96th Annual Winter Carnival

The 96th Annual Winter Carnival will start on Wednesday, February 4th and end on Sunday, February 8th, 2009. Beginning in 1914 the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club has organized this fun event for the whole family. Highlights include ski jumping, the diamond hitch parade and a night show with fireworks. A Winter Carnival button is required to participate or attend any of the Carnival's festivities and your contribution supports the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. Hope you enjoy checking out this unique tradition and don't forget Lincoln Avenue will be closed for street events from 5th Street to 11th Street on Saturday, Feb 7th and Sunday, Feb 8th from 6am to 12:30pm.

Potential five-star hotel gets strong support from city planning commission

Artist rendering of the proposed Thunderhead project

A recent article in the Steamboat Today shows the artist rendering for the proposed five-star hotel at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area. With strong support from the city planning commission the project will be reviewed by the Steamboat Springs City Council. See below for more details.

January 23, 2009 article in the Steamboat Today:

The proposed Thunderhead project at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area will proceed to the Steamboat Springs City Council with a strong positive recommendation from the city Planning Commission.
Commissioners voted, 5-1, to support the 390,000-square-foot project requesting substantial height variances from the city in exchange for a variety of public benefits. In explaining their support, some of the commissioners said they believe that the city’s height limitations in the Community Development Code are outdated and inconsistent with subsequent area plans that have called for increased density at the ski base.
“Precedent has already been set,” Commissioner Karen Dixon said, noting other approved base area projects of similar heights. “ We are obligated to respond to context.”
Commissioner Rich Levy cast the dissenting vote.
“Because of the height, I would be looking for extraordinary public benefit,” he said, “and I’m not seeing that.”
People packed Centennial Hall on Thursday night for Planning Commission’s review, which stretched late into the night. The height variances, aesthetic issues, economic impacts and more were among the items that drew the large crowd of supporters and critics.
The Atira Group is redeveloping the former Ski Time Square and Thunderhead Lodge properties that it demolished last year. Atira has decided to submit separate development applications for the projects, with the 390,000-foot Thunderhead site coming first. The application anticipates 100 residential units averaging about 2,300 square feet, along with two restaurants and shops.
Atira requested several variances for the project including overall heights about 30 feet above the 73-foot maximum prescribed in the Community Development Code for the gondola two zone district. Atira also is requesting a five-year grace period instead of the standard three years before it must pull a building permit, and plans to build a turnaround driveway in the city’s Ski Time Square Drive right of way.
City planners recommended approval of the project, believing the project’s public benefits are commensurate with its requested variances. Proposed benefits include a commitment to earn a silver certification from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, for green building practices in the construction of the two eight-story buildings; public amenities such as seating areas, restrooms and outdoor fireplaces; the gifting of space to Yampa Valley Medical Center to relocate its injured skier transport center; and economic sustainability in the form of short-term rentals.
Several in the audience and others who wrote letters, however, disagreed with city staff’s recommendation.
“I haven’t heard anything about why this height is necessary to achieve these goals,” said local attorney Ron Smith, who is representing homeowners in the Bronze Tree condominium building north of the proposed project. “Where is the public benefit that large?”
Bill Jameson was strongly opposed to allowing Atira to construct a driveway in the public right of way.
“Scale the building appropriately, and it doesn’t have to be in the public right of way. Move it back,” he said. “Don’t just give away public property. This is valuable property up there.”
City planner Jonathan Spence said the width of the city’s right of way on Ski Time Square Drive is excessive.
“The idea was that we were going to vacate portions of that right of way to allow for more interesting streetscapes,” Spence said.
While most residents who own condominiums near the proposed project wrote or spoke out against it, others were supportive. Thunderhead also received endorsements from business owners, other developers, a Ski Corp. executive and others.
“The project is a critical component for the overall plan for a renaissance at the base area,” said Chuck Porter, former general manager at the Sheraton Steamboat Resort. “It’s important to remember that high density was desired at the base.”
Planning Commission postponed a review of Thunderhead’s community housing plan to Feb. 8 due to the late hour.

