Delay is expected to allow a better understanding on the feasibility of using geothermal as part of large snowmelt system.
It will be at least another six months before Steamboat Springs City Council chooses the design concept for a new Gondola Transit Center, as they opted on Tuesday to wait for more information about the feasibility of using geothermal as part of the project.
Geothermal is important to the redesigned GTC because is a key part of providing heat to a vast snowmelt system — roughly 60,000 square feet for what was seen as the “Cadillac design” — on the plaza and bus turnarounds. But the feasibility can’t be known until after the ski season because one of the testing sites is on a ski run.
Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. officials pushed for council to move ahead to construction design now while they continue to explore geothermal. If it is feasible, then the project would move forward with geothermal. If it turned out it wasn’t, the snowmelt system would be hooked up to the resort’s existing natural gas fired boilers until a more sustainable solution is available.
With no specifics on how long it would be gas-powered if geothermal doesn’t work and other design elements like what a redesigned Meadow’s Parking Lot looks like still unknown, Council members largely didn’t bite at the resort’s offer.
“I do not support in any way, shape or form, using natural gas to power snowmelt,” said Council member Amy Dickson.
The first decision made by the currently sat City Council in 2023 was to reconsider an ordinance passed weeks earlier by the previous council that allowed for fossil fuel powered snowmelt. The updated ordinance requires new snowmelt to be powered by renewable energy instead, putting the city’s regulation in line with what was recommended in the adopted Climate Action plan. Routt County and surrounding municipalities approved the same regulation.
“We can see that winters are coming later and ending earlier and there are more extreme weather events that effect wildlife, that effect our residents,” said Council member Dakotah McGinlay. “We are in the affluent part of the world and we need to be leaders.”
Council denied a project earlier this year because developers were asking to use gas-powered snowmelt and failed to get their project approved before the new ordinance took effect.
“We have already sent a developer packing out of this room because this council said we are not going to allow you a variance to put snowmelt in where your design would require it,” West said. “Are we going to say, well the developer wasn’t as big or as important as [Steamboat Resort] is so we’re going to make a different kind of decision there?”
West emphasized that everything was “squishy” in the language they were considering, “maybe six months, maybe transition in the future.”
“What’s not squishy is we allowing fossil fueled snowmelt would increase our emissions,” said Council President Gail Garey. “It’s not squishy that we are digging a deeper hole.”
The main difference with the two design concepts Council saw on Tuesday is how buses flow through the GTC. In the preferred option, buses would stop in sawtooth shaped bus berths. This allows more passengers to exit the bus directly on to the plaza, but requires buses to make tight turns around each other. Steamboat Transit Manager Jonathan Flint said this design needs snowmelt to ensure buses can make those maneuvers.
The second option would allow busses to pull through various islands in a concept that isn’t that different from what is currently in place. The drawback here is almost all passengers would need to cross the road to get to the plaza area, something that is seen as a weakness with the current GTC. This pull through design wouldn’t require snowmelt though, Flint said.
The preferred option is currently estimated to cost $26.7 million where as the other option being considered would cost $17.1 million.
“We have three variables we need to balance: one is carbon, one is cost and one is schedule,” said Sarah Jones, director of social responsibility for Steamboat Resort. “Our design process and the geothermal and our thermal district study are not in sync. … Delaying the project by one year will cost us $1 million.”
In addition to the geothermal study, the resort has commissioned a study looking at a larger thermal district. There are other unknowns as well.
Council members are waiting on more defined plans for what a consolidated shuttle program would look like. This hopes to reduce the number of shuttles entering the GTC and further free up space for buses and pedestrians.
The project also features a new gondola connecting the Meadows Parking Lot and the GTC. Some Council members said they would like to understand what the plan is for Meadows before moving ahead on GTC as well. It also is unclear what the electrical capacity is for the area, which is important to understanding if an electric snowmelt system could work.
Council member Brian Swintek said he was disappointed with the “lame” options presented to Council, noting that he sees these talks as a negotiation between the city and Alterra Mountain Company, which owns Steamboat Resort. He suggested council negotiate some level of funding for transit out of the resort in exchange for using a gas-powered boiler for now.
“That put’s teeth behind a plan to feasibility,” Swintek said. “It creates the impetus to get something done and if they never do, and they connect it to the existing boiler, then we have additional funding for our transit.”
While council eventually unanimously agreed to wait for the results of the study, Council member Michael Buccino pushed council to approve the resort’s plan. Buccino emphasized that he recently got a solar roof on his house and isn’t opposed to renewable energy, but argued nothing they did in Steamboat would have an impact on global climate change.
“What are we doing in Steamboat Springs that’s effecting the globe?” Buccino said. “With all due respect with the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council, if you guys would pony up a $100 million then we can all do it, then we’ll do it. But you guys want the developer to do it. Guess what? Nothing will be built.”
Things are being built, however. The city has already approved projects like The Amble, which is under construction within view of the GTC and will feature an all-electric snowmelt system. Council will consider a development application for a part hotel, part condo development adjacent to the base of the resort next week that also plans to use electric snowmelt. The city has approved projects that don’t include snowmelt as well.
“It’s not like there is nothing out there that has been done. This is not the first trip to the moon here,” Council member Steve Muntean said. “We just don’t have enough information to make a decision on this.”