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Diane Brower: Positive exchange of ideas







I went to the annual meeting of the Community Alliance of the Yampa Valley a little over a week ago. It was a great opportunity to talk to and exchange ideas with people who are passionate about and interested in the direction our Routt County communities are taking on issues such as affordable housing, environmental quality, potential development in West Steamboat and throughout Routt County.

There were people there with special expertise in these areas — as well as people who were there to listen and become better informed citizens. The focus of the evening was a presentation by the Brynn Grey development on their proposal for a new development just outside of the west Steamboat Springs city boundary.



Plenty of questions and considerations for the developers were put forth by the audience, and statements of concern about whether the proposal would, in fact, meet the needs of the community related to affordable housing, attainable housing and locally-owned housing, as well as traffic, water rights, etc. County Commissioner Tim Corrigan followed the Brynn Grey presentation with some of his thoughts on the issues presented by the proposed development and countywide growth generally.

It occurred to me often during the evening that this kind of local citizen forum and discussion is exactly what we need to see more of as concern over the direction of policies at the national level increases. The citizen involvement and grassroots democracy that can happen within an organization like the Community Alliance of the Yampa Valley is important today more than ever.



The Comm­unity Alliance is made up of individuals who strive to support the ideas, issues and values that have surfaced over the years within community surveys and community visioning efforts. If you’d like more information or to be put on the Community Alliance email list for upcoming events, contact cayvco@gmail.com.

Diane Brower

Steamboat Springs


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