Representative Review

Snowmass Village, Colorado

Town in the United States in Pitkin County

About Snowmass Village

Snowmass Village is a home rule municipality in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The population was 3,096 at the 2020 census. A popular winter resort location for skiing and snowboarding, the town is well known as the location of the Snowmass ski area, the largest of the four nearby ski areas operated collectively as Aspen/Snowmass. In 2010, the accidental discovery by a bulldozer operator of fossilized elements of a Pleistocene ecosystem in the ice age lake bed at the Ziegler Reservoir (commonly referred to as the Snowmastodon site) put Snowmass Village prominently on the paleontological map of North America.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

How Snowmass Village is governed

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Residents of Snowmass Village

Registered voters elect the officials below.

  • Mayor

    Executive

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    The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

    • City Manager / Administrator

      Executive

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      The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

  • City Council

    Legislative

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    The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

    • City Clerk

      Administration & departments

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      Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

    • City Attorney

      Administration & departments

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      The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

    • Boards & Commissions

      Legislative

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      Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

  • Municipal Court

    Judicial

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    Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

Website
tosv.com

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Population over time

From 2,826 in 2010 to 3,096 in 2020 (+9.6%).

2010 2020
Show the numbers
YearPopulation
20203,096
20102,826

History

The Brush Creek Valley was settled circa 1910 by ranching families including: Sinclair, Melton, Stapleton, and Hoaglund. As a child, Hilder Hoaglund would ride her horse into Aspen to go to school. Her father, Charles Hoaglund, immigrated from Sweden in the 1800s. After a school was built in Brush Creek valley, she attended the Brush Creek Frontier School, now called the Little Red Schoolhouse, located on Owl Creek Road. She became a teacher at that school and then at the Red Brick School in Aspen. At the schoolhouse, she played the accordion or piano for community dances. When she married Bill Anderson, the Hoaglund Ranch became the Anderson Ranch.

Paul Soldner, a ceramic artist noted for developing American Raku, established a studio in the Anderson Ranch buildings in 1966. He founded the Anderson Ranch Arts Center and incorporated it into a non-profit in 1973. The Anderson Ranch Arts Center on Owl Creek Road uses many of the original buildings from the Hoaglund Ranch, although not in their original location, farther down stream on what is now Snowmass Club Circle.

Under the leadership of Bill Janss and DRC Brown, the American Cement Company developed Snowmass Village as a ski resort starting in 1966.* Hayfields were subdivided and the lots sold for houses. Brush Creek is an unappealing name for a ski area, so they named the resort Snowmass after the valley to the west of Brush Creek. Fritz Benidict acted as the architect of the Snowmass ski area. The Campground Chairlift serving the western edge of the ski area, actually does extend into the Snowmass Valley. Five chairlifts were installed: Fanny Hill, Burlingame, and Sam's Knob, the Big Burn, and Campground.

The Snowmass ski area first opened on December 16, 1967. The new ski area hired Olympic medalist Stein Eriksen to direct the ski school. Besides experience as a skier and instructor, Stein Eriksen brought an aura of European glamor to the raw new resort.

Brush Creek Road was paved in 1968. The former hayfields still had mostly alfalfa into the 1970s. The Snowmass Golf Course was first laid out with nine holes in (need date). It was expanded and redesigned several times (need dates), the latest in 2001 by James Engh. The periodic re-landscaping of the golf course led to the relocation of ranch houses and to changes in the valley floor from flat or sloping fields to rolling hills with ponds.

The Snowmass Wildcat Fire Protection District was founded in 1971 and the firehouse built on Owl Creek Road.

Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy abducted and murdered Caryn Campbell in Snowmass Village on January 12, 1975. Her body was later found along the Owl Creek road near what is now the Facilities Maintenance Division.

In 1977, the community incorporated as the Town of Snowmass Village.

The Snowmass Chapel was built near the firehouse on Owl Creek Road in 1988. Previous to this time, church services were held in the Opticon Movie Theater or in the open air Aspen Grove Chapel, where benches were set up under aspen trees separating two ski runs. Later the area was cleared for more condominiums off Wood Road.

Today, Snowmass Village has experienced a building boom, as new condominiums, luxury homes, mountainside mansions, and Base Village have recently been constructed. Westin Hotels and the Viceroy Hotel Group have recently built a respective hotel in Snowmass. Snowmass Village is also experiencing a rising influx of wealthy tourists and skiers.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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