Aspen, Steamboat In Colorado Crisis

September 30th, 2007 at 11:51am Michael Conniff 2

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO (Post Time News)—Are mountain towns going down even as real estate prices go up?

The experience of two towns in Colorado—Aspen and Steamboat Springs—paint a picture of a life cycle for towns of increasing popularity that grows more vexing and expensive at every step.

Aspen, now into decades of growth, was the subject of a story in the Wall Street Journal that leaves open the question of what will become of the glitziest mountain city as it starts to age uncomfortably into the 21st Century.

“But now,” writes Kris Hudson, “city leaders are worrying that all the high living is destroying the exclusive small-town allure of their former hippie hangout and mining outpost. Aspen's more modest-living, year-round residents have looked on in dismay as a flood of luxury retailers have replaced their unique, independent shops, which no longer can afford the lofty rents. Aspen's 20-block downtown now counts 24 jewelry stores and roughly 30 high-end chains.”

"What we're looking at is trying to ensure that vitality, that interest, that uniqueness," said City of Aspen special-projects planner Ben Gagnon.

Under the banner "Steamboat Unbridled," uniqueness is also under assault here in Steamboat since the news that Intrawest was buying into the resort. More than $600 million of development is now planned over the next five years with 4,000 additional beds in the offing. Intrawest is also expected to put $16 million into on-mountain upgrades including the new Christie Peak Express. Steamboat is also committed to $23 million in infrastructure improvements. In 2006-1007, Steamboat clocked over 1 million user visits.

"It's like throwing a blanket over a baby that was cold and now we are being smothered," Jay Baverstock, owner of the Shack Café, told Elizabeth Aguilera. "I just don't like our town changing so much. Let it grow up slowly. It's going from infancy to adulthood overnight."

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