FINDING BALANCE
RESIDENCY AND OWNERSHIP DIFFERENTIATES COMMUNITIES Looking at the findings from the county level ( see graphic below ), it’s clear that res- idency and ownership play a major role in community perceptions. Routt Coun- ty, home of Steamboat, has the highest instance of home ownership, the most full-time, year-round residents, and the lowest rate of second-home ownership. Residents in Routt County view their destination more on the tourism-cen- tric side of the spectrum than any other county, scoring it at 1.9 points. They also have the widest departure gap, seeking a major -3.0-point shift toward resident centricity. Conversely, Summit County—home to Breckenridge, Copper, Arapahoe Basin, Loveland, and Keystone—with the highest occurrence of second-home own- ers and some of the lowest levels of full- time, year-round residents, has a more moderate -1.9-point departure gap and a desired state that’s almost completely balanced at just -0.4 points.
Meanwhile, full-time, year-round homeowners perceive the destination as less tourism focused (1.4 points), desire less resident focus (-1.1 points), and with a -2.5-point departure gap are seeking less dramatic (though still significant) change. The second-home owner cohort is where the “proximity to the community” factor becomes apparent. Second-home owners that do not rent their home as an STR are more likely to spend time in the community than those that do. They’re exposed to the pressure tourism can apply to the community and recognize tourism centricity, though to a lesser extent, scoring their destinations slightly tourism focused at 0.8 points on the con- tinuum, and favor a moderate -1.1-point shift toward a more resident focused economy. Second-home owners that rent their unit as an STR, however, are largely detached from the day-to-day impact of tourism and are at least partially depen- dent on the success of tourism to drive rental revenue. As such, they’re the only cohort across the study that favors remaining on the tourism side of Con- tinuum, scoring current 0.8 points and desiring a future state of 0.7 points tour- ism-focused. Though some may argue that sec- ond-home owners are not part of the mountain community, they can be sub- ject to higher property taxes, restrictions and fees, and help drive economic activ- ity through their rentals, making their voice an important part of the equilibri- um discussion.
nance reveals a difference between elec- torate and policymakers’ perceptions. For example, across the entire study, elected officials put their community closer to the “0,” or balanced level, than all other groups, and recorded a depar- ture gap of -2.2 points from current to desired state. But residents that are not engaged at all feel their destination is strongly tourism centric (2.1 points), and seek a greater shift toward resident focus, with a -3.4-point departure gap. Between these two extremes of elect- ed officials / board members and totally disengaged residents are residents that are actively engaged in governance but are not elected officials. This group has a considerably different perspective from their unengaged peers, with a departure gap of -2.4 points, almost the same as elected officials. This shows that citizens engaged in any level of governance have less extreme current and desired states, while those that are furthest from the process have the most extreme. There is clearly an opportunity for jurisdictions and resort operators to work together on new or different ways to engage the community as part of cre- ating balance.
ENGAGEMENT CHANGES PERCEPTION
In understanding the desires and needs of residents based on full-time versus second-home owners, there are other important individual traits that drive quality-of-life values and perceptions of balance. Role in the community is one. An analysis of how elected offi- cials and unelected members of boards responded compared to residents with varying levels of engagement in gover-
SHIFTING PRIORITIES, SHIFTING DOLLARS?
Most mountain communities have a des- tination marketing organization (DMO) that is largely funded by the town and lodging taxes, and whose mandate is to market and sell the destination. In response to overcrowding, some towns have reactively tried to modify DMO
Community Balance
... at present? --------- vs. --------> ... in the future?
Average rating on a scale from :
5: Tourism-focused
-5: Resident-focused
1.0 -------------------> -1.1 (-2.1)
Eagle County
Summit County
1.5 ------------------> -0.4 (-1.9)
Pitkin County
1.7 ------------------------> -0.9 (-2.6)
Grand County
1.8 -----------------------> -0.6 (-2.4)
Routt County
1.9 -----------------------------> -1.1 (-3.0)
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
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