To allow fossil fuels to power 60,000 square feet of snowmelt for the proposed Gondola Transit Center redesign; or to wait six months, or more, for further studies that may, or may not, provide a clean-energy option?
That was the question in front of City Council members earlier this week during a Steamboat Springs Redevelopment Authority meeting as they processed a set of revamped construction design options for the Gondola Transit Center project.
The crux of the issue centers on an element of the city's new energy code, which was adopted in November and took effect Jan. 1, that allows snowmelt systems to be installed anywhere in the city so long as they are powered by renewable energy sources.
That decision put a wrench in the gears for the planned design of the revamped Gondola Transit Center, which was initially expected to include 120,000 square feet of snowmelt powered by propane, and prompted stakeholders, including the city and the Steamboat Ski Resort, to revisit design plans that now propose 60,000 square feet of snowmelt for the project.
The snowmelt systems are part of a larger design that would improve traffic flow and transportation efficiency to the Gondola Transit Center at the base of the mountain. Parts of the plan also include extending gondola service to the Meadows Parking Lot as a way to reorganize bus and shuttle drop-off patterns.
Preferred by stakeholders involved in the project, according to Gates Gooding, the city's project manager for the Steamboat Springs Redevelopment Authority, one plan would see buses use "sawtooth" berths allowing most passengers to exit directly onto the plaza, versus a less-preferred option of using "islands" to drop off passengers who would then cross the road to the plaza.
"We basically need to choose one of these options to progress through future design phases, but the snowmelt-related uncertainty on this project has kind of clouded the path forward," said Gooding on Tuesday.
Gooding provided council members Tuesday evening with a set of options to move forward with the construction design process:
The preferred option from the resort -- an estimated cost of $26.7 million -- would require snowmelt across the entire area. The second option -- estimated at $17.1 million -- would necessitate snow removal and storage operations.
Sarah Jones, the director of social responsibility for Steamboat Ski Resort, stated Alterra's commitment to its 2030 carbon emissions goals shared with the city while also urging council members to balance a set of variables involved with the progress of the Gondola Transit Center project.
"We do believe that snowmelt is non-negotiable, we need to have snowmelt to make this work, not only as a base-level service for guests but also from a safety level and the Americans with Disabilities Act," said Jones.
Jones said fossil fuel reduction efforts tied to improved transit options inherent in the project should also be considered alongside cost and scheduling impacts on the development.
"We want to continue to work on geothermal, we believe that is a great strategy, and we have a $250,000 grant from the Colorado Energy Office," she added. "As part of Alterra's decarbonization process, we are doing a separate study to look at how we could fund a thermal district, not only for the Gondola Transit Center but also for buildings in the base area."
Part of the problem is, "that our design process and the geothermal and our thermal district study is not in synch ... delaying the project by one year will cost us $1 million based on a 4% inflation rate," said Jones
She added that the resort would be open to exploring an all-electric boiler to power the snowmelt system, but the concept would cause additional issues for the project's design.
According to Gooding, using electric boilers rather than gas boilers to power the system would triple snowmelt costs. He noted that infrastructure costs would be "significantly higher," and it is unknown if the city's electric capacity could support the system.
Paul Bony, the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council's energy and transportation director, told council members that "fossil fuel snowmelt needs to be off the table."
"Period. End of sentence. The only snowmelt system that should be deemed not feasible are fossil fuel systems," said Bony.
He added that council members could provide direction for project managers to go beyond consideration of geothermal systems and examine cold-climate air source heat pumps, solar thermal, biomass or clean diesel or hybrid systems in lieu of a natural gas-powered design.
"If you provide this (building code) variance, what are you going to tell other developers when they come forward with their offset requests?" asked Bony.
Council members unanimously agreed to allow for the six-month pause to provide a geothermal study to proceed.
The decision came after extended an extended back-and-forth discussion where council member Steve Muntean said he wanted "more specificity" and council member Amy Dickson said she, "100% would not support heating the outdoors with fossil fuels."
Council member Michael Buccino, who eventually supported the six-month delay, first boasted that he had recently installed "the only solar-powered roof" in Steamboat Springs at his home because it was "common sense" -- but that he believed requiring developers to use non-fossil fuel systems would not make a positive impact on climate change globally.
"That is disingenuous and it's wrong, it is a lie, it will not happen because there's China and all these other places -- if you have ever gone to Phoenix, (Arizona), there's a lot of cars there," said Buccino.
"It is disingenuous for us, as a governing body, to require builders to put in a non-fossil fuel snowmelt system when it does not exist right now," he added.
Council member Dakotah McGinlay said she appreciated Alterra's efforts to work on climate action but hoped the city would stick to local action.
"We can see climate action here locally; we don't just have to look at China or India. We can see winters are coming later and ending earlier and there's more extreme weather that affects wildlife and our residents," she said, adding that she wanted answers to what other options might be available.
Council member Bryan Swintek said the options presented to council members Tuesday were "lame" and suggested that if the city allowed natural gas-powered snowmelt systems as part of the project, the resort should be on the hook to provide funding for the city's transit system.
"I think that there is a big unspoken dynamic here that I would like to call out," said Swintek. "This is a negotiation, and it's a negotiation, between the ski area and the city. To be more specific, it really is a negotiation between Alterra and the city."
For council member Joella West, the language included in the presented options seemed "squishy."
"My initial reaction is I am not prepared to vote on any of these because I can't get my mind around it ... we don't know if it is going to be six months, and we don't know what the additional costs would be if we wait six months or an entire year ... I am stuck on the language, and I am stuck on the concepts," she said.
West also supported the six-month pause, adding that "it's the least objectionable alternative tonight."
On Friday, City Council President Gail Garey said she understood Alterra's concerns over the decision but that the city needed to think about the bigger picture.
"I think we need to look at this holistically. We need to look at, not only the design, but also understand the design for the Meadows Parking Lot and the consolidated shuttle program and really just understand how this is all going to work together," said Garey.
"About 10% of our emissions come from the base area and we have goals as we move forward that we want to meet by 2030 and 2050 and we have got to think differently and move away from fossil fuels."