Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutAppendix J-2007Vail2020 STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN Adopted by the Vail Town Council November 6, 2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Town of Vail wishes to thank members of the community who participated in the Vail 20/20 process, as well as the following individuals and organizations: Vail Town Council Rod Slifer, Mayor Farrow Hitt, Mayor Pro-Tem Kevin Foley Mark Gordon Kent Logan Greg Moffet Kim Newbury Planning and Environmental Commission Bill Jewitt, Chair Dick Cleveland Anne Fehlner-Gunion Rollie Kjesbo Michael Kurz Bill Pierce David Viele Town of Vail Staff Stan Zemler, Town Manager Pam Brandmeyer, Assistant Town Manager Gregg Barrie, Landscape Architect Judy Camp, Finance Director Warren Campbell, Chief of Planning Bill Carlson, Environmental Officer Susan Douglas, Administrative Commander, Vail PD Russ Forrest, Former Director of Community Development Rachel Friede, Town Planner Bill Gibson, Town Planner John Gulick, Former Vail Fire Chief Greg Hall, Director of Public Works Kathleen Halloran, Budget Manager Dwight Henninger, Vail Police Chief Scot Hunn, Senior Planner Kelli McDonald, Economic Development Manager Todd Oppenheimer, Capital Projects Manager John Power, Director of Human Resources Elisabeth Reed, Former Town Planner George Ruther, Director of Community Development Suzanne Silverthorn, Community Information Officer Nina Timm, Housing Coordinator Jamie Wilson, Comm. and Special Projects Manager Vail Recreation District Staff Mike Ortiz, Director, Vail Recreation District John Monson, Assistant Director, Vail Recreation District Consultants Becky Zimmerman, Principal, Design Workshop Rebecca Leonard, Project Manager, Design Workshop Pam Britton, Facilitator, Design Workshop Anna Gagne, Project Assistant, Design Workshop Chris Cares, RRC Associates Vail Housing Authority Steve Lindstrom Mark Ristow Sally Jackle Kim Newbury Ethan Moore Representatives and Organizations Bruce Baumgartner, Eagle County Cal Wettstein, US Forest Service Linn Schorr, Eagle River Water and Sanitation District Dave Johnson, ECO Transit Bill Jensen, Vail Resorts Jim Lamont, Vail Village Homeowners Association Jim Brandmeyer, formerly of Vail Alpine Garden Foundation Peter Abuisi, Vail Mountain School Karen Strakbein, formerly of Eagle County School District Ceil Folz, Vail Valley Foundation Michael Robinson, Vail Valley Partnership Gregory Repetti, Vail Valley Medical Center Foundation Karen Simon, Vail Valley Charitable Fund Bill Wilto, Vail Valley Rotary Club Bev Trout, Vail Board of Realtors Kaye Ferry, Vail Chamber and Business Association Mark Bricklin, Vail Daily Don Rogers, Vail Daily Carl Walker, Vail Religious Foundation Environmental Team Luke Cartin, Vail Resorts Anne Essen, Resident Kim Langmaid, Gore Range Natural Science School Susan Pollack, board member of Gore Range Natural Science School Matt Scherr, Eagle Valley Alliance for Sustainability Caroline Bradford, Grand River Consulting Vail Economic Advisory Council Dick Cleveland Rick Scalpello Robin Litt Sally Hanlon Rob LeVine Pam Stenmark Mark Cervantes Matt Morgan Steve Kaufman Tori Franks Rayla Kundolf Bob McNichols Bob Boselli Alan Kosloff M. Joseph McHugh TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 VAIL 20/20 COMMUNITY VALUES 3 LAND USE AND DEVELOPMENT 4 PARKS AND RECREATION 6 ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY 8 HOUSING 11 TRANSPORTATION ECONOMY 13 16 PUBLIC SAFETY 18 COMMUNITY DIVERSITY 19 APPENDIX A: BACKGROUND INFORMATION A-1 APPENDIX B: PUBLIC INPUT SUMMARIES B-1 APPENDIX C: VAIL TOMORROW SUMMARY C-1 APPENDIX D: COMMUNITY SURVEY 2007 **NOTE: IF APPENDICES ARE NOT INCLUDED, THEY CAN BE VIEWED AT WWW.VAILGOV.COM/2020 D-1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 The Vail 20/20 Focus on the Future process began in 2006 as a way to build upon Vail’s successes, keep the resort community competitive and to seek opportunities to improve the community through a strategic plan. Goals of the 20/20 process were adopted as follows: • Create a plan that identifies commonly shared values in the community. • Create a clear vision for Vail. • Integrate a plan to coordinate Vail’s strategies for the future. • Create a plan that transcends the administrations of town staff, Vail Town Council and appointed boards and commissions. Vail’s last community visioning process took place in 1996, which involved the community in the creation of shared values, goals and actions. Now, more than a decade later, that earlier work from Vail Tomorrow has been re-examined as part of the Vail 20/20 process. The public input process for Vail 20/20 has included two public workshops, a meeting with Vail’s stakeholders, a workshop with Vail Mountain School students, and an open house to respond to a first draft of the Strategic Action Plan. Environmental sustainability, workforce housing, I-70 mitigation, wildfire preparedness and management of growth and redevelopment were identified during these meetings as top priorities for the town. In all, more than 300 voices were heard to assist in setting a direction for the future. The Vail 20/20 Strategic Action Plan begins with a set of values that outline what is truly important to the community. The plan then details land use and development, parks and recreation, environment, housing, transportation, economy, community and public safety topics, including specific vision statements, long-term goals, and actions and strategies over the next 5 years to achieve those goals. The appendices include the following information: Background information, current practices, current strategies, guiding documents, and public input for each topic (Appendix A), summaries of public input (Appendix B), Vail Tomorrow summaries (Appendix C), 2007 Community Survey (Appendix D). Vail’s Vision is the general vision statement for Vail’s future, based on input from the community during the Vail 20/20 process, and is as follows: We are the “Premier Mountain Resort Community” by providing high quality of life and experiences for both residents and visitors. This is achieved through environmental stewardship, world-class recreational, cultural and educational opportunities, a strong year-round economy, diversity of housing, and superior infrastructure. The town actively seeks input and cooperation from the community and its neighbors to ensure fulfillment of its vision. The following provides a summary of each topic and general themes expressed by 20/20 participants. For more information, visit www.vailgov.com/2020. Land Use and Development: The completion of current redevelopment in Vail and preparing for future growth is essential to Vail’s ongoing success as a resort community. Through evaluation of and modifications to the town’s planning documents, the town has an opportunity to ensure proper guidance of future development. During 20/20, some participants expressed concerns over the scale of development in Vail, while others expressed satisfaction with the town’s management of growth and development. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 Parks and Recreation: Aging infrastructure, the need for new recreation facilities and programming to meet public demand and a lack of funding have been identified as important challenges to be addressed by Vail’s leaders and its partners. During 20/20, participants expressed a desire for new facilities, increased maintenance for existing facilities and additional marketing for recreation programs. Environment: Vail’s reputation as a resort industry leader lends itself to setting exceptional standards for environmental stewardship. During 20/20, participants encouraged the town to become a leader in environmental sustainability, including improvement in town practices and creation of new environmental opportunities for businesses, residents and guests. Housing: The high cost of housing and a lack of developable land continue to challenge the community in providing adequate workforce housing. Opportunities exist to increase the amount of employee housing through redevelopment of existing housing, the purchase of deed-restricted units and through developer requirements. During 20/20, participants placed workforce housing as a top priority for the community and government leaders to address. Transportation: Vail strives to operate a seamless transportation system while experiencing an increase in users in every mode of transportation. This increase has caused the town to reevaluate and seek new opportunities for funding sources and solutions to traffic congestion and parking needs. During 20/20, participants expressed concerns regarding I-70 noise and pollution, increased traffic in Vail and the need for additional parking options. Economy: Increasing capital and operational expenses for the town, a sales tax driven municipal budget, workforce housing needs and a seasonal economy impact the community’s long- term financial health. During 20/20, participants expressed interest in creating a year-round economy, funding capital projects and focusing on workforce housing. Community: Vail’s community direction and diversity is impacted by variables such as housing, employment and affordability. These variables have caused a decline in the number of families living in Vail, while representation from other demographic sectors such as retirees and part-time homeowners moving to Vail full-time has increased. During 20/20, participants expressed optimism in addressing the many challenges associated with improving community diversity, which in turn, will contribute to a healthier resort. Public Safety: The town continues to look for opportunities to improve its public safety divisions including constructing a new fire station in West Vail to improve emergency response times in the neighborhood, as well as renovation to the Main Vail fire station. Additionally, the increase in wildfire danger caused by the ongoing pine beetle outbreak poses a threat to public safety and the town is working with local and regional partners to prepare itself and its residents in the event a wildfire occurs. During 20/20, participants expressed the need for a new fire house in West Vail and ongoing response to the beetle outbreak. The Vail 20/20 Strategic Action Plan has been developed to guide decisions by key leaders to ensure these decisions are aligned with the community’s desired future, as outlined in Vail’s Vision above. The plan will also be used to improve effectiveness and efficiency in capital and operational budgeting for the town. As such, Vail’s 20/20 values and vision statements, goals and actions should be reviewed as needed to maintain a strategic direction into the future. VAIL 20/20: COMMUNITY VALUES 3 Premier Resort Community: Vail values its role as a premier resort community, which recognizes the interdependent relationship between the resort, community and municipality. Vail's success as a resort depends largely on its success as a community, as the community fosters relationships between locals and visitors. We make plans and take actions that are investments in the experiences and lives of many different generations, today and into the future. It takes work and reinvention to stay No. 1, and Vail is committed to innovation and creativity to achieve our goals. Diversity: Vail values maintaining a diverse population of residents, workers and visitors, with a broad