The \u201cNIMBY\u201d crowd (Not In My Backyard) and \u201cCAVE\u201d people (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) have been out in full force recently. These residents routinely oppose a development or an event ostensibly on the grounds of it being inappropriate for the local area; unfortunately, every new event and proposed development seems to be inappropriate for the local area.<\/p>\n
I was fortunate to recently attend a presentation by the state demographer. What\u2019s that got to do with the NIMBY\/CAVE people? Everything; they don\u2019t want things to change, yet don\u2019t realize that change is inevitable.<\/p>\n
The biggest changes we are facing are population growth and our aging population. The demographics of Eagle County, and our neighboring mountain communities, show increasing growth by citizens under 30 years old and a huge increase in those over 60 (aging in place \u2013 not in migration of people moving here). Our community is changing, and we\u2019re losing population of 30-50 year olds.<\/p>\n
Why does that matter? We need to be a community that attracts and retains a skilled workforce or our businesses will suffer. Our latest workforce study shows 58% of local businesses report they have current vacancies and 20% of local businesses report their experience in finding employees is \u201cterrible\u201d or \u201cpoor\u201d. Losing those in the peaks of their career from 30-50 impact our businesses, thus impacting our community.<\/p>\n
Consider workforce housing. Local businesses have been vocal about the need for increased affordable housing, yet vocal NIMBY\u2019s come out of the woodwork to express their desire that affordable housing be built\u2026..somewhere else, but not in their backyard. Yet 69% of local businesses say housing negatively affects their ability to attract, hire and retain employees (an increase of 13% over the previous year).<\/p>\n
There are major challenges with development of workforce housing, yet it is incumbent upon us to work together to find a solution. Kevin Selvy from Crazy Mountain Brewing Company said it well in a recent Letter to the Editor when he stated \u201cOur community needs to come together to work on this lack of affordable employee housing or we won\u2019t be able to attract skilled workers to our valley and our local businesses will continue to suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also consider the recently withdrawn KAABOO-Vail event. For those not familiar, KAABOO-Vail was a music, art, culinary and cultural event proposed for August 18-20, 2017 with national headlining music and comedy acts, premium dining, art, spirits, craft breweries and VIP experiences.\u00a0The demographics (age 25-65 with household incomes over $100k), the dates (typically our slowest summer weekend from mid-June through early October), the popular music\/lifestyle focus, and the brand alignment all point to KAABOO being an ideal fit for Vail.<\/p>\n
There are significant obstacles with the KAABOO-Vail event, as there are with any large event, and much like other large events such as Tough Mudder or Wanderlust Yoga Festival, we were not able to find a way to work together to find solutions and lost out on a brand aligned program that would drive visitation.<\/p>\n
Saying \u201cno\u201d to new developments, or to new events, is often the easy answer. But the easy answer isn\u2019t always the right answer. The NIMBY and CAVE people need to remember is that our valley is dependent upon tourism as our main economic driver, and we need to continue to support this industry through new, brand-aligned events that fit need times on our calendar. The NIMBY crowd also needs to realize that our economic future is tied to growing businesses outside the traditional tourism economy, and that workforce housing is the signature challenge facing our community today and for the foreseeable future. Building a resilient local economy requires support of small and emerging businesses, and this can\u2019t happen without workforce housing solutions.<\/p>\n
The \u201cno to everything\u201d folks conveniently ignore (or have forgotten) that Vail and Beaver Creek are purpose built resort communities \u2013 built around entertainment and recreation. Our success has resulted in a desirable location for real estate investment; it would be shortsighted at best, and negligent at worst, to not focus on solving our workforce housing issue and on bringing new (large and impactful) events to our community.<\/p>\n
Market leaders lead by finding ways to positively impact the community. We need to manage and control the impending change to ensure it positively impacts the community, or we can be victims of the change that will leave us behind our competitors. Pitkin and Summit Counties are years ahead of us in the development of workforce housing solutions. Aspen and Telluride (among others) have increased events to the point their summer sales tax collections meet or exceed winter collections. To continue in our position as a market leader, we need to find ways to say \u201cyes\u201d to new events and developments, and avoid the knee-jerk reaction of \u201cnot in my backyard\u201d or \u201cit\u2019s too big\u201d.<\/p>\n
Instead, we can all work together to say \u201cYES! In my backyard!\u201d for issues including housing and new events. Let\u2019s be the leaders we purport to be; let\u2019s act the part and quit the knee jerk \u201cno\u201d reaction to new proposals designed to positively impact our economy and workforce issues.<\/p>\n
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