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Colorado - Mon. 03/24/25 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOUNDER TOM CLARK DIES
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Tom Clark, longtime leader of economic development for the metro Denver area and a major force in bringing Major League Baseball to Denver, construction of Coors and Sports Authority fields, the establishment of the Regional Transportation District’s light rail system and bringing international flights to Denver International Airport, died at age 75. Clark was CEO of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. for 14 years, retiring in 2017. He was instrumental in bringing a regional approach to projects and issues, working with communities across the Front Range, including Denver, Boulder, Jefferson County and Fort Collins.
Clark was committed to diversifying the region’s economy and rather than prioritize Denver in bids for business development, Clark presented the entire state or region for locations for companies to expand or relocate and then let the company choose where to put down roots. That approach earned Clark the title of Colorado’s “Godfather of Regionalism.”
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CDOT: ALTITUDE INCREASES IMPACT OF ALCOHOL & CANNABIS
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Colorado is experiencing a significant increase in visitors as spring break is at its peak and as schools are out for the spring vacation families as well as students are coming to the mountains to ski. The Colorado Dept. of Transportation has a warning for all visitors about high elevations. CDOT warns of the potential dangers of driving under the influence of marijuana or alcohol at higher elevations. CDOT advises, "Even moderate consumption of cannabis or alcohol can lead to a stronger impact than expected." While multiple studies have found that alcohol does not affect people more at higher elevations, the symptoms of being at a higher elevation, i.e., quicker dehydration, increased fatigue and less oxygen, along with the usage of cannabis or alcohol, can lead to quicker and more drastic impairment. The CDOT statement continues, "A drink or edible that feels mild at sea level can have a stronger effect in the mountains."
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CENTENNIAL DEVELOPING LONG-TERM PLAN TO MAKE 800-ACRE AREA INTO CITY CENTER
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Centennial is a home rule municipality, the 11th-largest in Colorado with more than 100,000 residents. Located in Arapahoe County, Centennial is a disjointed connection of land basically bisected by Interstate 25. City officials are now in the process of developing a 50-year vision for creating a new city center located in what officials call Midtown Centennial, an 800-acre area located along the I-25 corridor running from South Yosemite Street to South Havana and East Arapahoe Road to East County Line Road. The project involves creating new zoning districts within the Midtown area to facilitate the redevelopment.
Centennial updated its comprehensive plan in 2023, designating Midtown Centennial as a place type. Now the plan is to replace the disjointed neighborhood retail centers and other commercial corridors with office parks and commercial developments in a mixed-use neighborhood that could one day serve as the city’s downtown. The 50-year vision for the area aims to bring a more vibrant and walkable area that encompasses residential, commercial and transit-oriented spaces. The city is working with Denver-based urban design and landscape architecture firm Civitas and land economics consulting firm Economic & Planning Systems.
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DENVER’S POPULUS HOTEL MAKES TIME’S 100 “GREATEST PLACES” IN THE WORLD
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Each year, the well-known publication TIME releases a list of the 'world's greatest places.' The list contains 100 places to stay and visit around the globe, featuring hotels, cruises, restaurants, attractions, museums, parks, and more – selected from reader nominations for each spot's one-of-a-kind nature and the exciting experience it offers. The 2025 list contains places like a nature reserve in Nambia, a tree-top sanctuary in Peru, an indoor ski resort in Shanghai, and even a hotel in downtown Denver.
The brand new Populus hotel in downtown Denver was featured on the unranked list of TIME's 100 "greatest places" around the globe, best known for its design heavily inspired by the aspen tree. Populus aims to be the first carbon-positive hotel in the U.S., and with a goal to plant 55,000 trees in 2025, the hotel offers their 'One Night, One Tree' program, which involves the hotel planting a tree for each night a guest stays. In addition to the 55,000-tree plan, TIME makes special note of how 70,000 trees were already planted in Gunnison County in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service to "offset the equivalent of Populus' embodied carbon." The complete list of Time's 100 Greatest Places for 2025 can be found at time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2025.
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ROSS MCGEE: CPW WILDLIFE OFFICER OF THE YEAR
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Ross McGee grew up in Grand Junction, graduating from Central High School in 2009. McGee loved hunting and went to Western State College (now Western Colorado University) and received a degree in wildlife management. In 2016, he was hired by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and after a year of training was assigned as the district wildlife manager in Meeker. CPW just named McGee as the agency’s John D. Hart Wildlife Officer of the Year. The award is named after a state wildlife officer who retired in 1959.
McGee was one of 29 Parks and Wildlife employees honored for their outstanding service and commitment to protecting the state’s citizens and natural resources, in an award program that’s a collaboration between Parks and Wildlife and the state parks and state wildlife employees' protective associations. CPW, in recognizing McGee, said he “distinguished himself through community engagement, innovative conservation efforts, and his commitment to addressing complex wildlife challenges. He has fostered private-public partnerships that opened more than 4,500 acres for public hunting and wildlife surveys, while also managing significant big game migration corridor challenges. Officer McGee’s leadership, expertise, and firm yet humble approach to law enforcement makes him a deserving recipient of this prestigious award.”
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BLM PROPOSED LEASE SALE IN SEPTEMBER COULD RESULT IN 24 WELLS NEAR MEEKER
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A Bureau of Land Management proposal to lease more than 10,000 acres northwest of Meeker for oil and gas development could result in the drilling of 24 horizontal wells there, the agency says in a draft environmental assessment. The agency is accepting public comments until April 14 on its proposal to offer 13 oil and gas parcels totaling 12,111 acres in a lease sale in September. This includes some acreage in Arapahoe and Weld counties, as well as nearly 10,400 acres that are mostly in Rio Blanco County, with a small amount of acreage crossing into Moffat County.
