To: Brad Meeks and the Steamboat Springs Board of Education

From: Carol Kemp & Concerned Community Members

Date: March 8, 2019
Subject: Site Selection Criteria

The purpose of this document is to provide input on the criteria for selecting the best site to build new school
facilities. One of the best ways to solicit community support for the site selected is to base the decision on
actual data and not personal opinions. Please consider the following information that is based on actual data
before making a decision on the Whistler site vs the Steamboat II site.

Proposed Site Selection Criteria:

1. Community support
2. Demographics (closest site to where existing and future students live)
3. Size of the site (long-term solution that addresses space needs now and, in the future)
4. Access to the site
5. Traffic and safety issues
6. Cost
7. Environmental and community impact

Analysis of Proposed Sites:

1. Community Support - the bond failure in November of 2015 showed how important it is to have
community support. This year may be the only chance for a bond with a substantial cost to pass, especially
if we experience an economic downturn in the future.

2. Demographics – the Steamboat II site is closer than the Whistler site to where more students live.

The following enrollment data was presented on March 7th in the Board of Education Workshop:

It is essential to use actual numbers and not make decisions from visual scatter diagrams to understand which
site is closer to where students live that are currently enrolled in the district. Using the zone descriptions
above and Google Maps to calculate actual distances, zones 1 – 3 are clearly closer to the Steamboat II site.
The majority of zone 4 is also closer to the Steamboat II site. Only zones 5 & 6 are closer to the Whistler site.
Distance Calculations:
Zone Description Distance to Steamboat II Site Distance to Whistler Site
1 Heritage Christian School 0.7 Miles 8.7 Miles
West to County Line
East to Sleepy Bear 1.3 Miles 7.0 Miles
2 West Acres 2.6 Miles 6.4 Miles
North to Airport 4.0 Miles 7.0 Miles
West to Sleepy Bear 1.3 Miles 7.0 Miles
East to Conestoga Cr 3.5 Miles 5.4 Miles
3 Elk River Road Airport – 4.0 Miles 7.0 Miles
North to County Line
4 SSHS 5.0 Miles 5.0 Miles
West to Conestoga Cr 3.5 Miles 5.4 Miles
East to Anglers 5.6 Miles 2.5 Miles
5 La Montana 8.2 Miles 1.1 Miles
West to Anglers Dr 5.6 Miles 2.5 Miles
East to City Limits
6 Big Valley Dr 13.8 Miles 7.9 Miles
West to City Limits
East to County Line

Zone 4 covers from Conestoga Circle to Steamboat Springs High School to Anglers Drive. A good data point is
to calculate how far the Steamboat Springs High School is from both sites. It is the same distance (5 miles) to
each site and the high school is on the far southeast side of downtown. Many of the parents and their
students who live immediately south of the high school use Fish Creek Falls Road to access Highway 40 and not
roads that head south, such as Tamarack Drive, Hilltop Lane and Steamboat Blvd. Therefore, routes must be
also considered when calculating actual distances from student homes in zone 4 to the Steamboat II site or the
Whistler site.

Using a VERY conservative estimate of 50% allocation of the number of students in zone 4 to each site (which
is not likely given the high density of students in the downtown area), there are still many more students
currently living closer to the Steamboat II site than the Whistler site.

Total Students Living Closer to Proposed Sites (with zone 4 split evenly between both sites):
Site Elementary Middle High
Steamboat II = Zones 1-3 (plus ½ of 4) 626 (54%) 369.5 (55%) 458 (55%)
Whistler = Zones 5 – 6 (plus ½ of 4) 538 (46%) 298.5 (45%) 377 (45%)

Looking at new developments, there is very little room to build any new housing near Whistler Park. No
developments on the south side of Steamboat come anywhere near the size of the planned developments
listed below that are under 3 miles away from the Steamboat II site.

Future Student Growth Closer to Steamboat II Based on Major New Developments:

Development Distance to Steamboat II Site Distance to Whistler Site
Sunlight 2.6 Miles 5.4 Miles
Overlook Park 2.5 Miles 6.4 Miles
Brynn Grey 1.3 Miles 7.0 Miles
Steamboat 700 1.3 Miles (approximately) 7.0 Miles (approximately)
3. Size of the site (long-term solution that addresses the space needs now and, in the future)
Site Size of each site parcels Total/Analysis
Steamboat II 35 acres currently owned by school district 70 total acres of connected property
35 acres (Barber property purchase is along Highway 40 (ideal site to build
expected to be finalized by the summer of school facilities, athletic fields/field
2019) house and other sports facilities)
Whistler 9 acres currently owned by school district 9 acres with a possibility to expand to
5 acres (trying to acquire from Mt Werner 14 (way too small to build new school
Water bordering Walton Creek/wetlands) facilities and athletic fields/field house)

The Whistler site is too small to accommodate long-term space requirements. There will be no room for
expansion, new school facilities, athletic fields and buildings. Why is the School District acquiring more land at
the Steamboat II site for a total of over 70 acres and then not planning to build on it? The Council of
Educational Facility Planners, International (CEFPI) suggests a minimum of 10 acres for elementary schools,
20 acres for middle schools and 30 acres for high schools, plus one additional acre per 100 students.

