Alternative Futures for Telluride

overview

Telluride, once a gold mining town, has become a world famous skiing and resort destination. The stunning location, small town charm and exceptional recreational opportunities have contributed to a major real estate boom over the last decade. However, with this success comes a new set of challenges, including finding suitable places to house an expanding population within a high priced real estate market. Telluride is by its nature geographically constrained and environmentally fragile; accommodating change while maintaining the quality of life and character of the region will not be simple.

The challenges that Telluride will face over the next several decades include economic, social and environmental issues: The demand for real estate and associated population growth are reshaping the business and social structure of Telluride in addition to threatening the highly valuable landscape. The principal challenges include:

• Rising property values continue to force many long-time residents to move to the periphery or completely out of the area, altering the character of the region.

• The visual quality of the region, which is so vitally important to the economic competitiveness of the region, is at risk of degradation with further development.

• A decrease in year-round residents may harm the economic vibrancy of the commercial areas.

• Increasing traffic on tightly constrained roads is likely to contribute to a decline in the quality of life.

• The ecology of the region is threatened by climate change and a possible elevation in the susceptibility to catastrophic fire.

• Providing government services for growing populations in outlying areas will be difficult.

• A possible surge in natural resource extraction could produce substantial social and environmental impacts in the region.

• The most important changes in the region will be instigated by outside forces and are subject to a high level of uncertainty, complicating a planning process that is already highly complex.

While these and other potential problems are inherently regional issues, the cross-regional institutional structures for addressing these problems are underfunded.

If the demand for second homes and retirement homes in the greater region continues to increase, there will be pressure on labor and housing markets that will raise costs and further exacerbate the social challenges facing Telluride, particularly on the full-time residents of Telluride. The only long-term solution is a regional solution. The value in this study will be to look at these issues across jurisdictions, in an integrated manner and across longer time horizons.

The protection and enhancement of economic, ecological and cultural assets in the future will require decisive actions and policies; leaders of the region will need to carefully consider regulatory policies and infrastructure decisions and assess the implications of various alternatives upon Telluride and its neighbors. The objective of this project is to provide regional leaders and the public with a comprehensive tool for assessing future policy decisions.

The content on this website is research in progress, and cannot be used, cited or quoted without permission.



overview Telluride, once a gold mining town, has become a world famous skiing and resort destination. The stunning location, small town charm and exceptional recreational opportunities have contributed to a major real estate boom over the last decade. However, with this success comes a new set of challenges, including finding suitable places to house an expanding population within a high priced real estate market. Telluride is by its nature geographically constrained and environmentally fragile; accommodating change while maintaining the quality of life and character of the region will not be simple. The challenges that Telluride will face over the next several decades include economic, social and environmental issues: The demand for real estate and associated population growth are reshaping the business and social structure of Telluride in addition to threatening the highly valuable landscape. The principal challenges include:
• Rising property values continue to force many long-time residents to move to the periphery or completely out of the area, altering the character of the region. • The visual quality of the region, which is so vitally important to the economic competitiveness of the region, is at risk of degradation with further development. • A decrease in year-round residents may harm the economic vibrancy of the commercial areas. • Increasing traffic on tightly constrained roads is likely to contribute to a decline in the quality of life. • The ecology of the region is threatened by climate change and a possible elevation in the susceptibility to catastrophic fire. • Providing government services for growing populations in outlying areas will be difficult. • A possible surge in natural resource extraction could produce substantial social and environmental impacts in the region. • The most important changes in the region will be instigated by outside forces and are subject to a high level of uncertainty, complicating a planning process that is already highly complex.
While these and other potential problems are inherently regional issues, the cross-regional institutional structures for addressing these problems are underfunded. If the demand for second homes and retirement homes in the greater region continues to increase, there will be pressure on labor and housing markets that will raise costs and further exacerbate the social challenges facing Telluride, particularly on the full-time residents of Telluride. The only long-term solution is a regional solution. The value in this study will be to look at these issues across jurisdictions, in an integrated manner and across longer time horizons. The protection and enhancement of economic, ecological and cultural assets in the future will require decisive actions and policies; leaders of the region will need to carefully consider regulatory policies and infrastructure decisions and assess the implications of various alternatives upon Telluride and its neighbors. The objective of this project is to provide regional leaders and the public with a comprehensive tool for assessing future policy decisions.
	The content on this website is research in progress, and cannot be used, cited or quoted without permission.
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