Noticias

• Telluride School District Looks to Build Employee Housing
• Of the Trees and Daily Bread Headline Camp Alderwild
• Cat Movie Fisher with Risho Unda

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Telluride School District Looks to Build Employee Housing

Solving the region’s housing crisis is an all-hands-on-deck situation, and the Telluride School District is looking to do its part.

“Our contribution is to work towards workforce housing. We were finding that we would hire highly qualified people, then about July when they couldn’t find any housing, they were leaving and we had to scramble and find someone to replace them,” said Telluride School District Board of Education President Cheryl Carstons Miller.

“We never wanted to be landlords. We never wanted to manage houses, but we found that for recruitment and retention, we had to get involved,” Miller said.

As a result, the school district is looking to build 10 housing units on the hillside directly behind Telluride High School. The units would be rental housing for district staff or affiliated personnel.

As a special district, the school district has some autonomy outside of traditional town development requirements, but it still needs support from the town. The school district and the town of Telluride have been working to craft an intergovernmental agreement, or IGA, to move the project forward. Last week, the school district appeared before the Telluride Town Council to work through remaining details.

From the outset, council members expressed support for the project.

“I really appreciate you putting together this project because we have these special taxing districts that pass mill levies with promises. Sometimes we’re waiting to see these promises come to fruition. It’s nice to see you working towards your goals and what you promised to the electorate,” said Councilmember Elena Levin.

Several topics, however, prompted discussion. One issue is whether an employee should be allowed to rent a unit if they own property within the region. Telluride’s housing program prohibits participation if someone owns a home within a four-county area. The school district is proposing to narrow that restriction to the school district’s boundaries.

Telluride School District Superintendent John Pandolfo said the change would provide flexibility in hiring.

“We have staff who own property in Norwood, Ridgway, who have made requests ‘could we live in district housing?’ In those situations, we basically say ‘no, this is not a matter of convenience.’ If we have a situation where we have someone who lives in Egnar or Dove Creek, that is not a realistic commute,” Pandolfo said.

Those communities, however, fall within the four-county radius currently used by the town.

Another major topic was whether the town would waive water and tap fees for the project. Pandolfo said the cost of those fees — approximately $360,000 — could affect how much housing the district can build.

“We’re hoping we can build units for somewhere around $525,000 on average, that’s a pretty good price in this day and age. Adding $35,000 onto that will absolutely limit the number of units we can do,” Pandolfo said.

Levin said the fees help fund the town’s wastewater treatment plant, another major infrastructure need.

“As the town, we are hurting for the funds to make the wastewater treatment come to fruition. It’s a huge project and it’s going to cost a lot of money, and it’s going to serve everyone in the community, not just people who are in the public school system or their parents. For me, looking at this through the lens of equity for everyone, the wastewater treatment plant is an umbrella that serves everyone in the community,” Levin said.

Councilmember Dan Enright argued that waiving the fees would be a relatively low cost for the town in exchange for additional housing.

“This is extreme bang for buck when we’re comparing it to the money that the town is using on our own housing projects. To ‘spend’ only $360,000 and get 10 additional units built, that is efficiency beyond what we can do as a town,” Enright said.

Ultimately, the council opted to waive 50% of the water and tap fees and to set the prohibited housing ownership radius at the R-1 School District boundaries.

With direction from council, staff plans to finalize the IGA before returning it to the Town Council and the Telluride School District Board of Education for approval.

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Of the Trees and Daily Bread Headline Camp Alderwild

Music lovers will be able to see the forest through the trees, and taste some delicious dough this summer in Town Park during Camp Alderwild, a two-night concert featuring electronic music artist Of The Trees and Daily Bread.

Of The Trees previously performed at Planet Bluegrass’ Camp Alderwild in 2025, while Daily Bread is new to the lineup.

Of The Trees is the alias of Tyler Coombs, a Denver-based artist known for blending sounds from the natural world with electronic dance music.

Daily Bread, also known as Rhett Whatley, is an Atlanta-based electro-soul and hip-hop producer.

Camp Alderwild will take place in Telluride Town Park on Thursday and Friday, Aug. 28-29.

Planet Bluegrass will sell local tickets for Camp Alderwild at KOTO Radio on Tuesday, Feb. 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Cat Movie Fisher with Risho Unda

Wednesday brings another installment of Cat Movie Fisher, where Telluride High School’s Risho Unda chats with members of the community about their favorite movie. Today he’s talking with IT Specialist Ethan Rue.

Story beings at 7:00.

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Mountain Village Seeks Public Input on Community Resilience Plan

Mountain Village’s Community Resilience Plan builds on the town’s existing Climate Action Plan and sets long-term goals, including achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and increasing resilience to climate risks such as wildfire, drought and extreme weather.

The plan is currently in draft form, and town officials are looking for feedback from the public.

The resilience plan is organized around five focus areas: building energy, renewable energy, transportation, waste and natural resources. Each focus area includes strategies and actions designed to meet the plan’s overall goals.

Community members are encouraged to review the draft plan and submit comments online by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11. Comments can be submitted at townofmountainvillage.com/resilience.

The Mountain Village Town Council plans to review public feedback and discuss adoption of the plan at its meeting on Feb. 19.

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Wilkinson Public Library to Host Olympic Viewing Parties

he Olympic flame is on its way to the Wilkinson Public Library — virtually, at least.

The library will host a viewing party for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies on Friday, Feb. 6, from noon to 3 p.m., and the closing ceremonies on Sunday, Feb. 22, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.

It will also show competitions on the big screen throughout the games.

Colorado has 31 athletes competing at the Olympic Games this year, the most from any state in the U.S. Get your pom-poms ready, cheer on the athletes, and support all the competitors in Milano Cortina.

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Colorado Addresses Immigration Enforcement

Colorado voters will decide in November whether local law enforcement should work more closely with federal immigration authorities.

If approved, Initiative 95 would create new requirements for when police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and prosecutors must communicate with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They would have to notify the agency when charging someone whose immigration status is in question, if the person has a prior felony conviction, or is being charged with a violent crime. The measure would amend the state constitution and would need at least 55% of the vote to pass.

The initiative is backed by the conservative nonprofit Advance Colorado.

Meanwhile, a judge has ordered federal officials to allow unannounced visits by members of Congress to immigration detention centers. The ruling blocks a Department of Homeland Security policy requiring seven days’ notice for those visits. Roughly a dozen Democratic congressmen, including Colorado Representatives Joe Neguse and Jason Crow, filed the lawsuit. The order is temporary and will expire in two weeks while the lawsuit continues.

Colorado Democrats are also proposing new rules for federal immigration operations in the state and how law enforcement cooperates with them.

As Lucas Brady Woods reports for the Colorado Capitol News Alliance, the lawmakers unveiled a set of bills Monday at the State Capitol.

One bill would ban state and local officers from wearing masks and would require them to display identification. It would also block former immigration agents from becoming certified as Colorado law enforcement.

Another bill would require that immigration detention centers pay for regular state health inspections. It would also require that subpoenas from immigration authorities be made public. A third bill would allow people to sue federal immigration officers in state court over alleged constitutional rights violations.

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Region Rides for Alex Pretti

Last Saturday cyclists gathered in communities around the world, to ride in solidarity with each other and to honor the life of Alex Pretti, who was killed by Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis.

In our region, bike rides took place in Salida, Durango, Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, and Moab.

For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, KDNK’s Betsy Welch reports on one bike ride that took place on the Western Slope.

Story beings at 13:30.