Why would anyone consider building a huge school (over 500 students now and adding more buildings and
students later) at the Whistler Park site? On April 21, 1980, Don Valentine sold this property for $134,750 to
the Steamboat Springs School District. The intent was that a small, neighborhood elementary school would be
built on the site one day. Never was it the vision to buy additional Mt Werner Water Property and build a
school campus with the potential to become as large (with regard to the number of students) as the
Strawberry Park Campus.

4. Access to the site

A Civil Engineer analyzed our neighborhood and told us that Park Court is NOT wide enough to provide the
required access to a new school for a commercial ladder fire truck. This road and the intersection of Park
Court and Whistler Road will need to be widened to the legal specifications, along with sidewalks and bike
paths added on both sides. This will mean 2 houses on the south side of Park Court will need to be removed.
Has the Board of Education approved the hiring of a Civil Engineer and completed a study that shows these 2
houses will NOT need to be removed? If so, please make this study available to the public today. Also, please
make public the study showing the impact to all the houses on Hiawatha with back yards that border the north
side of the school district property at the Whistler site and an extended Park Court. All these neighbors need
to understand the impact to their homes, with a major road on Park Court. What is the impact to our
neighbors in the Creekside Condos on Creekside Court? How far will the snow plows push huge piles of snow
on the north side of Park Court to clear the road, bike paths and sidewalks?

Now compare the access issues at the Steamboat II site. NONE! This site borders Highway 40, with easy
access.

5. Traffic and safety issues

The Steamboat II site has direct access to enter and exit on Highway 40 with no existing neighborhood to
disrupt. This is clearly not the case with the Whistler site. There will be major traffic issues that will impact
many residents and businesses, including tourists trying to commute to and return from the mountain to the
numerous condos in the area. This increased traffic also has the potential to cause many safety issues,
including pedestrians attempting to cross streets to catch the public buses.

6. Cost
Once the costs of buying more land at the Whistler site, paying 2 homeowners for their homes taken by using
Eminent Domain, building a major Highway 40 access road and bridge, wetland mitigation and other costs are
added to the preliminary estimates, the Whistler site will become more expensive than the Steamboat II site.
7. Environmental and community impact
Wetlands are critical to the ecology of watersheds because they help regulate water levels within the
watersheds; improve water quality; reduce flood and storm damages; and provide important fish and wildlife
habitat. Wetlands exist on the Whistler site and have been documented by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
The Board of Education is proposing wetland delineation on slide 15 of their March 7th Presentation regarding
the Whistler site shown below.

Protecting the quality of our water and preserving our watershed – there is nothing more important than
making sure our water sources are protected for generations to come. At the Whistler site, building a school
on Mt Werner property creates potential ground water damage to a Mt Werner Water future infiltration
gallery. The drawing below shows the school building and property butting right up to Walton Creek and
covering wetlands. Also, neighbors have seen flooding that occurs on a regular basis in this area.

Here is a direct quote from the DOW District Wildlife Manager regarding Whistler Park: “Although this area is
bordered by existing development, Walton Creek provides important wildlife habitat as well as a migration
corridor for many species. Nearby open space land also provides quality habitat, especially for larger
mammals.” We see elk herds almost every night walking past our homes, into Whistler Park and bedding
down nearby. They come so often, we have names for some we photograph from our windows such as Clyde
and Claude. We must protect our wildlife migration corridors and wildlife habitat as once it becomes giant
school facilities and asphalt parking lots, it is gone.

Whistler Park is the ONLY park on the south side of town! It is a very popular park. There is no doubt that
selecting the Whistler site to build a school of the size being discussed in either Option A or B will change the
very nature of the Whistler Park site for years to come. Why force these negative environmental and
community impacts when the Steamboat II site makes more sense based on all the selection criteria?

Conclusion:
Please do not repeat the mistakes that happened in the 2015 bond. The worst scenario for Steamboat would
be to force the selection of the Whistler Park site for building a new school and failing to pass the bond. The
obvious choice is to select the Steamboat II site based on actual data and not personal opinions.