12-6-22 Vail Town Council Agenda Breakdown
A VailSticky guide to Vail Town Council Meetings: for folks that don’t have time for that.
Participation in government is a luxury - by making participation more accessible and understandable, we can make it less exclusive. Here you’ll find:
Key Issue: Destination Stewardship (Afternoon Session)
Summary of the Evening Agenda & Afternoon Agenda
Agenda Summary
Afternoon Agenda: 12/6/22 Vail Town Council
2023 Winter Concert Updates: First winter concert at the Amp & more. Read about it.
Destination Stewardship Plan Review: Review of the first (2) pillars: Do Better Together and Enhance Vail's 'World-Class Experience.'
Hold back judgement this until the full scope of the stewardship plan is publicly available. That said, the emphasis on housing is encouraging, and the evolution of the plan since its last public workshop is a remarkable improvement.
Read the Presentation and the narrative. There is a lot of great stuff in here.
Legacy Objective: “Double the supply of deed-restricted housing -- from 1,050 to 2,100 -- for Vail residents and workers by 2032 through a regenerative, collaborative approach.”
If you filled out the Stewardship Survey or participated in any of the many meetings - you did this and you should be proud of it!
The SMARInights market study is non-sense and non-science.
Residences at Main Vail Operations Policy: The 72 units of the Residences at Main Vail are going to be habitable in August of 2023 and the Town of Vail needs a property management company. The Council will weigh in on the following proposals
The last council told Triumph Development they would be the property manager…and now this council might ‘revise’ that decision and bid it out. It is difficult to understand why we feel the need to inject controversy and instability into every aspect of affordable housing development.
10% will be reserved for Town of Vail employees (7-10 units)
Leasing preferences will be tiered to prioritize 1.) folks employed in Vail 2.) employers in Vail 3.) essential workers in Eagle County 4.) folks employed in Eagle county but not in Vail
Pets should be allowed! Yay fur friends!
Proposed Rental Rates:
1bd / 1ba $1,750 - $2,000
2bd / 1ba $2,100 - $2,200
2bd / 2ba $2,250 - $2,400
Vail Heights 1bd/1ba: up for lottery on December 23rd for $419k
Shift Bike Info: The Council requested more information on the cost/benefits of the Town’s E-bike program before dedicating another $225k to expanding the program next year. The cost of the program in year 1 flushes out to $33.70 per ride. There are many benefits to the shift bike program, however, emissions reductions are not really one of them. 8.68 metric tons of emissions is basically the emissions from 1 Tacoma commuting from Leadville 5 days a week for year (source: Carbon Footprint Calculator.) E-bikes are awesome. $225k is a lot of money. Vail could dole that out in $2,000 e-bike vouchers to 112 workers, or buy more shift bikes. Things to think about.
DRB/PEC Update:
Spoiler Alert: West Middle Creek has not been rezoned for affordable housing. West Middle Creek was described as “full speed ahead” by our Mayor at the last meeting. It’s been 203 days since the council voted unanimously to rezone it. If this is full speed ahead, I think the transmission is broken.
The PEC approved the development of the Evergreen to the chagrin of 4-6 people that live on West Meadow drive. The arguments against the project are that they don’t want flight for life helicopters flying over their houses, the roof is too flat, the building is too big, and there will be too many people walking/biking on the public sidewalk/bike paths in the area. An interesting twist is the opposition stating that there are too few employee housing units…the project has more onsite housing than is required, so it is unclear if the goal posts could even be moved at this point in the process. The developer arguably provides more free-market rentals to working locals than any other single entity in all of Vail. The Town Council will probably call up this decision.
Evening Agenda: 12/6/22 Vail Town Council
Citizen Participation: a.k.a open mic night - PREACH
WhoVail Day
Marketing Budget stuff
Swat Robot: Yup.
Stormwater Treatment devices: $220k
April Concerts: Award to Vail Valley Foundation.
Après Concerts: Award to Golden Peak Productions.
Two new Electric Buses: $2,020,762.00
Council Matters: Read it here
Dobson Ice Arena Remodel: RFQ’s due December 19th.
Spite Tree: A guy that lives on a golf course killed a tree that was blocking his view. He came forward with a cash apology and Vail used that money to plant two new trees and will commission an art project slightly larger than the original tree to ensure the view remains obstructed. Boss move.
Compensation review for Town Council members: This is SUPER important and there will be more on this topic as soon as it makes it on the agenda. Watch this space.
There is no social media sentiment analysis or discussion about how to account for these super important channels of communication. It’s 2022.
Vail Mountain Update by Beth Howard
Timber Ridge Update: Read it.
Eagle Valley Transportation Authority: Board appointment
Carry Out Bag: Fees & Requirements: 25 cents per, 60/40 business-town split.
Loading Dock amendment
Mill Levy increase: Super minor
Budget: Attempt 2
How to Participate & Comment at Vail Town Council Meetings:
The first 10 minutes of every Evening Vail Town Council starting at 6pm is Citizen Participation (a.k.a Open mic night). You get 3 minutes to preach to a captive audience of your leaders – in person or over Zoom. This is the most powerful and underutilized channel of government engagement in Vail. USE IT!
Public comment pertaining to extra spicy issues that appear agenda may be held later on in the evening prior to a vote by the Council Members. If you have comments regarding an item on the agenda and you are not sure if public comment will be called at that time - just ask them during citizen participation at the beginning of the meeting.
Register in advance to participate by Zoom. Quick links to registration pages:
register for 12/6/22 afternoon session
register the 12/6/22 evening session
Show up to the Vail Town Council Chambers before the 6:00pm start to comment in person.
Email your input for the public record to publicinput.vailtowncouncil@vailgov.com and CC: TownCouncil@vailgov.com before 12:00pm on Tuesday. Your emails will be part of the public record, but will not be read aloud at the meeting.
Where to Watch Vail Town Council Meetings:
Catch the livestream on Town of Vail’s Facebook Page
Follow the Twitter feed @VailTownCouncil
Show up to the Vail Town Council Chambers
Watch the recording on HighFive (it takes a day or two for the recordings to be posted. Facebook is better.)
NOTE: Comments on social aren’t really read or responded to in real time. If you have something to say see the above section on How to Comment.
Reference Links
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