Winter Park’s April 16 regular town council meeting began with the swearing-in of recently elected council members Jeremy Henn, Art Ferrari, Michael Periolat and Mayor Pro-Tem Jennifer Hughes before the council showed this video address.

The video discusses the annexation of the Beaver Village condominiums as an important initial step in building a gondola between downtown Winter Park and Winter Park Resort, the opening of the town’s transit maintenance facility, and the repaving of a pothole-ridden section of Berthoud Pass through collaboration with the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Additionally, the video states that the town has added 424 new bedrooms to its community housing program through the Fireside Creek apartment project, new deed restrictions and collaboration with Winter Park Resort on its workforce housing project.

The town council then answered questions.

When asked about a timeline for the gondola project, Mayor Nick Kutrumbos said the town is in a better place on the project this year compared to last.

The town has entered a public-private partnership with Winter Park Resort, Alterra Mountain Company, and Charlie Johnson, who’s involved with Cooper Creek Village, Kutrumbos said.

Winter Park has hired a consultant to lobby for federal dollars to help the town pay for the project and a project manager to help organize and lead the project.

Kutrumbos said the gondola project will include a ski-back trail from Winter Park Resort.

“We’re really excited about that one, and any connections to Winter Park Resort that does not include Highway 40 is something that we’re very very excited about,” Kutrumbos added.

When asked about the town’s downtown plan, Kutrumbos said that community members have realized many people are jaywalking across U.S. Highway 40. The plan seeks to improve public right aways, add bike lanes, increase beautification and narrow the lanes of U.S. 40 to 11 feet to try to slow traffic through the downtown area.

Keith Reisberg, Winter Park’s town manager, said the town has not yet budgeted to implement the plan and is seeking grant money.

When asked if the town’s affordable housing initiatives are subsidizing ski bums who don’t work hard enough to pay their bills and low-wage employers who don’t pay their employees a living wage, council member Rebecca Kaufman said that’s not her view.

Kaufman, who’s also a local business owner, said her staff are “great well-deserving people that contribute to our community.”

The town has restrictions on affordable housing units that require people to work in Grand County, Henn added.

When asked if the town would consider a Berthoud tunnel if given the opportunity, Periolat said he thinks a tunnel might turn Grand County into a hotspot for truckers going from coast to coast.

“It would ruin the valley from here to Kremmling,” Periolat said. Back when Grand County was a more popular trucking route, there “was pretty much a gas station on every corner” in Granby.

Instead, the town council is focused on expanding rail services, Ferrari said.

Winter Park signed on to a steering committee for the mountain rail coalition on March 5.

The committee is tasked with supporting two state-wide bills. One is a fee on rental cars to fund the project. The other is an attempt to provide tax incentives to communities transitioning away from coal power plants, Kutrumbos said.

The infrastructure for the mountain rail line already exists but is currently used primarily for transporting coal.