16 Colorado Springs properties combine to earn national recognition for leadership in outdoor stewardship

Our parks staff, community members, and partners are being recognized for taking care of our parks, trails, and open spaces!

The Leave no Trace Center has designated SIXTEEN of our incredible parks, trails and open spaces as Leave No Trace Gold Standard Sites!

Achieving Gold Standard means that our parks and people have set the bar for responsible recreation all across our community. We join an elite group of 13 parks nationwide to earn this national recognition for leadership in outdoor stewardship, and we are the first municipal site to receive this designation.

In order to be named a Gold Standard Site, the following criteria must be met:

• Demonstrate successful implementation of Leave No Trace outdoor skills and ethics into management, programming, outreach and education efforts at the site

• Formally train staff and community partners in Leave No Trace Outdoor Ethics

• Include Leave No Trace language and messaging on signs at trailheads, visitor centers and campgrounds as well as in pamphlets, maps and other distributed materials for visitors

• Facilitate Leave No Trace interpretive programs including ranger talks, campfire events and trail outings for visitors

The quality of support from our partners, stakeholders, volunteers, visitors and staff who helped us achieve this goal has been tremendous. Minimizing impacts in our world-class regional parks, trails and open spaces is a team effort, and we can’t thank our community enough for your active and ongoing support. This award is for all of us!

Here is the list of sites to receive the Gold Standard. Austin Bluffs Open Space, Blodgett Open Space, Bluestem Prairie Open Space, Corral Bluffs Open Space, @GardenoftheGods, High Chaparral Open Space, Manitou Incline, North Cheyenne Cañon Park, North Slope Recreation Area, Palmer Park, Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Sinton Pond Open Space, Sondermann Park, South Slope Recreation Area, Stratton Open Space and Ute Valley Park.

Leave No Trace is nonprofit organization at provides innovative education, skills, research and science to help people care for the outdoors. By working with the public and those managing public lands, Leave No Trace focuses on educating people as the most effective and least resource-intensive solution to land protection.

“Leave No Trace is thrilled to announce the City of Colorado Springs Regional Parks, Trails and Open Spaces as a designated Gold Standard Site,” said Dana Watts, Leave No Trace executive director. “The hard work of staff and local community stakeholders means that the City of Colorado Springs is a leading force in the Leave No Trace movement nationally and an example of how effective the role of education is in protecting our public lands. It was a particularly ambitious move to nominate 16 properties for this designation, and Colorado Springs should be proud of its efforts to promote outdoor stewardship across its entire park system.”

Learn more about the Leave No Trace program in Colorado Springs at ColoradoSprings.Gov/lnt

Read more about the Colorado Springs trails!

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Denver lands in the top 10 best large cities for renters, report shows

On average, Denver residents have 553 square feet per renter.

Denver is the nation's ninth-best large city for renters, while two neighboring cities are among the nation's top 50 cities for renters, according to a recent report from RentCafe's report.

With quality of life and cost of living as two of the main categories determining the overall rankings, Westminster and Colorado Springs found themselves as the 35th and 46th top overall cities for renters, respectively, while Denver snagged 36th.

According to RentCafe, Denver's local economy was the best performing category that landed it as the No. 9 best large city for renters and having the 18th-highest number of highly rated schools helped boost the Mile High City's ranking, RentCafe said. Jacksonville, Florida, took the No. 1 spot, representing the south that dominated the rankings. Cities in Florida and Texas made up 50% of the overall report's Top 10 best large cities for renters.

Round Rock, Texas, secured the No. 1 spot for overall best cities for renters, however, Colorado held its ground against the south across the board in other rankings. Colorado Springs was ranked the No. 8 best mid-sized city for renters, which saw Raleigh, North Carolina, come in as the No. 1 city with quality of life as the top-performing category. Trailing briefly behind Colorado Springs as the No. 10 best mid-sized city for renters is Tulsa, Oklahoma, which has lured tech professionals out of Denver.

While Denver's average renter's income is $59,499 with a citywide unemployment rate of 4.3%, according to RentCafe, 26.6% of the city's apartments are in top locations. RentCafe's source, Yardi Matrix, defines "top locations" using a number of factors including education of area household heads and well-maintained housing development.

On average, Denver residents have 553 square feet per renter, while Lakewood renters have 611 square feet, and those in Westminster have 519 square feet, according to a May report from RentCafe.

On average in Denver, $1,500 will get renters a 681-square-foot apartment, whereas in Aurora it will earn renters 792 square feet, RentCafe reports.

While rent is on the rise in Denver and Coloradans worry about the cost of living, Denver has the ninth-highest share of newly built apartments (25%), according to RentCafe.

Westminster appeared in RentCafe's rankings due to 51% of their apartments being located in coveted spots and averaging 861 square feet while the local economy is seeing 5.5% job growth.

Learn more.

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$10,000 grant for high-efficiency home rebuilds offered after Marshall, East Troublesome fires

A new bill signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis offers residents whose homes were destroyed by the Marshall or East Troublesome fires a $10,000 grant to help Coloradans build high-efficiency electric homes or long-term rental units.

The grant, offered through Senate Bill 22-206, will be the first grant program from the Colorado Energy Office for homes lost in the Marshall and East Troublesome fires, according to a news release from Boulder County. The bill also established an Office of Climate Preparedness that will take a long-term approach to wildfire mitigation.

