer’s market, however, Fannie Mae reported September buyers showing more hesitancy. Despite real estate agents reporting record numbers, buyer morale fell 5% with 54% of respondents saying it is a good time to buy a home. Those who believe it is a bad time increased to 38%.

With the market heading into fall, sellers, on the other hand, proved more resilient as the percentage of respondents who said it was a good time to sell a home gained 8% to 56% in September.

October 2020 Summit County Real Estate Update

 

Nancy Yearout's Real Estate News Breckenridge  Frisco  Silverthorne  Dillon  Keystone  Copper   Again, It's not enough to say that the market is good...it's HOT!  September Sales Skyrocket  Skyrocket may even understate the number of September residential sales in Summit County. The number of sales increased by 70%, and the average sold price jumped up 18% compared to September of 2019! Average Sold Prices  The average sold price for a residential property in Summit County was $1,012,000 which is up 18% over September of 2019. The average sold price for sales from January through September is $899,000  and that's 7% over 2019 for the same period. Average Sold Price by Town (YTD 2020 vs 2019): Summit County $899,473 (+7%), Breckenridge $1,184,232 (+1%), Frisco $811,374 (+11%), Silverthorne $765,464 (+9%), Dillon $592,859 (+7%), Keystone $699,883 (+5%), Copper Mountain $756,084 (+9%). Number of Sales  Year to date, the total number of properties that have sold is up 8%. August and September sales turned the year-to-date sales in 2020 from a negative to a positive, and, due to a large number of properties under contract, October should continue that trend. In September, the number of condo sales surged upward by 69%, and the number of homes sales skyrocketed by 77% compared to September 2019! Number of Sales by Town (YTD 2020 vs 2019): Summit County 1330 (+8%), Breckenridge 489 (+15%), Frisco 137 (+4%), Silverthorne 357 (+29%), Dillon 122 (-23%), Keystone 172 (-13%), Copper Mountain 53 (+23%). How much is that Home or Condo?  Year to date, the average sold price for a condo is $535,000 (up 6%) and the average sold price for a condo in September is $585,000 (up 17% over September 2019). The Single Family Home average sold price in 2020 is $1,446,000 (up 3%), and the average sold price for a single-family home in September is $1,702,000 (up 19% over September 2019). ​ Questions, interest in Buying or Selling or you just would like to talk further about the why's and what's happening in this market?  Feel free to give me a call, text or shoot me an email...Stay safe, Nancy Nancy Yearout Broker Associate RE/MAX Properties of the Summit 970-485-0293 nyearout@colorado.net https://www.realestate-breckenridge.net Get my Mobile App: getmobile.remax.com/nancyyearout ​

Summit County’s adoptable pets for the week of Oct. 11, 2020

 #Breckenridge #Colorado

Gemini

Call the shelter at 970-668-3230 with questions. The most recent list of animals available for adoption can be found via their website.

Cats

BABY, 4 years, domestic shorthair, black and white, neutered male

BIRDIE, 2 years, domestic shorthair, calico tabby, spayed female

GEMINI, 5 years, domestic shorthair, white and gray tabby, neutered male

SIGMA, 3 years, domestic shorthair, black and white, neutered male

Dogs

BO, 5 years, pit bull terrier, silver, neutered male

COWBOY, 1 year, pointer and pit bull terrier mix, tan and brown, neutered male

JACK, 1 year 4 months, Australian cattle dog and Australian kelpie mix, tan, neutered male

MARY, 8 months, Labrador retriever mix, black and white, spayed female

PEANUT, 2 years, German shepherd mix, black and white, neutered male

RENI, 1 year 1 month, German shepherd and Siberian husky mix, black and tan, spayed female

SARAH, 8 months, Labrador retriever mix, black and white, spayed female

TILLY, 6 months, Pit bull terrier, black and white, spayed female

WILLOW, 2 years, Australian cattle dog and Siberian husky mix, white and tan, spayed female

Dillon inks agreement to bring Ice Castles back for 2020-21 winter

 

Residents and visitors once again will be able to enjoy the glittering spires and illuminated tunnels of the Dillon ice castles this year.

The Dillon Town Council unanimously approved a one-year contract with Ice Castles during a regular meeting Tuesday night, allowing the group to return to Town Park next month to construct the town’s biggest winter attraction.

While some residents expressed concerns about the castles’ impact on residential areas and raised questions about its future beyond this season, council members felt the attraction would help community members and local businesses bounce back after a tough year.

“People want to be outside; they want to have something to do,” council member Jen Barchers said. “This is a great opportunity for us to capitalize after a rough summer for everyone. So as much as I hear some of the citizen feedback, I think this is a good thing for our town at this time.”

This will be the fourth year the castles are set up in Dillon. Earlier this year, the town began conversations with Ice Castles representatives about potentially coming to a long-term agreement that would keep the company in town for the coming years. But imminent improvements to Town Park have complicated talks.

Dillon was set to begin construction on a string of new features at the park this summer, including a multiuse field on the south side of the park, where the ice castles have been built in past years. Kerstin Anderson, the town’s marketing and communication’s director, said there were discussions about a “gap year” for the attraction while officials ironed out plans with the company to incorporate a new layout for the castles on the north side of the park moving forward.

But the town pushed the park improvements back a year after the onset of the pandemic, which opened the door for Ice Castles to return on a one-year contract while talks for an extension continue.

Ice Castles will be permitted to start running water to build the attraction next month and will be able to stay on-site until May 15. The contract is similar to past years but requires the company to pay an increased water rate this year.

While the ice castles serve as an annual boon to businesses in town, others have expressed that crowds from the attraction often create unintended consequences for residents in the area.

