Around the Mountains; Formula-store limits debated in Steamboat Springs recently on Home Services

Dec

Around the Mountains; Formula-store limits debated in Steamboat Springs recently

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STEAMBOAT SPRINGS - Steamboat Springs continues to debate how it can remain different, avoiding the homogenization of so-called formula stores, without becoming a museum and irrelevant to changing needs. This debate began at least in the late 1980s, when the town resisted the arrival of Wal-Mart. It finally acquiesced but not before imposing restrictions. In more recent years, it has more tightly capped the size of stores, most protectively so in the old downtown core.But with 90,000 feet of retail space coming on line in a wave of redevelopment, the city of 11,000 is now talking about restrictions on even small franchises, reports the Steamboat Pilot %26amp; Today. The city government’s preliminary definition of a formula store is a store or restaurant among a chain of 10 more that contains standardized merchandize, fa%26#231;ade, d%26#233;cor, uniforms, and signs.The city already has several such stores, including Images of Nature, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Blimpie Subs and Salads.Restrictions being reviewed could limit one such store per corner, or at least mandate 75-feet separations.Brad Maxwell, owner of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, told the newspaper that property-defined restrictions would help preserve the small-town feel. And some locally owned stores believe that existing franchises draw visitors that helped them.The drawing power of familiar names was also alluded to by Ty Lockhart, owner of Steamboat’s iconic F.M. Light %26amp; Sons, a century-old clothing store. “People do not want the Gaps and the Ralph Laurens, but then there is the question of how many ‘mom and pops’ will be able to afford that new space,” he says.The anonymous blogs monitored by the The Pilot reveal a spirited and sharp discussion. Some espoused unfettered free trade. “These so-called formula stores seem to have much higher standards than the moms-and-pops; just makes it easier to keep the food downâ€¦” says one “Do-gooders and the protectionists are going to get to get their way,” predicted another.But another blogger argued that the “ideal of a town” trumps business models. Others fretted about whether the new ski area owner, Intrawest, will impose economic dominance and blandness.Yet another blogger noted that the new projects will ape the Victorian facades found in so many once frilly mining towns such as Breckenridge. A faux-turn-of-the-century building that duplicates those found in other ski towns simply makes Steamboat a formula ski town, wrote “thecondoguy1.” Carbondale debates proposed Home DepotCARBONDALE - The spirited, sometimes bitter debate about whether to allow The Home Depot inside the municipal tent continues in Carbondale, located 30 miles down-valley from Aspen. For a community dominated by global-warming activists, Home Depot is offering something very different than business as usual, offering to create an 80,000-square-foot “green” big box that would become the model for other new stores in the chain.Perhaps the greatest lure, however, is the prospect of up to $1.2 million in sales tax collections, possible double other potential retail uses of the land. With that money, town officials believe they could create more affordable housing and other community infrastructure.Even so, the town staff is recommending the town board walk away from the proposal. Besides being a “volatile and contentious” issue that divides the community, the Home Depot-anchored proposal may not be successful for other reasons, says Tom Baker, the town manager.However, the Valley Journal reports that town trustees remain divided. Several workshops are planned. The only clear consensus is that a 60,000-square-foot grocery store is OK.That a biggy chain-owned grocery store is OK and a bigger chain-owned building supply store is not illustrates the murky issues that are being debated. One fear is that Home Depot will eliminate existing hardware, paint and rug stores. “The messy vitality of our local enterprises will likely watch their clientele dwindle and move to the comfortable, advertised, well-organized womb of big-box shopping,” writes John Hoffman, in a letter published in the Valley Journal. “Don’t trade our vibrant, locally owned retail shops for the flash of a big box. We can do better.”From Vail comes advice from Bill Rey. “Big box stores and malls take the soul of the community,” he writes. “The Vail Valley has been ruined by box stores that have now made us anywhere in America.” He further laments that “most of the employees can hardly speak English.” But apparently not all big boxes are unwelcome. A Carbondale resident, Melissa Waters, suggests REI or Cabellas, and especially a Whole Foods.Washington D.C. lawyer and economist Michael Shuman, author of “The Small-Mart Revolution,” warns against too much trust in Wal-Mart. “Carbondale residents should be smart enough not to confuse corporate promises with real-world performance,” he writes while noting 300 abandoned Wal-Mart stores. Schuman also wonders whether rising oil prices will kill the entire chain-store model.Hope springs eternal for rail line along I-70I-70 CORRIDOR - Will it be possible to eventually hop on a train in Denver and zip to Frisco, Vail or beyond? That tantalizing idea has been roaming hard along the Interstate 70 for a decade now. Mountain communities, particularly in the Georgetown and Idaho Springs area, have repeatedly argued for a monorail.In a story headlined, “Railroaded,” Denver’s Westword revisits the idea, arguing that Colorado’s Department of Transportation has been unfairly pushing, i.e. “railroading,” widening of the highway to the exclusion of rail-based mass transit alternatives.In particular, the article gives credence to a new push for passenger rail. After being talked about for decades, such passenger rail is enjoying a limited revival. Pushed by Gov. Bill Richardson, New Mexico now has passenger rail near Albuquerque, with plans to connect to Santa Fe. A vision beyond that imagines the rail loping across Raton Pass and then northward along the Front Range of Colorado and into Wyoming at Casper.Bill Briggs, a former state legislator from metropolitan Denver, is also expanding the vision westward from Denver to Dotsero, at the mouth of Glenwood Canyon. The group is called Rocky Mountain Rail Authority. Financial supporters include the Aspen-based Roaring Fork Transit Authority and the Wyoming Legislature.The current plan is to ask Colorado voters in 2008 to approve a so-called statewide passenger rail system. The group is focusing on three technologies, one a mag-lev system used in both China and Japan, and the second a rail technology used in Switzerland. Backers insist both technologies can be used for the extended steep inclines of the I-70 corridor.CDOT representative Jeff Kullman insists that the goal of C-DOT is to preserve a place for a technology that emerges at some point, Meanwhile, hopes remain of using the existing railroad corridor through the mountains to service the resort communities. Jerry Jones, the developer of second homes in Granby, was the latest of many who have promoted resumption of commuter train service between Denver and the Winter Park-Granby area. Such service was discontinued in 1967. But after talking up the idea a couple of years ago, Jones says he’s given up for now. For whatever reason, he says, the critical mass isn’t yet there a conclusion reached by several others since the 1970s.Amtrak uses one of those routes, but it’s commonly an eight-hour trip still far slower than driving I-70, even when the highway’s traffic is congealed.