Estes Park is a resort community that depends on visitors for its economic survival. The twin draws for visitors are Rocky Mountain National Park and our quirky identity as a historic mountain town.
Our historic lodges and hotels are an integral part of that identity. Mary’s Lake Lodge, The Crags, Olympus Lodge, Elkhorn Lodge, and The Stanley Hotel, to name a few. Many are threatened by the high cost of renovations and modernization, as well as by competition from large hotel chains.
These historic lodges and hotels are a fundamental part of our history and our character, and they are at risk. The Elkhorn Lodge restoration, begun in 2019, is in dire financial straits. The Olympus Lodge is decaying; plans for updates and expansion fell through last year when the town demanded intersection improvements on Highway 34 as a condition for approving the project. The Stanley Hotel has recently avoided bankruptcy by obtaining public funding from the Colorado Education and Cultural Facilities Authority.
Meanwhile, the Elkhorn Lodge developers have decided that the best option for financing the completion of their historic preservation project is to build a massive, high-end hotel complex on pristine wildlands atop Deer Ridge, adjacent to Old Man Mountain and a large conservation easement, and only half a mile from Rocky Mountain National Park.
Neighbors are aghast at this proposal, which would transform their quiet, rural residential neighborhoods into a busy commercial district with acres of pavement, air, noise, and light pollution, and 24-hour traffic.
Citizens across the community question the wisdom of building around 300 lodging units, in addition to 182 in the pipeline from the historic Elkhorn Lodge restoration and 65 more at the Stanley. Building more lodging units will probably not bring more visitors, and hence more revenue. Excess lodgings could syphon clients away from existing mom-and-pop businesses and depress prices across the sector. It is entirely possible that overbuilding lodgings would actually depress lodging revenues.
More damage to our community would come from degrading some of our most iconic views. The proposed development is atop Deer Ridge, squarely in the center of our number-one view, the panorama of RMNP as visitors enter town on Highway 34. It is in the foreground of that same panorama as seen from Wonderview, the Stanley, or many other sites around the valley. Intensive ridgetop development would seriously compromise the views we use for marketing, the views in selfies that get posted on social media, the views that keep visitors coming back again and again.
But I digress. The point is that the developer feels compelled to propose something anathema to many in the community because they can see no other way to financial survival, no other way to finish their historic preservation of the Elkhorn Lodge.
There has got to be a better way. With current market forces, we cannot ask developers to shoulder the cost of historic preservation and then pile on costs for roads, intersection improvements, and what-have-you.
It would be a stretch to ask the town to help finance preservation projects, but they could forgive some burdensome requirements. What about private philanthropy? Public-private partnerships? Visit Estes Park is embracing sustainable tourism. What is more sustainable than historic preservation? Perhaps they could expand their mission to support the preservation of historic lodgings in our community. If not with dollars, then with logistical support such as connecting developers with donors or other financing opportunities.
If we want to preserve Estes Park and everything that makes it so special, it is time to give up on old ways of thinking and failing financial models. It is time to think outside the box, to find new ways to simultaneously preserve our character, our economy, and our precious wildlands.