To qualify for the funding, the rebuilt homes must use heat pumps for space heating, electric stoves which includes either electric resistance or induction, and heat pump water heaters, the release said. Incidental gas use for equipment, such as fireplaces or grills, is allowed. Homes must be built to the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code standards, Boulder County’s BuildSmart standards for unincorporated Boulder County, or stronger standards in order to earn the incentive.

The details of timing and program administration are still being finalized and will be shared on RebuildingBetter.org when they are available, the release stated. The incentive from the Colorado Energy Office may be added to the incentive program offered by Xcel Energy for Marshall Fire victims.

EnergySmart, Boulder County’s free residential energy efficiency advising program, has hired Robby Schwarz as a dedicated Marshall Fire new homes building advisor. Schwarz’s advising services are available at no cost to homeowners, builders, code officials, trade partners, and others.

For more information call 303-544-1000 or email info@EnergySmartYes.com.

EnergySmart is hosting a virtual meeting for builders and architects supporting Marshall Fire rebuilding efforts at 9 a.m. on Thursday. The meeting is an opportunity to learn about the latest homeowner and builder rebates, grants and discounts available for Marshall Fire projects. Registration for the meeting can be completed at bit.ly/3OlgOxV.

Learn more here.

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How's Denver for first-time homebuyers? It could be worse.

Six Colorado cities made it into a 2022 report of best cities for first-time homebuyers.

Denver might not be the best place to shop for first-time homebuyers, but it certainly isn't the worst.

Denver is ranked No. 58 best city for first-time homebuyers to purchase, according to a new SmartAsset report.

While cost of living is on the rise and a big concern for many Coloradans, the state made a splash in the report, with Fort Collins jumping from the No. 32 best city for first-time homebuyers in 2021 to No. 27 this year, while Colorado Springs took the No. 33 spot for 2022.

The report names Bellevue, Washington as the No. 1 spot for first-time homebuyers for 2022, but Denver-area suburbs continued to make a dent down the list: Lakewood is No. 76, Thorton is No. 84 and Aurora is No. 101.

The report compared 181 total cities across four categories: home market favorability, affordability, livability and employment. Denver's lowest-scoring category was livability, which takes into consideration the concentration of dining and entertainment establishments, violent crime rates and average commute times, the latter of which are on the rise in Denver as people return to offices.

The average cost of living in Denver as of the first quarter of 2022 was $3,537.73, a 12.9% increase from the same period in 2019. The Denver metro area is expected to hit the $1 million average price for a home soon.

Denver's affordability may be impacting the population, which shrunk by 6,167 people in the year ending July 2021. However, Denver is still a popular place to visit and a recent Zillow report found a Colorado suburb was the real estate website's third most popular market.

The home market favorability score, which measures the price-to-rent ratio, five-year home value appreciation and foreclosure rate, was Denver's best performing category in the SmartAsset report.

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Denver also ranked poorly when judged on employment, which the report based on the March 2022 unemployment rate and five-year change in median household income. The city has one of the largest gaps between median income and income needed to live comfortably.

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Colorado high country commissioners blast Airbnb report that disconnects short-term rentals from housing crisis

Elected officials from seven mountain counties say the giant short-term rental company cherry-picked data to divorce itself from the worsening housing crisis.

A group of 15 commissioners from seven mountain counties is blasting a recent study commissioned by short-term rental giant Airbnb that dismissed the idea that short-term rentals are eroding worker housing in Colorado’s high country.

“Airbnb narrowly focused on positive impacts, and facts appear selected to craft a story that is not entirely true, especially when it comes to negative impacts created by the STR industry,” reads a response from commissioners in Eagle, Grand, Gunnison, Pitkin, Routt, San Miguel and Summit counties to the recent report by Airbnb. 

The economic impact report shows visitors renting short-term rentals in the high-country vacationlands making up almost one-third of all tourist traffic and spending $1 billion in 2020. 

The study also disputes the widespread notion that short-term rentals are impacting workforce housing. Yes, it is hard to imagine a company like Airbnb, which counts tens of thousands of users in Colorado and submitted $25 million in tourist lodging taxes to Colorado municipalities in 2021, paying for a study that finds it culpable in the mountain-town housing crisis. 

Many local communities in the mountains have identified growth in short-term rentals as a primary driver in the shortage of worker housing. Most every community has approved increased regulations, taxes and even caps on short-term rentals.

The June 14 letter from the 15 commissioners and other municipal members of the Colorado Association of Ski Towns admits the housing crisis is not entirely due to short-term rentals, “however it is misleading to claim there is no relationship.”

Short-term renting has exploded in the last three years in Colorado’s resort towns. Airbnb, which does not release town-specific statistics of rental activity, said the $25 million in Colorado lodging taxes it collected and distributed in 2021 was a 90% increase over 2020, which mirrors the company’s nationwide increase in tourist taxes it remitted for the year. 

Summit County Commissioner Tamara Pogue called the study “a fairly standard piece of industry marketing.”

“I’m not sure that it will have much validity or relevance in terms of the conversation over STR regulations, and certainly not as it pertains to housing,” said Pogue, who has been critical of short-term rentals permeating her community’s neighborhoods that previously had been used by working locals. “It’s fairly obvious that the intent of the report is to further support a multi-million dollar industry.”

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