Crews from Vail Fire and Emergency Services will be conducting prescribed fire operations in mid to late April as conditions permit. The prescribed fire will take place in the Katsos Ranch area of East Vail on approximately 3 acres of Town of Vail land and 1 acre of Colorado Department of Transportation right of way.

The Town of Vail’s Annual Community Meeting, held on March 12, is available for viewing on demand, courtesy of High Five Access Media at https://www.highfivemedia.org/show/community-meeting-2019.

Join participants on Saturday, March 30 for the Annual Polar Plunge at Nottingham Lake in Avon to benefit Special Olympics of Colorado. Registration begins at 11 a.m.; the Plunge takes place at 1 p.m. as participants submerge themselves in the water despite the cold temperatures.

The Vail Town Council is seeking input from the community on a proposed franchise fee increase between the Town of Vail and Holy Cross Energy at its evening meeting on Tuesday, March 19. The action item discussion is listed as 5.1 on the meeting agenda which begins at 6 p.m.

Vail’s Annual Community Meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12 at Donovan Pavilion will be headlined by a celebration recognizing noted water attorney Glenn Porzak as the recipient of the annual Trailblazer Award as well as a look back on accomplishments from 2018, an update on new initiatives and a tribute to fire Lt. Scott Bridges who is recovering from injuries he sustained while helping at an accident scene on his way to work.  

The Vail Fire Department has postponed its testing an acoustical warning device from the West Vail Fire Station this week to provide available resources associated with a new winter storm warning. Originally scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon on Thursday, March 7, the test will be rescheduled in April. When the test is deployed, residents in the neighborhood will hear test messages as officials evaluate the effectiveness and range of the system.

The Vail Fire Department is reminding property owners and maintenance personnel to be mindful in clearing ice and snow around natural gas and electric meters. During a recent 24-hour period, a combination of roof shoveling and snowplowing caused several incidents in which gas meters were damaged resulting in several dangerous gas leaks. These gas leaks caused the evacuation of 12 units in a multi-family complex as well as several homes in a residential neighborhood.

An off-duty Vail fire lieutenant was seriously injured in a multiple vehicle car accident while on his way to start his shift at the fire station on Friday, March 1. The accident occurred at approximately 6:15 a.m. on eastbound I-70 near mile marker 168.

The Vail Town Council will review a proposal to conduct a prescribed burn in the Booth Falls area in an effort to improve the bighorn sheep habitat in East Vail at its Tuesday, Feb. 19 meeting. The presentation by Vail Fire Chief Mark Novak is listed as 4.2 on the afternoon meeting agenda which begins at 2 p.m. in the Vail Town Council Chambers. The Booth Falls area is located on the north side of Interstate 70 in East Vail.

With this season’s accumulating snowfall, the Town of Vail is asking property owners and managers to make arrangements to remove hazardous ice and snow accumulations that may endanger public safety.

With an updated snowfall count of 130 inches in the Town of Vail so far this season - compared to last year’s total of 125 inches for the entire season - and with additional storms on the way, the town’s snowplow drivers are doing all they can to keep the streets safe for travel, including clearing snow from intersections to improve visibility. Following a snowstorm, roads that service the hospital, schools, commercial areas and the ski area take priority with a goal to plow those areas by 8 a.m. Efforts are made to plow other residential streets by 9:30 a.m.

New Year's Eve in Vail will include bus service enhancements and the presence of police and fire personnel to ensure that a safe and fun atmosphere is provided for residents and guests. For the seventh consecutive year, the town will be rescinding an overnight curfew and eliminating late-night checkpoints in Vail Village due to the long-term success of its public safety campaign. Police Chief Dwight Henninger says additional foot patrols in the pedestrian areas will be used to maintain a family-friendly environment during the holiday.

Partnerships and collaboration in the areas of housing, environmental sustainability, parking, economy and public safety were key contributors in helping to elevate the town’s priority initiatives during 2018. For example, in partnership with the Vail Local Housing Authority, the town continued to make an impact on its housing goals with the acquisition of 106 new deed restrictions totaling $6.5 million of public and private investments through the Vail InDEED program. This included the purchase of 23 deed-restrictions at the newly-constructed 6 West Apartments in Edwards, which represents the town’s first of its kind regional housing collaboration. Also noteworthy during the year was announcement of Vail’s official certification as the first sustainable mountain resort destination in the U.S. and the first community certified in the world under the Mountain Ideal Standard. The certifications are the result of a multi-year partnership between the Town of Vail, Walking Mountains Science Center, Sustainable Travel International, Vail Resorts, U.S. Forest Service and others, while marking the culmination of 56 years of leadership by the Vail community in progressive environmental conservation policies and programs. To address the need for additional public parking, a three-way partnership between the town, Eagle County Schools and Vail Resorts contributed to the opening of a new, four-level parking structure at Red Sandstone Elementary School in which the spaces will be utilized for both school and public use. A first-ever retreat between the Vail Town Council and executives from Vail Resorts identified areas where the two entities will be working together to enhance the guest experience and elevate Vail’s competitiveness. Events such as the Burton U.S. Snowboarding Championships, Colorado Classic, Bravo! Vail Music Festival as well as a Global Friendship exchange trip to Japan, served to showcase Vail to international audiences. Also of note was the involvement of Vail Fire in facilitating creation of the Mountain Area Mutual Aid Plan which assisted in the coordination of wildfire suppression efforts during the Lake Christine, Bocco, Buffalo, Two Elk and Golf Course fires throughout the region, and will serve to provide critical resources in the event of a wildfire in or near Vail. Other milestones included completion of the update to the Open Lands Plan, ongoing improvement in Gore Creek’s water quality, sponsorship of a wildlife forum which brought renewed focus on the health of the area’s wildlife, plus a kickoff to the Civic Area planning process that will help identify a future plan for the town’s public facilities in the heart of Vail.

The Town of Vail is introducing the first stages of a master planning process that will rely heavily on community engagement to determine how best to incorporate community needs and goals in preparing for future improvements to town-owned properties in the heart of Vail. To learn more about the Civic Area Master Plan process, the town is hosting a community open house from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11 in the Grand View on the third level of the Lionshead Welcome Center.

Public comment opportunities will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 4 as the Vail Town Council prepares to adopt the 2019 municipal budget. The $73.3 million expenditure plan is available on the town’s website at www.vailgov.com. Second reading of Ordinance No. 21 is listed as item 8.3 on Tuesday’s meeting agenda which begins at 6 p.m. in the Vail Town Council Chambers.