S T E A M B O AT
TODAY
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2009
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
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Vol. 21, No. 219
RO U T T
C O U N T Y ’ S
DA I LY
N E W S PA P E R
S T E A M B O AT S P R I N G S
Haymaker gets focused Officials hope to maximize golf course’s potential for tourism and teaching Page 4
SPORTS
Sailors beat Delta Page 16
Race takes 700 off table City Council candidates gather for public forum Friday morning Brandon Gee
Corrections
Watch the forum
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
The first name of Oak Creek Mayor J. Elliott was incorrect in the story “Oak Creek trustee, commissioner resigns,” on page 6 of Friday’s Steamboat Today. Elliott presented outgoing trustee Dave Ege with a police commissioners badge. The dates for Gov. Bill Ritter’s recovery team meetings were incorrect in the story “Ritter’s recovery act team to visit” on page 13 of Friday’s Steamboat Today. The Steamboat me etings are Sept. 22, and the Craig meetings are Sept. 21.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Evidence is mounting that the biggest issue has been taken off the table in the most compelling race in the 2009 City Council election. Former City Council President Kevin Bennett has made his opposition to the proposed Steamboat 700 annexation a cornerstone of his campaign against City Council President Pro Tem Cari Hermacinski.
■ LOTTO
■ INDEX Briefs . . . . . . . . .10 Classifieds . . . . .29 Comics . . . . . . . .27 Crossword . . . . .27 Happenings . . . . .7 Horoscope . . . . .28
JOHN F. RUSSELL/STAFF
City Council President Pro Tem Cari Hermacinski, left, and former City Council President Kevin Bennett speak at a Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association event Friday. Hermacinski and Bennett are running for the four-year, District 1 City Council seat in November.
Scoreboard. . . . .26 Sports. . . . . . . . .16 Sudoku. . . . . . . .27 The Record. . . . .10 ViewPoints . . . . . .8 Weather . . . . . . .39
Friday night’s Cash 5 numbers: 9-18-22-24-31 Drawings are held Monday through Saturday.
The entirety of Friday’s forum will be broadcast on the city’s television station, Steamboat’s TV6, at 7 p.m. Monday.
But in recent public comments, Hermacinski has expressed her own hesitancy about the project, perhaps rendering the debate moot. The Old Town neighbors are opponents in the race for a four-year, District 1 seat. Hermacinski currently holds council’s two-year, at-large
■ WEATHER
Mostly cloudy with showers. High of 63.
Page 39
seat. Steamboat 700 proposes about 2,000 homes and 380,000 square feet of commercial space on 487 acres just west of city limits. At a Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association event Friday morning, Hermacinski reiterated concerns about Steamboat 700 that she first raised at a City Council meeting Tuesday. At a potential cost of more than $100 million, Hermacinski said improvements to U.S. Highway 40 alone are so expensive that
they threaten the viability of the project and undermine the No. 1 goal of the West of Steamboat Springs Area Plan: affordable housing. She said the WSSAP was written under the assumption that the state and federal government would help pay for the improvements, a prospect that is unlikely in the near term given budget constraints. “I’m concerned that the WSSAP, in light of some funSee City Council, page 15
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