Hopping aboard with Colorado’s governor: 5 big takeaways from a train car conversation with Jared Polis
Elliott Wenzler/Vail Daily archive
Looking up from his seat in the observation car on the Winter Park Express, Gov. Jared Polis grinned as views of precipitous cliff faces and jagged rock formations whipped by the windows of the giant train car.
The passenger rail line snaking its way up the Front Range mountains embarked Friday for its first trip of the season, taking skiers and mountain visitors from Denver’s Union Station to Winter Park. It passed through small mountain towns like Pinecliffe and eventually cut through the belly of a mountain via the 6.2-mile Moffat Tunnel before finally dropping passengers in the heart of the resort.
His first time taking the two-hour train ride, Polis hopped aboard as part of his campaign to push added passenger rail lines in the Front Range and mountain regions of the state.
As the Colorado legislature begins its annual lawmaking session this month, Polis is looking to regain ground on the issue he’s put at the center of his agenda: housing. During last year’s legislative session, the governor’s landmark housing measure, a 105-page bill that started as an overhaul of local zoning rules and was later stripped down by lawmakers to a study bill, was ultimately defeated. This time around, he plans to support a variety of limited policies and add a focus on expanding transit options, an issue he says is closely linked to soaring housing costs.
But his policy ideas aren’t without setbacks. Lawmakers, even fellow Democrats, and local government advocates have disagreed with his approach to confronting the issue. As for his promise of extended mountain rail, mountain residents, who have heard about the concept for years, are skeptical of the plan’s ambitious timeline.
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The Vail Daily rode the train with the governor and spent the day listening in on his meetings in Winter Park to learn more about the plan for mountain transit, along with his thoughts on other Western Slope issues like wolf reintroduction, short-term rentals and housing.
Mountain Rail
Before jumping on the train at Union Station, Polis gave brief remarks to reporters gathered on the platform. He announced his hopes to expand the Winter Park Express by making it year-round instead of just during ski season, adding multiple trips per day, decreasing the cost and even shortening the ride to the resort.
He also said he aspires to add stops for western Jefferson County and Eldora Mountain.
The federal government recently identified Colorado as a possible recipient of funding from the $66 billion set aside by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to boost rail across the country.
Polis and Western Slope lawmakers have also said they want to use the funding to transition an existing rail line from Winter Park to areas in northwest Colorado like Steamboat Springs, currently used for coal, into a passenger rail line. The rail line will continue to be used by coal producers until their scheduled shutdown in late 2028 but that shouldn’t stop passenger rail from sharing the track, he said.
The governor hopes that improving and extending the Winter Park Express will increase ridership, lower costs and eventually help ease traffic on the I-70 corridor.
“It has to compete on price with gas and parking and vehicle costs and I’m confident it will,” Polis said from his seat on the train.
In a meeting with community leaders from Winter Park, Steamboat Springs and Routt and Grand counties, Polis asked the group to create a coalition to support the project.
“The stakeholders, the community, local electeds, local businesses, that’s really where it needs to come together as we hopefully speak with one voice to make sure that in the case of federal money that it’s here for our communities, so the money doesn’t go somewhere else,” he said to the group.
The governor’s office is hoping to find support for a bill expected to be introduced this session that would solidify long-term state funding for the project.
Wolves
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have been criticized over a lack of transparency during their efforts to complete the voter-approved wolf reintroduction, but Polis didn’t identify anything he wants to see done differently in the process when asked Friday.
“CPW worked for over a year with over 20 sessions to establish the wolf plan and they’ve been following that plan and there really haven’t been any surprises,” he said.
Asked if he would support introducing a system that notifies ranchers of nearby wolves, Polis responded that eventually, not even the state will know where the wolves are.
“Not every wolf is going to be collared,” he said. “There’s a lot of focus on releases but they’re going to be a wild species like bears, like mountain lions, they’re going to go where they go like they have for thousands of years in the state of Colorado.”
Polis said the best way to protect the wolf population is by working with ranchers and recreational interests.
“I think what’s important is that ranchers have the tools they need for successful deterrence and when and if there is predation, there’s an expedited way to make sure ranchers are made whole and compensated,” he said.
Housing
In his State of the State speech Jan. 10 at the Capitol, Polis highlighted a few policies he will support to address the housing crisis in the state, including making accessory dwelling units easier to build, creating new financing strategies for home buyers, easing local parking requirements and ending occupancy limits.
As for policies specifically helping mountain communities with soaring housing costs, Polis on Friday pointed back to his focus on transit.
“The way that policymakers would view it is this is very affordable to help support, for instance, commuting passes, as compared to trying to build more housing,” he said.
He added that he thinks employers will also contribute to commuting passes for the mountain rail line, which would connect Hayden and Craig to Steamboat.
Polis also mentioned a bill that would create tax incentives for transit-oriented developments.
He also said he believes accessory dwelling units, which reportedly may not apply to mountain towns, will help.
“The more areas it covers the better,” he said of the bill.
Short-term rentals
A measure to increase property taxes for properties used for short-term rentals more than 90 days of the year has already proven to be one of the most contentious bills of the session. Western Slope lawmakers have said it’s the topic they’re hearing the most about in their communities.
When asked if he supports the concept, Polis didn’t answer directly.
“I would look at whether it contributes to there being more housing or not,” he said. “I’m generally focused on construction of more units.”
He added that if the state is going to help finance ADUs to reduce their cost, “we would want to make sure they’re long-term rentals.”
Wildfire costs
Also in his State of the State speech, Polis mentioned decreasing the cost of fire insurance as a way to ease housing costs. He clarified Friday that he would support a plan to decrease fire risk.
“I think the most meaningful way to reduce fire insurance costs is to reduce fire risks,” he said, “Which means making sure we have the right codes in the wildland urban interface, the right fire mitigation.”
