Demystifying the work of Steamboat Base Area’s Urban Renewal Authority.
For over 10 years, the members of the Urban Renewal Authority Advisory Committee (URAAC) have volunteered their time, tasked with making recommendations to the Steamboat Springs Redevelopment Authority (SSRA) on how public funds collected by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) should be used to improve Steamboat’s base area.
If that sounds complicated, it’s because it is. What’s not difficult is to understand the intention behind it. For David Baldinger Jr., who has been the Co-Chairman of the Board of URAAC for the past 10 years, volunteering to help improve Steamboat’s base area was a no-brainer. “When I was as a U.S. Ski Team coach in the late nineties, I traveled to ski areas all over the world,” Baldinger says. “I wanted the Steamboat base area experience to be world class and to be competitive with other resort experiences. I grew up here and am proud of my town. I felt it was my civic duty. That’s why I got involved.”
Understanding the URA: A Cooperative Effort
In order to understand the complexities and long history of the URA, Baldinger says the first thing people need to realize is that the ski area base is not owned by one resort company (unlike Beaver Creek, for example) but by virtually thousands of individual owners and developers. “Essentially, the URA is about master planning that no single land owner or the city could do on its own. You need to create a cooperative effort. Steamboat is unique because we have formed a partnership between the county, the city, land owners, and tax payers to fund improvements that otherwise could not be budgeted by one of those partners on its own.”
Over the last 40 years, Steamboat was developed by several different companies that never master-planned or coordinated with each other. “The task of the URA is to figure out how to tie it all together,” Baldinger says. “It’s the best tool for the community to be able to continuously make improvements to the base area, a neighborhood that is arguably the economic engine of Routt County.” Baldinger adds that these improvements then encourage private developers to invest, which further enhances the area and bolsters the local economy.
How the URA is Funded: It is not a tax increase
The funding for projects that are approved within the URA is collected through a mechanism called tax-increment financing. Essentially, when the URA was formed, the property tax collected by the County and sales tax collected by the City at that time was set as the benchmark. Any property tax incremental revenue increases since then, due to new development or redevelopment to properties within the URA boundary, have been earmarked and set aside, to be used on projects that are approved within the URA and meet the guidelines for the program. The same goes for City sales tax increments collected from businesses within the URA boundary.
What the URA does: An overview of completed projects
Over the last decade, the URAAC has worked hard to improve the visitor experience, overseeing the completion of over $25 million in several key URA projects. The largest and most significant was creating a promenade that connected a disjointed base area that previously had no pedestrian byway. “When we started there were all these obstacles for someone, in trying to get from one side of the base area to the other. Everything from chain link fences to parking lots made it impossible for people to be able to navigate the base area on foot,” Baldinger says. “The promenade provides well-lit, heated pedestrian connections throughout the entire base area, kind of like a boardwalk. Building this new infrastructure has encouraged new development and has also incentivized existing businesses to invest in their own storefronts. In turn, it’s helped increase commerce by driving more foot traffic to retail and other amenities at the base area that were previously difficult to access.”
The base area experience was further enhanced by a state-of-the-art stage where concerts are held in winter during apres ski and in summer. But Baldinger is most proud of the “daylighting” of Burgess Creek. “Since the early ’60s, Burgess Creek flowed into a culvert and ran underground at the base of the ski area,” Baldinger says. “We were able to bring it above ground in summer and below ground in winter under the ski runs. In summer, it runs along the promenade and has two beaches for kids, families and dogs. Virtually thousands of people come out every summer and gather on the beaches. It’s super popular.”
Looking Ahead: Future Projects
The project that Baldinger is excited to finally see come to fruition this summer is the relocation of the historic Arnold Barn, to create an iconic entry feature for the resort area. The Barn is being moved to the intersection of Mt. Werner Circle and Mt. Werner Road, which is essentially the unofficial entry to the Steamboat Ski Area. “The goal is to provide a sense of place,” Baldinger says. “It took six years just to get approvals, so it’s been a long-term effort by multiple groups including the City, Save Arnold Barn Committee and property owners.”
Equally as important, Baldinger says, is the rebuilding of the traffic circle at Ski Time Square Drive and Mt. Werner Circle in front of the Steamboat Grand Hotel. “This will improve traffic and pedestrian flow at peak times and be much safer. It will also create more attractive signage and directions for visitors who might not be familiar with the area.”
Baldinger says now that the community is ten years into the 25-year term for the URA, many future project activities are being planned. “At this point, we’ve done about half of what’s on our list, which has been extremely well received and appreciated by the community.” Although there is often vigorous debate about which future project activities have the most merit going forward, Baldinger points out that, “The URAAC is a very diverse group of people who care about the ski area and we strongly believe the work we’re doing benefits everyone,” he says. “It’s a labor of love.”