March Mayor's Minute

Dear neighbors, It certainly feels like spring is here with warmer weather and soft spring corn skiing. We'll see if the snow storms return as they often do in March. Until then, your Town Council and staff have been quite busy. Last month we received an update from the Telluride Airport and the potential for commercial service returning. The short answer is that it is complex, and while progress is being made, the FAA moves very slowly. The Council, with me being recused, sponsored some Telluride Venture Accelerator events. Our Town Hall subarea planning moved ahead with the Town, TMVOA and TSG working together. We had an important worksession discussion about the options to improve cell service in Mountain Village. Kate Jones shared an update on Telluride Arts and how Mountain Village can be brought more into those creative activities. We also brainstormed about the various incentive programs we have created for our residents and business, ranging from energy efficiency to noxious weed control to forest health. A specific proposal will be coming to Council at its Wednesday meeting. In addition to routine land use matters and staff updates, we also passed on a second reading some ordinances about signage related to our existing weapons laws and regulations limiting off-highway vehicles in town. This week our Town Council continues the momentum on many of these issues and adds a few more topics for consideration. We will have representatives from San Miguel Power to discuss the recent serious power outage in the area and actions that are being taken to build better redundancy. We will have a deep dive into fire risk in our region and town with three agenda items: first, the West Region Wildfire Council will share its recently completed parcel level fire risk assessment; next, our forest manager will update us on our defensible space regulations; and finally, our environmental service team will propose some incentive programs to encourage our property owners to create safe defensible spaces around their homes and businesses. We will also consider a draft Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) intergovernmental agreement, which has been the result of the three local governments working together closely over the last several years to better coordinate and improve inter-city transportation in our region. We also will review a potential new process to grant Town of Mountain Village funds, working in partnership with the Telluride Foundation. Finally, in addition to routine updates and land use matters, we will have a worksession discussing the process for engaging all stakeholders in a gondola impact study. As always, we would or have you join our meeting this Wednesday. (Note: this is not our regular day or time, so please remember that we will start at 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 16.) Warm Regards, Dan Jansen Mountain Village Mayor