Letter of intent signed for new five-star hotel.

An operator of five-star hotels has signed a letter of intent to run a new property at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area. See below for a recent article in the Steamboat Pilot explaining the public benefits vs. some of the challenges faced to get this project built.

January 18, 2009 article in the Steamboat Pilot:

If Atira Group wins approval from the city of Steamboat Springs to redevelop the Thunderhead Lodge and Condominiums, it will ask for a five-year grace period instead of the standard three years before it must pull a building permit.
Atira Vice President of Development Mark Mathews said Thursday that his company was eager to begin marketing and building the twin eight-story condominium hotel buildings that would replace the old Thunderhead at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area. He was speaking before about 30 people during the first of three successive presentations in the Sheraton Steamboat Resort.
Mathews acknowledged the challenges of moving forward in the current economic climate.
“Our goal is to begin construction as soon as we get entitlements, as well as the market permits,” Mathews said.
City Planning Services Manager John Eastman said earlier Thursday that as soon as Atira wins approval for its final development permit, the clock begins running on the three-year period the company has to pull a building permit.
A variety of fees come due at that time, including tap fees and $2.6 million in affordable housing fees in lieu of actually building affordable units.
“We’ll ask for five years,” Mathews told his audience at the Sheraton. “There are millions of dollars (that come due) at that point. We have strong, strong partners and financials. What we don’t want is to do it get halfway into it,” and have an issue.
Atira also would like to begin marketing presales soon and will continue studying market trends reflected at its nearby project, Edgemont, before launching a sales effort, Mathews said. He confirmed that the ideal time to market a ski property is ski season and added that timing is particularly important in a challenging market, a sign that presales aren’t likely to begin before December 2009.
Height questions
Atira has been working with city staff on its application since April 2007. The group will take another big step Thursday, when it goes before the Steamboat Springs Planning Commission to seek a recommendation of approval for its development plan.
The application anticipates 100 residential units averaging about 2,300 square feet, along with two restaurants and shops in 390,000 square feet.
Mathews said an operator of five-star hotels has signed a letter of intent to run the new property, but he declined to identify the company or the financial backer for the project.
The Thunderhead Lodge and Condominiums, which dated to the 1960s, were torn down in late summer 2008, with much of the material left by the demolition recycled.
Mathews told his audience the care taken in demolition was the first evidence of Atira’s commitment to seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, silver certification for green building practices in the construction of the new eight-story buildings.
Green building is among several categories of public benefit that Atira promises to provide, in part to satisfy requirements needed to win a building height variance the company is seeking on the Thunderhead site.
Under the community development code, the maximum allowable building height in the zone district at the base of the gondola is 73 feet. Atira is proposing to build one building to 104 feet and the second to 102 feet.
Public benefits to offset the variance include providing economic sustainability and achieving the goal of removing obsolete buildings as called for in the city’s Base Area Plan, Mathews said.
Documents on file at the city’s planning department mention a public seating terrace adjacent to the ski area, public restrooms, a public fireplace and a small performance venue — all among public benefits with an aggregate construction value of about $1.7 million.
Senior City Planner Jonathan Spence pointed out that the nearby One Steamboat Place development, which topped out early this winter, is 106 feet tall.
Some neighbors of Atira’s project already have registered their opposition to the variance with the city. They include condominium owners in the Bronze Tree building on the north side of Ski Time Square.
Clayton Thomas, a member of the board of directors of the Bronze Tree Homeowners Association, and his wife, Bonnie, wrote to Planning Commission Chairwoman Kathi Meyer to register their opposition to the Atira plan.
“What a tragedy this will be if this height and building shape is approved,” they wrote. “This building is on the very edge of the ski slope and disregards the interests of other property owners whose views would be reduced or eliminated. It is like putting the tallest and widest people in the front row for a class picture!

Early Morning Snowshoe to top of the Gondola

Happy New Year!

If you like to play in the snow, now is a great time to visit us in Steamboat Springs, Colorado!