Keystone residents push for area to become full-fledged town
If you didn't already know, Keystone, the area famous for the ski area, Loveland Pass and general beautiful Colorado wilderness is not really a town. It's a part of unincorporated Summit County.
Now Ken Riley, President of Keystone incorporation Board is trying to change that. CBS4 Mountain Newsroom Reporter Spencer Wilson asked Riley what it would mean if Keystone became a full-fledged town.
"What it means is citizens get to control their own destiny," Riley said. "We get to take the tax dollars that we generate, and more than half of those tax dollars will come immediately back to the community, to be spent in the community to support community needs and priorities."
Riley said this effort is likely one of the very few that would not raise taxes at all. He went on to explain the sales tax alone from Keystone, once directed towards the town instead of Summit County, would well pay for everything they are trying to accomplish. He believes that to be somewhere around $2.4 million a year.
He says it's not only about getting a focus on area issues, but planning for the future.
"Over a five year period, a $3.6 million surplus to start addressing some of our most pressing needs in infrastructure, safety and growth which the county hasn't really been able to do in the last 25 years," Riley said.
Main issues they hope to address should this come to fruition would be road safety along Highway 6, and weekend ski traffic which apparently blocks intersections for hours at a time. The effort also has support from local legend and founder of Keystone Resort Bill Bergman.
Berman said he was initially against incorporation in the early days of Keystone, but Keystone has changed, and he said they need to change along with it.
"We have all these young people here. There are a lot of different things to be taken care of and we should have a town to do that," Berman said. "Rather than a commune, so to speak."
To incorporate Keystone, the board needs signatures to bring this to a vote for the people living there. If that passes, it would be given to residents to vote on, then if that passes, a town charter would be created and that also would need to pass voter approval.
If that all comes to pass, a city council would be formed. Find more about the organization's mission or how to get involved.
