Will Vail’s Stewardship Roadmap preserve its community, economy and environment?
Town Council will again consider adopting the final roadmap after it sent it back for edits in April
Madison Rahhal/For the Vail Daily
What do the next 10 years look like for Vail’s community, economy and environment?
For over a year, this is the question that the Vail community, staff and Town Council have attempted to answer through its destination stewardship planning process. And now, the Vail Town Council will consider adopting the final Vail Stewardship Roadmap after delaying adoption in April.
The council has seen numerous stages and variations of the plan already, but this final version is “sharply focused on steps the town can take over the next 10 years to ensure that our vital tourism economy continues to thrive,” according to a memo from town staff.
“Early in 2022, the town embarked on an innovative path to guide how it manages an economy founded 60 years ago almost entirely on tourism,” reads the memo. “With town revenues continuing to achieve new heights following pandemic-related economic challenges and with occupancy rates now softening since last summer, the town is re-examining how tourism can generate additional value for the community.”
According to the town, Vail now hosts over 2.5 million visitors annually in addition to its approximately 5,000 year-round residents. And as the town has evolved and grown, so have its challenges. The most pressing issues include the increased pressures on trails, parking and local amenities as well as the housing crisis, the vacancies in critical jobs, the loss of diversity in its population, the availability of child care and more.
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Which is where Steward Vail comes in. The town’s goal with this destination stewardship process has been to identify possible solutions to some of these challenges, and hopefully, implement them over the next 10 years.
The brainstorming and ideation process for the destination stewardship began in February 2022, when community members were engaged through various input sessions. Through this, the goal remained striking a balance between the town’s community, tourist economy and natural environment.
In the early months of 2023, the council reviewed the plan in depth and provided direction on all its aspects. One of the largest changes to come out of this review process was an enhanced focus on making Steward Vail action-oriented and more visual.
At its April 18 meeting, the council considered a resolution to approve the plan but was continued to the future date in order to ensure the roadmap had the correct direction.
Thus, the final version that Vail’s council members will vote to approve during the Tuesday, June 20 Town Council meeting, is considered a roadmap rather than a visioning plan.
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The roadmap consists of six broad action areas, each of which has specific strategies as well as targets and indicators to measure progress toward the primary goal. It also provides information on when these strategies will be targeted and by which town department.
For example, the first action — “Make Vail More Liveable” — states that the overall goal is to double the supply of deed-restricted homes from 1,050 to 2,100 by 2033. Within that, there are seven strategies that range from changing development structures and collaborating with regional partners to securing grants and considering workforce housing in all developments.
To track its progress toward the ultimate goal, the roadmap stipulates that the town will track its deed-restricted housing inventory as well as the availability of workforce, public school enrollment of Vail residents and child care slots.
Each of the other actions has the same structure. These actions include strengthening Vail’s year-round appeal, making it a stronger community, continuing its commitment to environmental stewardship, and developing a brand position that differentiates Vail and supports its community.
During the ongoing review process by council, there has also been pushback on the town’s utilization of the Mountain IDEAL standard to propel its environmental stewardship work. At its April 18 meeting, council advocated to have the specific standard removed. In the final version that council will consider adopting, this specific ideal has been replaced with a more general strategy to “strive to maintain certification to a globally-recognized sustainability standard.”
The other primary line of commentary at its last meeting was that the council wanted to approve the plan so long as it preserves what made (and makes) Vail, Vail.
Should the Town Council vote to approve the roadmap on Tuesday, the next step will be planning and resourcing for its five actions and 40 strategies that are anticipated to take place over the coming decade. Once these plans come together and are budgeted, each will return to council for consideration.
This vote will take place during council’s regular evening meeting on Tuesday, June 20. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Vail Town Hall (75 South Frontage Road) and will be live-streamed on Facebook and High Five Media. To learn more, view the agenda or see how to provide public input, visit VailGov.com/Town-Council.
