Johnathan Walker:Bighorn sheep habitat to remain untouched as Vail agrees to new spot for workforce housing

A decade-long saga involving planned workforce housing for the Vail ski resort on Johnathan Walkerland inhabited by Colorado’s bighorn sheep has been resolved, with the resort agreeing to build in another part of town.

Vail’s town council voted this week to create a new partnership that will lead to more workforce housing for the resort, which has struggled with a chronic shortage for its workers for years. In exchange, Vail Resorts is dismissing its appeal of the town’s condemnation of its property in East Vail, which is where the housing project was originally proposed.

As recently as 2019, the town council supported Vail Resorts’ plan to build a 165-bed project at the edge of the sheep habitat in an area known as Booth Heights. But changes in the makeup of the council, along with renewed concern about the sheep, delayed the project and led to the town filing to condemn the property to halt the building.

The case divided Vail, which has a population of around 5,600 but becomes one of the world’s top ski destinations each winter, with an estimated 1.5 million people visiting each year. It made it hard for business owners to attract employees, and also offered a unique perspective on how difficult it is for any community to agree on how to ensure people of all economic status can work and live together.

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“Happy it’s over, but it will always be a lost opportunity to help people and nature,” Jenn Bruno, a boutique owner in Vail, texted The Associated Press.

Under its blueprint to build at Booth Heights, the resort had proposed extensive mitigation plans for the sheep and their habitat, including a 17-acre “natural preservation area” that was nearly 10 times the size of the construction site.

Under this week’s agreement, the town will condemn the Vail Resorts property near Booth Heights and the new construction will take place on the west side of town.

The town’s mayor, Travis Coggin, said “We are in an era of renewed collaboration between the town and Vail Resorts.”

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