The BLM projects the northwest Colorado acreage could possibly support two dozen wells that would be drilled down and then two miles sideways, or horizontally, to target oil and gas in the Niobrara geological formation. The wells could be drilled from 16 pads, each of which could require disturbing about 30 acres. Information on commenting on the lease sale proposal may be found at eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2034957/510. The BLM also proposes offering more than 51,000 acres, mostly in far northwestern Colorado but including about 722 acres in the Plateau Valley in Mesa County, in a lease sale in December.
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HIGHER FINES FOR FAILING TO CHAIN UP ON VAIL PASS, BUT NOT REACHING $20,000
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Last week, Vail Mayor Travis Coggin announced that a new ordinance, published March 14, 2025, establishes stricter penalties for failing to chain up on Interstate 70, with a fine of $1,500, but that increases to $2,650 if a Vail Police Dept. officer determines that a vehicle is blocking any portion of a roadway “so as to impede vehicular travel.” It’s a far cry from the $20,000 fines Coggin called for at a council meeting in January, but it’s up from the current penalties of $500 for chain-up violations for commercial vehicles and $1,150 for blocking a road. It will also allow Vail Police officers to prohibit vehicles from further travel and require towing by a private company at the driver’s expense.
Within days of the publication of the ordinance, on Wednesday, March 19, a semi tractor-trailer spun out and jackknifed at mile marker 175.5 on I-70, stalling traffic outside of Vail Town Hall. But despite the fact that the roadway was blocked for hours, causing backups that extended out of Vail into Dowd Junction, the driver of the jackknifed truck did not receive the new fines, Police Chief Ryan Kenney has confirmed, because that area of the highway is not technically part of the chain-up zone in which the new ordinance can be enforced.
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UNITED AIRLINES RAMPS UP SERVICE FROM YVRA THIS SUMMER
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Steamboat Resort announced that United Airlines will expand its service to and from Denver and Los Angeles at Yampa Valley Regional Airport this summer. United will use larger aircraft for its Denver flights to and from YVRA and add a new nonstop flight from Los Angeles on Saturdays from June 14 to Aug. 16. United will have service to Denver up to three times daily on an Airbus 319, which contains 126 seats. United will also offer a nonstop flight from Houston on Friday and Saturday evenings, with return flights on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Southwest Airlines will continue to offer year-round, non-winter air service between Denver and YVRA. Southwest’s service will offer five times a week flights from Denver from April 6 to June 4. The airline will then move to once-a-day service to Denver from June 7 to Aug. 5 before returning to five times a week flights Aug. 5 – Nov. 1. More information on air service to Steamboat is available at steamboat.com/flights.
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THE WEST: AN EXPANSIVE LOOK AT THE OLD, THE NEW, THE EVER-CHANGING
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The Saturday, March 22 edition of the Washington Post features an essay with several series of pictures documenting the change in the American West, focused on Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. It is authored by Washington Post writer Susan Levine, with photos by Matt McClain, who is a former photographer for the Rocky Mountain News.
Levin documents the underlying presence of change as the “constant” present in the West. She opens her pages-long feature story with a quote from Donna L. Lybecker, a professor at Idaho State University, who writes, “From manifest destiny to the Sagebrush Rebellion, from ranching to fracking, from boom to bust to boom again,” the West’s reality as well as image have been “redefined and remade.” “You’re starting to see a shift not just in urban centers but in these small communities,” Lybecker says. The impact is uneven and not always welcome.
There are, of course, those who benefit and those who come up short. The story highlights five communities/regions: Seeley Lake/Missoula, Montana; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Garfield and Mesa counties, Colorado; Phoenix/Maricopa County, Arizona; and Las Cruces/Mesilla Valley, New Mexico.
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CELEBRATE TRAILS DAY COMING NEXT MONTH: CHECK OUT RAILS TO TRAILS
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Railroads allowed the development and connection of communities in the United States. As highways eroded the numbers of travelers by train and freight hauling, railroad lines were decommissioned and in the 1960s, many communities began converting old train tracks into scenic “rail-trails.” The Rails to Trails Conservancy was formed in 1986 and although now the organization has shifted its focus to the advancement and development of all trails, rail trails are the cornerstone of the conservancy. Colorado has some 40 rail trails and on April 26, the Rails to Trails Conservancy will host their annual spring celebration of getting out to walk or bike on the trails.
Here are some well-known rail trails in Colorado:
- Rio Grande Trail from Glenwood Springs to Aspen
- Peaks to Plains Trail, which will eventually run 65 miles from the mountains to the South Platte along Clear Creek
- New Santa Fe Regional Trail, running 17 miles from Monument and Palmer Lake by the U.S. Air Force Academy with connections to Colorado Springs
- Mineral Belt Trail, which loops 11.6 miles through the mining areas and forests near Leadville
Check all the Colorado trails at railstotrails.org.
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CSU EXTENSION HAS ITS OWN VERSION OF MARCH MADNESS: VEGGIE MADNESS
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Last week, many people were consumed with filling out brackets, the Colorado State University Office of Engagement and Extension had its own version of March Madness, as the week was the tournament of Colorado vegetables or Veggie Madness. Beginning on Monday, March 17, it was the Sweet 16; Tuesday was the Elite Eight; and Wednesday was the Final Four. Voting was conducted online, with extension offices around the state promoting their particular entry.
This was the second year CSU Extension has held the madness competition:
- The Sweet 16 included everything from asparagus to zucchini, with melons thrown in
- Elite Eight: onion v melons; winter squash v sweet corn; potatoes v asparagus; chile peppers v spinach
- Final Four: onion v winter squash; potatoes v chile peppers
- Finals: potatoes v winter squash
- Veggie Madness winner: winter squash
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MARKET UPDATE - 03/21/2025 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 03/20/2025)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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