Lawmakers face questions about pesticides, I-70 and local control from Vail Town Council
Town Council meets with Sen. Dylan Roberts and Rep. Meghan Lukens on Tuesday afternoon
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily archive
The Vail Town Council on Tuesday met with Sen. Dylan Roberts and Rep. Meghan Lukens to discuss bills impacting the town as the 2024 legislative session hits its halfway point.
“There’s a lot going on. I think close to 500 bills have already been introduced, likely to be a couple hundred more,” Roberts said. “Not all of them will pass, of course, but we will have some big debates and look forward to your continued partnership on all of them.”
While both Lukens and Roberts shared updates on some of the bills they’ve sponsored — from education and economic development to housing and environmental protections — council members posed questions relating directly to bills on short-term rentals, pesticides and transportation.
For the council members, retaining local control — across many of the topics — remained a priority.
“Thank you so much for your support last year on the sort of top-down legislation that Gov. (Jared) Polis was leading,” said Council member Jonathan Staufer, referring to the land use and housing bill introduced last session by Polis and Democratic lawmakers. “I think these things need to be tailored by the communities.”
Support Local Journalism
Council member Dave Chapin added that local control has “been a very good thing, in my opinion.”
Housing
A significant number of bills around housing have been introduced this session.
Roberts — who represents Eagle County as well as Clear Creek, Garfield, Gilpin, Grand, Jackson, Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt and Summit counties — said that housing, and more specifically affordable housing, continues to be a priority as it remains a “hot topic in the town of Vail and in every community across the Western Slope.”
Specifically, Roberts pointed to a property tax credits rebate bill that he sponsored and that is headed to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. The bill “will allow municipalities and county governments to offer property tax exemptions or rebates to landowners or homeowners that help you incentivize the type of behavior or activity you want in your community,” he said.
While Roberts expects that this will be largely used in mountain communities to incentivize property owners to long-term rent over short-term rent, it also could incentivize childcare businesses, agriculture and economic development.
Looking ahead, Roberts said “we’re going to have a lot of conversation in the housing space,” listing bills on accessory dwelling units, housing needs assessments and strategic growth, occupancy, parking and transit-oriented development coming through the pipeline.
Some of the most-anticipated bills of this session are around short-term rental legislation, including Senate Bill 33, which Roberts said is the No. 1 bill he’s received emails about, “not only just this session, but I think in my entire legislative career.”
As proposed, the bill would nearly quadruple taxes on short-term rentals occupied for more than 90 days per year.
“I think politically, the bill faces some significant challenges to get through even its first committee hearing in the Senate,” Roberts said, adding that the bill’s sponsors are working on amendments but that he’s “not exactly sure where (Sen. Chris Hansen, D-Denver) plans to go with that bill.”
Chapin emphasized that legislating short-term rentals presents an interesting dilemma.
“I think everybody at the state level took a good stab at it. It may be a little heavy-handed, but this is clearly — and has been a problem — in our communities for some time. Now, it’s also been an advantage in our communities,” Chapin said. “I think this is a good start. I commend the legislature for taking a look at this.”
Chapin also addressed House Bill 1007, which would prohibit local governments from enacting or enforcing residential occupancy limits, with some caveats.
“I think we should be able to enact occupancy limits,” Chapin said, adding that it goes back to the need for local control. “Obviously, this works a lot different in Vail than it does in Thornton or Denver or wherever it may be. But I think in our town, it’s a necessary thing.”
Environment
This legislative session is also expected to bring recommendations to lawmakers from the Colorado River Drought Task Force, which was created by legislators last year.
“Ag leaders, water leaders, outdoor recreation, water providers all met over the course of the summer and the fall and came up with some really good recommendations that we are going to take and turn into legislation this year,” Roberts said. “That bill has not yet been introduced but is about to be.”
Roberts added that the hope is to “do what we can within our state lines to protect the Colorado River and set our state up for success as we head into several years of what are likely to be tense negotiations over the Colorado River and its resources with our lower basin states like California and Arizona.”
Aside from the Colorado River, another local waterway was discussed on Tuesday, with Staufer bringing up House Bill 1178, a bill that seeks to overturn current prohibitions on local government regulation of pesticides. Vail unsuccessfully advocated for similar changes last year as it seeks to get Gore Creek off the state’s list of impaired waterways.
“We’ve spent millions of dollars over the past decade trying to get Gore Creek off the 303(d) list,” Staufer said. “We don’t think we can get further with that without being able to regulate pesticide use.”
Lukens — who represents Eagle County as well as Moffat, Rio Blanco and Routt counties — referred to this legislation as “somewhat controversial.”
“I do anticipate a pretty controversial floor fight on that bill in the House,” Lukens said, adding “I don’t know how many of my colleagues are going to be supportive of this legislation.”
“In House District 26, while I hear that this is super important to Vail, I also hear from a lot of the other towns, municipalities and counties that they are not supportive of this legislation,” Lukens said.
Regardless of how it goes, Lukens said she would “be supportive in any way we can to ensure that the situation in the Gore Creek is addressed.”
Transportation
One additional concern expressed by the Vail Town Council was I-70 — particularly as closures on Vail Pass have a trickle-down effect in the valley.
“We definitely need more teeth in the safety conversation when it comes to truckers on I-70. In our community, CDOT has a sign that says ‘732 violations issued for truckers without chains this year.’ That number tells me that the current ticket isn’t doing enough if we’ve already given 732,” said Council member Barry Davis. “It’s a critical safety issue for our community.”
Roberts and Lukens are co-sponsoring a bill to enact further commercial vehicle safety measures on state highways. The bill, Senate Bill 100, will soon go before the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee.
“This is going to try to make commercial vehicles on I-70 and a lot of our mountain roads safer,” Roberts said, adding that it includes a “must-carry chain requirement on any highway west of I-25 for commercial vehicles” and will codify no-passing rules for commercial vehicles on Vail Pass, Glenwood Canyon and Eisenhower Tunnel.
The goal is to try and “cut down on some of the closures and accidents we’re seeing when semis are in the left lane or speeding or not having chains,” Roberts said.
Want the news to come to you? Get the top stories in your inbox every morning. Sign up here: VailDaily.com/newsletter
Council members pushed back on this, suggesting that even harsher penalties be looked into.
“I don’t know what the fine amounts are, but it doesn’t seem to be a big enough disincentive for some of these ladies and gentlemen. It’d be wonderful if we can add some points because when driving is your career, if you lose your license, that’s real and that might make people think twice before they shut down I-70,” said Mayor Travis Coggin.
As the session continues, Roberts and Lukens will be in Eagle County this weekend for a town hall meeting on Sunday, March 10 at the Avon Public Library (200 Mikaela Way) at 3:30 p.m.
“We’ll give a larger recap of the session and take people’s questions,” Roberts said.