representation of age, family composition, ethnic background and economic means. Activities Benefit Individuals and the Community: Vail values a vibrant community life supportive of spiritual and physical well-being and encouraging of intellectual and cultural growth. This value includes providing a wide variety of educational, recreational, entertainment, art and cultural opportunities. These offerings are accessible to all and appeal to residents and guests of all ages, incomes and interests. These activities promote the development of relationships that strengthen the community. Natural Environment: Vail values the environment as a source of health, beauty, recreation and economic strength that makes Vail a special place to live, work and play. As stewards of the environment, Vail is committed to promoting sustainable environmental practices in every aspect of the community. Safety and Health: Vail values a sense of personal security for its citizens and their children, as well as for property. Quality healthcare and physical activities support the health of the community. Participation and Cooperation: Vail values the participation of its citizens in community life, decision making and planning for the future. To foster effective communication, the community subscribes to a Common Code of Ethics for conduct in civic life including honesty, integrity, civility, respect, trust, goodwill, transparency, openness, selflessness and generosity. A sense of ownership and responsibility is achieved through open communication and cooperation between community members, businesses, interest groups and local and regional governments. Cooperation is essential to addressing issues that extend beyond town boundaries. Leadership: Vail values a transparent, fiscally responsible and ethical municipal government that engages community members, private partnerships, municipalities and other entities throughout the region to make sound decisions that serve all interested parties for the long term. Healthy Economy: Vail values world-class service and a vibrant, diverse, year-round economy that caters to full and part-time residents, visitors and business owners and operators. A growing employment and revenue base supports the economy, which thrives on environmental sustainability, amenities and events, transportation and other infrastructure. Sense of Place and Character: Vail values the strong history of the town and its unique character and legacy while acknowledging the importance of reinvention. This is reflected in the high quality of the built environment with design and features that endure over time. Transportation and Transit Network: Vail values a sustainable, multi-modal transportation system that effectively provides ease of access to residents, visitors and the workforce in an environmentally and technologically forward manner. Vail’s Community Values serve as the foundation for the Vail 20/20 Strategic Action Plan and are the essence of Vail’s identity. TRANSPORTATION 12 20/20 Vision Vail is recognized as having a comprehensive transportation system and through continued redevelopment, has reinforced its transit-oriented lifestyle. Transit, walking and biking are the major modes of travel along with extensive, multi- modal connections between major destinations. Those who choose to drive are welcomed with a well-maintained roadway system directing vehicles to Vail’s managed parking areas. Goods and service delivery are distributed through the town’s dispersed loading and delivery system. Getting to and from Vail is safe and efficient. Connections throughout the intermountain area are seamless and a big factor in Vail’s quality of life. Workers enjoy a one-hour commute from the Denver Metro area or Glenwood Springs in a reliable and environmentally friendly method, while residents and guests enjoy the same commute to Denver for work or visits to the many cultural venues and events. Convenient connections to the nearby airports make year- round travel to Vail easy from anywhere in the world. 20/20 Implementation Based on input from the community during the 20/20 process, town staff developed the following goals and action strategies to support the transportation vision. Goal #1: Create an integrated Transportation System with high levels of service that caters to the many needs of our residents, guests and employees and embraces the many issues of the surrounding natural and built environment in its design, implementation and operation. Actions/Strategies Parking • Aggressively manage parking to minimize major capital investments to increase supply while encouraging travel modes other than single occupant vehicles. • Maintain the supply of parking where all demand is met except up to a maximum of 15 days of winter and three days of summer when parking demand exceeds supply. • On parking overflow days, provide on-street emergency parking and additional bus stops to ensure a maximum waking distance of a quarter mile to a bus stop or half mile to the final destination. • Parking revenue shall offset all parking costs, including operations and capital, and combined with the ski tax, shall pay for the operational and capital costs of transit. • Meet future parking needs of approximately 1,000 spaces by developing parking supply that is conveniently located to destinations. Bikeway • Integrate Frontage Road plans to include bikeway construction. • Work with regional trail authorities to implement a comprehensive regional bike trail system to ensure Vail will be the center of a regional bike trail system connecting areas as far as Aspen, Rifle, Breckenridge, Fairplay, Kremmling, Leadville and Salida. • Create regulations that provide convenient connections between developments