You may be wondering how spending $20,000 or more per property for Measure 1C, the Peak 7 paving local improvement district, effects your bottom line. 

High traffic roads and road striping (bright lines) adversely affect property value by up to 30%. This project includes bright lines on a new tarmac within view of your great-room windows. Road striping is a turn-off that suggests high traffic. Road striping was also not used by Silver Shekel and Summit Estates. Paving is proven to abet more speeding, but this measure holds no provision for speed bumps and, therefore, does nothing to reduce the very traffic woes it intended to minimize.

In 27 states, the national trend in unincorporated areas is reversing paving. This is because gravel roads are a natural fire break, deter traffic and are materially less expensive to maintain. Environmentalists oppose paving due to high toxicity for people, wildlife and nearby wetlands and streams. Paved roads are not statistically superior, but defective roads (e.g. potholes, uneven grading) adversely affect value. The county already has a clear and accountable maintenance reporting process. Monitor and report these defects; it is a neighborly value boost without spending $20,000. 

Paving is a legitimate county-funded project on high-traffic, mixed-use roads (3,500 vehicles per day is development policy). These mixed-commercial collector roads (American Way and Ski Hill) carry a load of 4,000 vehicles per day. These collector roads are a shortcut from Colorado Highway 9 to ski employee, lodging and trailhead parking lots to Peak 7 and 8. The collector roads are not residential-only streets and the traffic volume is disproportionately higher, making the Summit Estates and Silver Shekel projects irrelevant to the approach needed to resolve this issue. The county is already responsible for paving collector roads with mixed-commercial use of this magnitude.

The best for your bottom line is to vote no on Measure 1C.