Barb Richard, speaking on behalf of the recently formed Dillon Neighborhood Coalition, voiced that castle visitors parking in residential areas has been a problem for locals the past couple of years, and she said it is time for the town to look at alternative options to activate the park during winter.

“The summer visitors demonstrated in great numbers that what they care about is convenient parking next to their destination, no matter if parking spaces exist there or if their actions create safety hazards,” Richard said. “Residential neighborhoods have already seen this behavior at Tenderfoot and LaBonte in the winter with the existing ice castles. Moving the ice castles to the north will only put more pressure on the residential neighborhoods. … Additional ideas should be pursued. Let the community decide how it wants the Town Park to be used. … After this year, it is time to let Ice Castles go elsewhere.”

Of note, while talks with Ice Castles remain ongoing for the future, Dillon officials are actively taking steps to help make the attraction more palatable for frustrated residents.

Anderson said there already were plans being put into place to install new signs for event parking — and several that prohibit parking — and that the town is working with Ice Castles to update its website map with more specific parking information. Mayor Carolyn Skowyra expressed that she’d also like to partner with Ice Castles to install more permanent signage in the area that would guide visitors down Lake Dillon Drive for parking and away from residential areas.

Officials say that directing traffic to the town core instead of residential areas also would serve local businesses better.

“It helps the experience, and it gets people parking down in that area where they’re more likely to spend money at the businesses,” council member Steve Milroy said.

Anderson said Ice Castles would be making some changes to its operating guidelines this year to promote social distancing within the attraction. The castles will be capped at 175 people at a time, and there will be one-way traffic through the castles to make sure visitors aren’t bunching together or bouncing around to areas they’ve already seen.

“With the uncertainly of COVID we continue to live under, anything we can do to help businesses and help the town continue to operate is a good idea,” Milroy said. “So I definitely support doing another year of the ice castles.”

Summit County could see a few inches of snow on Sunday

Snowmaking began last week with Arapahoe Basin Ski Area followed by Copper Mountain Resort and Keystone Resort. This Sunday, Oct. 11, the ski areas are expected to get a lift from Mother Nature with 3-6 inches of snow on upper-mountain ridges, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Chad Gimmestad. 

“We have a weather system coming through; the heart of it is late in the day on Sunday,” Gimmestad said. “There will be some winds ahead of it, but at this point, it looks like the main thing is just going to be a band of showers with the cold front Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening. So it’s probably not going to be a big snow, but there’s a pretty good chance of getting a little bit.”

Gimmestad said there likely will be rain changing into snow as the afternoon and evening cool. The rain and snow event is expected to last for six to 12 hours. Gimmestad said there will be some snow in town in the valleys but that the storm likely will bring light amounts to the area. He noted that the ground might be too warm for snow to stick in town, but a few inches could accumulate on the upper peaks.

While Open Snow meteorologist Joel Gratz shared models Wednesday, Oct. 7, that showed the storm bringing up to 12 inches of snow, his update Thursday, Oct. 8, said forecasting models now aligned to show that the storm will stay farther north in Colorado and will bring just a few inches of snow to northern mountains Sunday afternoon through Monday morning.

“The early part of next week, it will still be cool and fairly windy for a couple of days,” Gimmestad said. “There may be some light showers, but it’s not going to be much. And then it will warm back up.”

Overnight temperatures will be in the 20- to low 30-degree range at the ski areas Sunday and Monday, Gimmestad said, which are ideal for snowmaking, but ski areas will have to act fast as high temperatures will warm back up into the 50s and lower 60s by the middle of the week. 

“Then, we’re unsure if it’s going to stay warm, or there may be some more weak weather systems coming through,” Gimmestad said. “We’re just gradually inching closer to winter, but it still looks like an overall kind of a mild and dry weather pattern.”

Keystone, which fired up its snow guns Tuesday, Oct. 6, has a snowmaking system that turns on automatically when appropriate temperatures are reached. Keystone spokesperson Loryn Roberson said the goal is to get as much snow onto the mountain as possible before opening day, Nov. 6.

Copper spokesperson Olivia Butrymovich wrote in an email that snowmaking at Copper is underway in preparation for early season Alpine race training that begins at the end of the month. A-Basin spokesperson Leigh Hierholzer wrote in an email that the ski area hopes to make snow again over the weekend if temperatures are cool enough.

No housing market slowdown as real estate agents report a busy fall

 Realtors can usually count on their biggest season being spring, followed by summer. But nothing about 2020 has been normal, including home-buying patterns. With shut-down orders in the spring, summer became the new home-buying season, and homebuyers were still incredibly active in August.

Now, believe it or not, fall home-buying season is in full swing.

Traditionally, home-buying season slows down during the fall because families have settled in their new homes just in time for school to start. Now that school is mostly virtual, that calculation may be changing a bit.

“There’s a lot of homeschooling going on in this hybrid world, and it’s difficult,” Realtor Vesna Kanacki with Century 21 Full Service Realty in New City, New York, told HousingWire. Kanacki said that when it came to seasonal buying, “we’re still riding the wave with 2020.”

Kanacki’s market, like many others, remains competitive as buyers continue to experience bidding wars amid historically low housing inventory and an uptick in home prices.

“I think there is a lot of fear with the election coming up, that’s going to play a big factor of our spring market as well [and] depending on how everybody is comfortable with leadership going forward,” Kanacki said.

“But if the pandemic surges up again, I think we’re just going to get busier and busier here, because we are definitely located in the correct position, outside of New York City, where parents can still commute to work and children can have space needed for homeschooling and things like that,” Kanacki said.