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Monday, October 12, 2020
October 2020 Summit County Real Estate Update
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Summit County’s adoptable pets for the week of Oct. 11, 2020
#Breckenridge #Colorado
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
Saturday, October 10, 2020
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.”
Friday, October 09, 2020
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.
Tuesday, October 06, 2020
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.
Monday, October 05, 2020
Sallie Barber Mine to be stabilized ahead of winter
BRECKENRIDGE — Sallie Barber Mine, which produced zinc for over 50 years, is going through a stabilization effort to preserve the historic site.
The Breckenridge Heritage Alliance is leading the project in cooperation with the Summit County and Breckenridge open space departments. Heritage Alliance Vice President Larry Crispell explained that preliminary stabilization will occur this fall to ensure the mine doesn’t collapse this winter and that more permanent work will be done next summer pending county approval.
Heritage Alliance Executive Director Larissa O’Neil wrote in an email that stabilization efforts will focus on the mine’s ore bin, which is “in poor condition and at risk of further deterioration.” Some siding and roofing materials will be used to protect the mine through the winter.
The Sallie Barber Mine was discovered by prospectors in 1881. Crispell said the mine was not heavily developed until the 1890s, and peak production occurred around the 1900s. At the turn of the century, zinc ore was in demand on the national scale for manufacturing needs, and several Colorado mining areas became principal suppliers, O’Neil explained.
“We’re really lucky to have so many elements left from the original work on the site,” Crispell said, adding that a steam hoist also remains. “By stabilizing and preserving what’s there, it will allow people to go up there and understand this mine for many years to come.”
Crispell noted that the Sallie Barber Mine is incredibly popular because it is easily accessed. He said he often sees multigenerational groups of people making their way to the mine in the summer.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity to use a very popular site to keep introducing children — the new generation — and have them understand and value heritage so that as times goes on, these sites will continue to be valued and preserved and stabilized and understood,” Crispell said.
Sunday, October 04, 2020
Summit County’s adoptable pets for the week of Oct. 4, 2020
Call the shelter at 970-668-3230 with questions. The most recent list of animals available for adoption can be found via their website.
Note: The animal shelter is now open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Please visit SummitCountyCO.gov/animalcontrol for physical distancing protocols.
Cats
ASPEN, 5 years, domestic shorthair, tortoiseshell, spayed female
BABY, 4 years, domestic shorthair, black and white, neutered male
CINDY LOU, 9 weeks, domestic mediumhair, black and white, spayed female
CONNERY, 2 years, Russian blue mix, gray, neutered male
DARVIN, 13 weeks, domestic shorthair, black, neutered male
GEMINI, 5 years, domestic shorthair, white and gray tabby, neutered male
GULLIVER, 13 weeks, domestic mediumhair, gray and white tabby, neutered male
MARVIN, 13 weeks, domestic shorthair, black, neutered male
NESSA, 3 years, domestic shorthair, calico, spayed female
SIGMA, 3 years, domestic shorthair, black and white, neutered male
ZELDA, 7 years, domestic shorthair, gray and white tabby, spayed female
Dogs
AMBER, 8 months, Australian shepherd mix, black and brindle, spayed female
BATMAN, 4 years, smooth coated Chihuahua, black, neutered male
JACK, 1 year 4 months, Australian cattle dog and Australian kelpie mix, tan, neutered male
LOUIE, 3 years, smooth fox terrier mix, brown and white, neutered male
TILLY, 1 year 1 month, pit bull terrier, black and white, spayed female
TOBY, 1 year 1 month, Labrador retriever and boxer mix, white and tan, neutered male
TORTELLINI, 8 weeks, Australian cattle dog mix, brown and tan, spayed female
Rabbits
BURR RABBIT, 1 year 4 months, shorthair rabbit, white and black, neutered male
MAXINE, 1 year 4 months, shorthair rabbit, black, unaltered female
Saturday, October 03, 2020
Census deadline extended to Oct. 31
The deadline for the 2020 U.S. census survey has been extended to Oct. 31, according to a news release from the Census Bureau.
The deadline to complete the census survey has moved several times and most recently was set for Oct. 5. A number of groups sued the government for rushing the deadline, and a judge set the new date for Oct. 31, according to the release.
Summit County officials worried that an early deadline would make getting a complete response rate difficult, especially in a place like Summit County, which has many second-home owners.
People who haven’t filled out the census can do so in one of three ways:
- Online: Go to My2020Census.gov and click “start questionnaire.” The website will ask for a Census ID. If you don’t have one, click the link below the space for the ID number.
- Mail: Those who received a survey in the mail can respond by sending the completed survey to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1201 E. 10th St., Jeffersonville, IN.
- Phone: Call 844-330-2020 for English and 844-468-2020 for Spanish
Thursday, October 01, 2020
Real Estate Update
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