Eagle council candidate Weston Arbogast in his own words
Engineer wants to improve the town’s infrastructure
The Vail Daily is running Q&As with the nine candidates running for four seats on the Eagle Town Council. The questionnaires will run in the order that the candidates appear on the ballot. The town is participating in Eagle County’s coordinated election. Ballots will be mailed out Oct. 8.
Name: Weston Arbogast
Occupation: Business development engineer; licensed professional engineer
Neighborhood: Bull Run
Length of residence in Eagle: Over two years
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Have you served on any other boards or commissions, in Eagle or otherwise? No
Why do you want this job? I believe my work background as an architectural/mechanical engineer, along with my love of this town is suitable for helping represent Eagle and the amazing people that live here, and help create a unique and attractive town worth living out my days in.
What has the current Eagle Town Council done well? What could it have done better? I love that the council has created a “Comprehensive Plan” and “Strategic Plan” to help guide us all towards a more prosperous future. Understanding where we’d like to go is a crucial step for the town to be successful. An essential road map to creating a beautiful community. I wish more of our community knew and understood what that plan is and means for them, because if we all are more informed and vocal on the changes that lay ahead, the better our council will be at providing the needs of the community.
If elected, what’s the main thing you’d like to see the council accomplish in the next two or four years? I believe our biggest hurdle to overcome are infrastructure upgrades (roads and intersections) as our town and surrounding area grows to make it easier to get to our destinations, and safer for our citizens to get around town whether driving, walking, or biking. Making our quaint little town more accessible for walking and biking should always take priority, especially in our main gathering districts, as well as interconnecting them. I myself am very excited for the already planned Highway 6 upgrades along the main stretch through Old Eagle, but I want to see plenty of walking and biking friendly paths to go with it.
What are your thoughts on the town’s plan for the East Eagle Sub Area? How should the town prioritize land use to attract the kinds of developments that will best support the broader Eagle community in the years to come? I believe it’s a good start in terms of infrastructure upgrades like adding an additional I-70 exit and should attract additional commercial developments to attract new businesses, create local jobs, and more importantly entice active/outdoor lifestyle retail spaces that support the lifestyle of our community and invite all of us to shop local more often. Prioritizing and helping local small business owners is more important than bringing in large box stores though, as well as prioritizing the heart of Eagle, Broadway. Doing that will garner and maintain the spirit of our community and keep our beautiful community unique in our own way.
How should the town of Eagle work towards achieving its recently adopted goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2030?
This goal is what I’ve helped other local communities like Basalt, Carbondale, and Aspen out with in my previous position as an engineering consultant, and I believe it’s a crucial policy to help reduce our carbon footprint one community at a time. I’ve already spoken with current council members on this subject, and it comes down to creating incentives for homeowners to upgrade to higher efficient, non-gas operating systems, whether that’s your furnace, your car/truck, or riding public transit more often. Any one of these requires a sacrifice in money and/or time, and we must entice, not force our community to make those changes/upgrades. The best way to entice these changes is offsetting the added costs when upgrades are needed. I think we all would love to make these types of upgrades, but financially that can be impossible so we must come up with a plan to overcome.