and bikeways. • Work with private developers to ensure all arterials in Vail have bikeways along them and that there are connections between neighborhoods. • Codify and require developments to provide easements and construct connections. • Work with the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Greater Outdoors Colorado, TRANSPORTATION 13 Colorado Trail and other partners to implement the Rocky Mountain trail system that provides regional connections for hiking, mountain biking and other non-motorized modes of transportation, with Vail in the center of the system. • Increase bicycle parking in commercial core areas. Pedestrianization • Ensure that all pedestrians have a maximum of a quarter mile or less to walk from transit stops to major destinations. • Ensure that walking distances from residential areas to transit stops are one-sixth of a mile in high density areas (5 minute walk), one-third mile in medium density areas (10 minute walk), and a half mile in low density areas (15 minute walk). • Ensure transit and pedestrian connections are integrated into the design of development projects. • Evaluate the need for amendments to Zoning Regulations and master plans to incorporate transit oriented development and more mixed use development. • Analyze current manmade pathways and acquire easements to build legitimate pathways (including streamwalk). • Improve sidewalks on frontage roads and other necessary places. Transit • Annually review transit costs and parking revenue and adjust as necessary in order to maintain balance. • Provide peak time line haul service of five to eight minutes and max of 15 to 20 minutes on outlying peak service. • Ensure and plan for all major parking areas to be integrated with significant line haul transit connections. • Research feasibility of an advanced mass transit system in Vail. • Provide a max of 30 minutes to one hour off- peak service that is coordinated with expected walk times and people’s ability to reach stops during both the winter and summer. • Coordinate and work with ECO Transit to ensure service can be provided as demand is driven by Vail’s aggressive parking management and travel demand management strategies. • Work with local, regional and state governments to ensure that Vail’s mass transit system is interconnected to a county-wide and statewide system, including connections to Summit and Garfield counties. Roadway • Maintain the current Levels of Service on roads throughout the town through road improvements (LOS C in clear daytime conditions, LOS D in harsh winter conditions on arterials, LOS D at cross streets during peak times in clear daytime conditions). • Work with the Community Development Department to ensure land use patterns do not adversely affect travel demand without mitigation or no change in level of service. • Keep arterial roadway size to four lanes with a center median with a 35 mph speed limit. • Create a secondary parallel loop route to the frontage roads with two lane 25 mph speed for emergency service. • Provide alternate routes to detours with proper signage. TRANSPORTATION 14 • Seek funding and creation of a Simba Run underpass to allow additional routes across I-70. I-70 • Work with CDOT to ensure I-70 functions adequately for the movement of people and goods to and from Vail. • Participate in the I-70 Coalition to assist with solutions for traffic congestion along I-70. • Convene citizen group to work with staff on a study of I-70 and long-term mitigation of noise and intrusiveness. • Work with the Colorado Department of Transportation and other organizations to research feasibility and funding for mass transit along I-70 that provides seamless connectivity to Denver Metro System. The measurement of success would be a 60-minute trip from Vail to Denver (C-470). • Continue to improve the entrances to Vail to ensure a LOS C. • Work with Eagle County and CDOT to encourage safety improvements on Vail Pass and Dowd Junction. • Continue to explore options for burying or rerouting I-70. Air Service • Encourage year-round air service with adequate year-round connections from around the world to airports in the region. • Work with ECO Airport, Grand Junction Airport, Denver International Airport and shuttle services to create plan for year-round air service that serves Vail. • Support local marketing efforts to work with travel package companies to ensure that service to Vail is affordable and accessible. Goal #2: Minimize the environmental impact of the transportation system on the town and the region. Actions/Strategies • Ensure town vehicles minimize their carbon dioxide emissions by upgrading current fleet with energy efficient and low emission vehicles. • Research methods for reduced energy use in streetscape and other parts of system that have high-energy consumption. • Continue to mitigate noise pollution issues throughout the town through sand storage berming and other methods; work with community to create new long-term solutions for I-70 noise. • Monitor effects of air pollution from transportation sources and research potential mitigation. • Encourage the Colorado Department of Transportation to reduce road sanding yet maintain safety standards. • Maintain current sand sediment basins and work with CDOT to increase capacity and number of basins. • Encourage Sediment Control Action Plan (SCAP) for Vail Pass and Vail. • Reduce point and non-point sources of pollution from transportation. • Work with Division of Wildlife to ensure that transportation improvements do not affect wildlife. • Enhance natural environment through initiatives to improve ecosystem health. TRANSPORTATION 15 • Respect currently adopted view corridors by encouraging development that enhances view.