John Agosta, member of the Steamboat Springs Planning Commission with deep ties to the local community, has officially announced his bid for the District 3 seat on the Steamboat Springs City Council.

Drawing on decades of Steamboat experience and a passion for proactive city leadership, Agosta, who will face off against fellow planning commissioner David Box, said he hopes to guide the city through a future shaped by intentional, community-driven decisions.

Agosta first discovered Steamboat in the 1980s, commuting from Fort Collins on weekends, even using a unit at Shadow Run as a short-term rental “before anyone knew what an STR or Airbnb was.”

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He became a second homeowner in 2011, splitting his time between Fort Collins and Steamboat as a remote worker until January 2019, when he moved to Steamboat permanently. 

Agosta, who previously ran for the at-large seat on City Council in 2023, said his slogan for his current campaign — “change is here – let’s drive it with intent” — captures the spirit of a town at a crossroads. 

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“One of my favorite classic songs is from David Bowie, called ‘Changes,’ and it’s a song about embracing life changes and finding an identity through life’s shifts,” Agosta said. “I feel the same spirit applies to Steamboat.”

“We are struggling with how to respond to change. The change feels local, but the changes are really global in nature,” he continued. “The question isn’t whether we can stop that change. It’s whether we can shape it.”

“If we don’t shape it with intent, it’s going to shape us,” he added. 

“Proactive solutions” for housing and fiscal sustainability

When asked about the main challenges facing Steamboat, Agosta began with housing, acknowledging that Steamboat is “in a crisis.”

“To me, it’s not just about building units – it’s that we need to be building communities,” he explained, pointing to neighborhoods like Fairview and Whistler Park as models of local community spirit.

Agosta supports the expansion into Brown Ranch — if done thoughtfully.

“We are beyond infill … Brown Ranch, that land is in the expansion zone listed by the Routt County Master Development Plan. So in terms of expansion, what’s the next step? The next logical location is there,” he said. “Now we need to look at, when we do the expansion, where’s the water coming from? We need to make sure we have a good water infrastructure plan, a good sewer infrastructure plan to support those.”

He said facts, transparency and validation should guide debate, referencing the controversy over the recent soils report.

“What the soils report did is it confirmed what the past two reports had said, and confirmed what all the engineers in town understand today, that anything west of 13th Street has poor soils,” said Agosta. “It was not new information. It was known information…as I asked the city council, when is a secret no longer a secret? And if it was known from 20 years ago, is it still a secret?”

“When people make statements, no matter what side you’re on, we need to validate those statements, he added, “and what the impacts of those statements are.”

The second issue underscoring his platform, said Agosta, is fiscal sustainability.

“I feel we are being reactive and kicking the can down the road. I feel that City Council needs to take a step back…and really look at what is our tax structure is. Will it meet the needs moving forward for two, three decades out?” he said.

“I think that what city council is doing right now is the easy things.…I feel like we’re afraid to do the hard things, and we’re working only on the easy things.”

One of those hard things, he said, is the need for the city to re-evaluate its fiscal approach and revenue model, such as considering a property tax. 

“A lot of people don’t really realize that we are 100% funded in the city by sales tax,” said Agosta, who suggested that a property tax — offset by a reduction in sales tax — could be a tool to capture necessary revenue from second homeowners while alleviating pressure on locals.

“Is there a balance there? I don’t know – I’m not an economist,” he said. “I want to bring the right people together to have those types of discussions.”

Connecting regional transit, growth and mental health

Agosta is also calling for a more locally tailored approach to regional transportation. 

“A number of people running in these city council elections had done some comparisons in terms of transit infrastructures and (Regional Transportation Authorities),” he said, referencing comparisons to Aspen and Vail from District 1 candidate Kelly Phillips. “But the challenge I see with that is, we’re nothing like any of those communities.” 

Instead, Agosta encourages the city to examine Crested Butte’s model of regional transit.

“They’re also struggling with STRs and in second homes and in local housing and the local workforce,” he continued. “They have a bus system that runs for 10 hours a day, every half-hour between Gunnison and Crested Butte. Now that is a system that we should be looking at.”

Agosta emphasized the interrelatedness of housing, growth and transportation, and particularly, how the web of community pressures influences mental health outcomes. Anyone who’s lived in Steamboat for at least two years, he said, most likely knows a local who committed suicide.

“The stress of this community — and it’s higher than other resort communities — comes down to lack of housing, high cost of living, childcare shortages, and stress from economic insecurity,” he said. “When people talk about the one topic of their concern being, say, Brown Ranch, it’s bigger than Brown Ranch.”

The council candidate also expressed pride in the “lead role” he took on by organizing community efforts to challenge the $10 million Stone Lane Bridge project.

“That type of thoughtfulness and dedication to really understand how we’re spending our money and what type of research here and what we want is the future is what I can bring (to council),” he said. 

His tenure as a planning commissioner, added Agosta, has allowed him to learn valuable lessons about municipal processes, further preparing him for a seat on city council. 

“Where things have been previously rubber stamped, I feel like we have been able to challenge the status quo, and also learn how that process works.”

Agosta’s professional background in the “high-tech world” blends technical know-how with high-stakes negotiation skills, including “negotiating tens of million-dollar projects with the likes of Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, all the big players.” 

He connected his past experience of working through disagreement to his ability to work through conflict as a potential city councilor, whether with former opponents on issues like Brown Ranch or in delicate negotiations with Ski Corp. 

“Our relationship with Ski Corp. right now is in peril,” he said, referencing Ski Corp.’s recent pullback of a 20-year pledge to fund the proposed Yampa Valley Regional Transportation Authority. “I feel like we really need to pause and reevaluate our relationship…because it’s becoming adversarial, and you’re not going to get anywhere with an adversarial relationship.”

He recalled a conversation during his 2023 campaign when he knocked on the Phillips’ door. Agosta’s opponent has been critical of both the Brown Ranch development process and the Yampa Valley Housing Authority.

“In terms of where Kelly Phillips stood on Brown Ranch, where I stood on Brown Ranch, we had kind of opposing views,” he said. “What struck me is, we had a healthy discussion for a good 10, 15 minutes about the differences.”

“If the community elects him and elects myself, I feel like coming together with two opposing views ultimately comes up with a better answer,” he added. “I believe we can have a healthy debate and work things out.”

For Agosta, the campaign is ultimately about helping Steamboat Springs remain a vibrant community amid relentless change. 

“Why am I running? Because I love Steamboat and all it has to offer,” he said. “I’m concerned that we are just being reactive in our government, and I believe that we need to be more proactive in the evolution of the city going forward.”

Agosta encourages community members to visit his website, JohnAgosta.com, and to reach out Agosta.Steamboat@gmail.com.