April Mayor's Minute

Hello neighbors, Below are some Town Council meeting highlights from last month and some upcoming topics. As always, I hope you can join us for tomorrow's meeting or consider sharing your feedback with us about any of these matters. March 15 Meeting Highlights

• Town Council reappointed Banks Brown, Luke Trujillo, David Craige, and Keith Brown to the Design Review Board (DRB). I want to thank all the candidates who volunteered to serve. We are fortunate to have so many engaged and highly-qualified community members willing to serve. The DRB is made up of seven full-time members and two alternate members, who are all appointed by Town Council to two-year terms.
• We approved a Village Center Subarea Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association (TMVOA), Telluride Ski& Golf (TSG), and the Town of Mountain Village focused on the existing Village Center Comprehensive Plan. Specifically, the goals of the Town Hall and Village Center Subarea Committee will be to promote and enhance vibrancy and address long-term infrastructure, future build-out, and optimal uses of the Village Center, in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan.
• Council decided to opt out of the Colorado voter signature verification requirement for municipal elections. The voter signature verification is facilitated through the statewide voter verification system and since our Town Charter allows non-resident property owners to vote in municipal elections, many eligible voters signatures would not be in the Colorado-based verification system.
• Given the availability of free day parking in the Gondola Parking Garage and the newly-approved parking lot on 161C-R, Council voted to permanently eliminate employee permit parking on Upper Mountain Village Boulevard (UMVB). In its place, a new shoulder-season Employee Permit Parking Program will be developed with the same eligibility requirements as the current UMVB permit but will instead be valid in both the North Village Center Parking Lot and the Heritage Parking Garage during the shoulder-seasons.

If you would like more specifics about any of these topics, you can review minutes from the meeting or watch the video at the town website. April 26 Agenda Topics

• Town Council will consider a term sheet regarding settlement of the 161C-R and Ridge at Telluride litigation. This is the result of months of direct negotiation between principal designated representatives from Lot 161C-R, The Ridge HOA, The Ridge Club, some of The Ridge owners, and the town.
• We will consider approving the use of action minutes rather than narrative minutes as the official record of all meetings of the Town Council. Action minutes would be compromised of only an objective record of motions, votes, and names of speakers during public comment and/or public hearings without a summary of some discussions, as found in narrative minutes. The town would continue to record all Town Council meetings via video and audio, which we would maintain as we do now.
• As we all noted this winter, it has been an extremely dry year and these arid conditions may continue throughout the summer. To address the situation proactively, Town Council will discuss drought planning tactics such as initiating water restrictions in May, in an attempt to conserve water from the start of irrigation season rather than waiting until June when we could potentially be in a more sensitive drought situation.
• We will hear an update on the Meadows Improvement Plan.
• The Green Team Committee will present proposals for three projects: production of an updated Town of Mountain Village (TMV) Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory; consideration of a Compost Incentive Program; and consideration of an income-qualified Farm to Community Pilot Program.
• The Town Hall and Village Center Subarea Committee will provide an update.
• Town Council will review a Trails Master Plan RFP (Request for Proposals) seeking to develop a comprehensive trails plan for the town, and the immediate surrounding area, according to the Open Space and Recreation Vision outlined in the Mountain Village Comprehensive Plan. The plan will look at trails in and around the existing town network, evaluate the feasibility of proposed trails identified in the Comprehensive Plan, and provide further recommendations for future trails based on the community’s vision and goals.

A full agenda has been posted on our website; we welcome your input and hope to see you at the meeting. Warm regards, Laila Benitez Mountain Village Mayor