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Routt County 1D
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Volume 123, Number 16 • Steamboat Springs, Colorado • www.steamboatpilot.com
Atira seeks base area ideas Ski Time Square sits vacant as council tables redevelopment plans Brandon Gee
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
From landscaping and a play ground, to an ice skating rink and tethered balloon rides, there has been no shortage of ideas thrown out for using the site of the demolished Ski Time Square commercial area. Developers The Atira Group
Public plan to cover 2 percent
want to hear more. On the heels of the Steamboat Springs City Council’s decision to table redevelopment plans for the property until January, large ly because it wants to see a plan for igniting the area between now and redevelopment, Atira is soliciting ideas to do just that. “I think the whole idea is to involve the community,” Atira
Vice President for Development Mark Mathews said. “We’ve come up with some ideas, but the whole idea is we might have missed something.” Mathews asked that sug gestions be sent via e-mail to steamboatredev@gmail.com. The Atira Group is rede veloping Ski Time Square and Thunderhead Lodge on behalf
of Washington, D.C.-based Cafritz Interests, which bought the properties in 2007. Anticipa ting immediate redevelopment, the existing Ski Time Square buildings were demolished in 2008, with the exception of the Tugboat Grill & Pub. Atira is john f. russell/staff requesting a 10-year vesting peri Redevelopment plans for Ski Time Square were tabled by the Steamboat Springs od for the development. See Ski Time Square, page 8A
City Council on Tuesday. Council members said they want to see a plan for how the demolished site will ignite the commercial area at the base of Steamboat Ski Area.
Halloween Stroll
Annual downtown event draws hundreds of children, parents
Woman donates musical treasure Resident gifts Steinway to CMC
Estimates show low health care support Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Margaret Hair
the Associated Press
Pilot & Today Staff
WASHINGTON
What’s all the fuss about? After all the noise about Democrats’ push for a govern ment insurance plan to compete with private carriers, coverage numbers are finally in: Two percent. That’s the estimated share of Americans younger than 65 who’d sign up for the public option plan under the health care bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is steering toward House approval. The underwhelming statis tic is raising questions about whether the government plan will be the iron-fisted competi tor that private insurers warn will shut them down or a niche operator that becomes a haven for patients with health insur ance horror stories. Some experts are wondering if lawmakers have wasted too much time arguing about the public plan, giving short shrift See Health, page 7A
Steamboat Springs
matt stensland/staff
Steamboat Springs’ Daniel Melvin, 15, who is dressed as a Lego man, visits with some of his costume fans Saturday during the annual Downtown Halloween Stroll. Hundreds of local children and their parents crowded Lincoln Avenue to trick-or-treat at businesses. “It’s about as community as you can get; everybody comes out,” Mainstreet Steamboat Springs Manager Tracy Barnett said last week. Local law enforcement attended, community groups handed out hot chocolate and cider, and the Steamboat Christian Center brought its campaign to collect 2,000 pounds of food for LIFT-UP of Routt County. Other holiday events across the area included pumpkin carving, a haunted house at Colorado Mountain College and music and parties for the late-night crowd.
Oak Creek plan to be revised Updated town policy draft makes few, but significant, changes Zach Fridell
Online
Pilot & Today staff
Oak Creek
The town of Oak Creek has until Dec. 31 to update its com prehensive plan, giving new direction and guidance to the city government. The comprehensive plan, cre ated in 1996, was designed to be used as guidance for town policies. The original deadline for the town to submit the docu joel reichenberger/staff Oak Creek is reviewing its comprehensive plan and land-use code. One suggested ments to the state was Saturday, provision in the land-use code would be to require Main Street business owners to get but because of delays with a company contracted to handle approval from the Planning Commission to make major changes to the buildings. Page designed by nicole miller
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To read a revised draft of the comprehensive plan, visit www.steamboatpilot.com.
updates and review the plan, the town received an extension. Oak Creek Town Board and Planning Commission mem ber Chuck Wisecup said there were few major changes in the plan or the land-use code, a separate document that creates policy that town officials also are updating. But the changes that are suggested in the drafts
viewpoints
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See Oak Creek, page 7A
A treasured piano
Scarlett-Atkinson decided to donate the piano shortly after her Old Town bed-and-break fast, The Alpine Rose, closed in 2005. The instrument belonged to Scarlett-Atkinson’s mother, Caroline Curtze, and came to See Piano, page 8A
DELIVERY PROBLEM?
LAST WEEK: Should the Steamboat Springs City Council sign a three-year lease with New West Inns to operate the Iron Horse Inn? Results/5A THIS WEEK: Should Routt County continue to use the mail-only voting format in future elections?
could affect some home and business owners. Among the biggest changes is a proposal to prohibit mobile homes outside of mobile home parks. The provision would not affect mobile homes currently outside of a mobile home park but would stop any new devel opment. “The other thing we’ve still got to tackle, I believe, is some kind of solution if the board desires to allow people
In May, Kathleen Allen per formed a song called “A Green Lowland of Pianos” in a classi cal music recital. The lyrics to that Samuel Barber song are a bit goofy, bringing a “herd of black pianos” to life, the Hayden resident and piano techni cian said. Steamboat Spr ings resident Lynn Curtze Scarlett-Atkinson sat in the audience at that recit al. She was hooked on Allen’s performance of Barber’s song, and she shared that with Allen, who had worked for months to restore Scarlett-Atkinson’s 1936 Steinway M grand piano. “She was there, and she liked it so much that she actually wrote me sort of a fan e-mail about it, and said, ‘This is really cool, and I kept thinking about my own piano with respect to this,’” Allen said. On Nov. 8, Allen will sing “A Green Lowland of Pianos” while Basalt-based musician Andrew Todd accompanies her on the piano she brought back to life. The performance is part of a concert celebrating Scarlett-Atkinson’s donation of her Steinway M to Colorado Mountain College. Todd’s classical selections fill out the program, which is at 2 p.m. in the New Space Theatre at CMC’s Spring Valley Campus near Glenwood Springs.
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