Preserve Estes Park hosted a forum on March 23 for the six candidates running for four open seats on the Town of Estes Park Town Board. Prior to the forum, the issue advocacy organization sent the candidates a questionnaire.
All six candidates responded to the questionnaire, and all six participated in the forum. Kirby Hazelton, who is a sitting incumbent running for a second term, is also a high school soccer coach, and her team was scheduled to play at the same time as the forum. Hazelton let the forum organizers know that she would be late, but she did arrive in time to participate in the last part of the forum – and for the record, the Bobcats won the match.
The questionnaire provided to the candidates asked six questions and provided a check-the-box answer form. None of the candidates responded to the yes-or-no binary questions asked by PEP; instead, each provided a narrative answer. And each candidate responded to questions asking them to prioritize growth-related issues in Estes Park and the Valley and rank the importance of eight issues.
The candidates’ responses are provided in the order that their names appear on the ballots: Randy Welch, Bill Brown, Kirby Nelson-Hazelton, Aidan Rosenau, Chris Eshelman, and Jamie Mieras.
Ballots were mailed the week of March 15, 2026 and are due back to the Town of Estes Park’s Clerk’s office by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.
The questions
- Would you support the Town of Estes Park hiring and paving attorneys to attempt to overturn Ordinance 11-25 (formerly known as Ballot Question 300 that was passed by voters in the Nov. 4, 2025, election?
- Do you believe that it is the Town’s responsibility to provide housing for workers in the Town of Estes Park?
- Do you believe that it is the Town’s responsibility to provide housing for workers in the Estes Valley?
- Are you confident with the distribution and usage of 6E funds?
- How would you describe yourself regards to growth and development in the Town of Estes Park? In the Estes Valley?
- Please rate the following in order of your priority, for the Town and Valley for the items listed: transportation, housing, parking, evacuation, preservation of undeveloped land for open space, conservation, wildfire mitigation, wildlife protection, other.
Randy Welch
Regarding whether I would support hiring attorneys to overturn 1-25, I would say no. That the Town went to the length of putting it on the ballot. I would say they wont go to the length of revoking it
To the question of whether I believe that it’s the Town’s responsibility to provide housing for the workers in Estes Park. I will say yes, in so far as there are Town employees, such as law enforcement, who do commute into Town. Whether the Town directly provides housing or works with other entities to develop/provide housing, it has to be involved.
To the question of whether I’m confident with the distribution and use of 6E funds, my answer is yes.
Regarding growth and development in the Town of Estes Park, I would describe myself as Slow Growth, only because there aren’t many places left to develop in Estes Park itself.
Given the complexity of development in Town, any form of development will be slow, and I do believe the focus will be on redevelopment projects as a whole going forward.
Regarding growth in the Estes Valley, I would place myself in the Medium Growth category. As I believe that there is more flexibility to develop. Especially to the north and east.
Priority listing: 1. Housing; 2 Parking; 3. Transportation; 4. Wildfire Mitigation; 5. Evacuation; 6. Open Space preservation; 7. Wildlife protection
William Brown
Thank you for these questions. l appreciate the efforts of Preserve Estes Park to help the Estes Park voters make the important decision on candidates for this election. Although l am happy to answer your questions to the best of my ability, I do not feel that I can answer these questions adequately by just checking a box. Therefore, below are my textual answers to your questions.
1) I do not support the Town hiring and paying attorneys to challenge Ordinance 11-25. The voters approved this ordinance, and it is not the role of the Town board to overrule the voters or to urge the Town to do so. If the Town is sued to invalidate the ordinance, the Town will engage its attorneys to defend the ordinance.
2) I do not believe it is the “responsibility” of the Town to provide housing for the workers of Estes Park. While the Town does provide incentives for home ownership by Town employees, it has no direct role to play in housing other workers. The Estes Park Housing Authority, an independent and separate governmental entity, does have such a role.
Nonetheless, I believe it is appropriate for the Town board to enact public policies which incentivize workforce housing, as the workforce housing density and height bonus Town
ordinance does which would have been repealed if Ballot Issue 301 had been approved.
3) For the same reason, I do not believe it is the “responsibility” to provide housing for workers in the Estes Valley. While the Town board does not have jurisdiction over areas in the Estes Valley outside of Town limits, the Estes Park Housing Authority, which is an independent governmental unit, does have such jurisdiction. Nevertheless, the Town does have an interest in incentivizing workforce housing in Estes Park, since workers living outside of Town limits are typically workers within the Town.
4) I support the current distribution and usage of 6E funds to support workforce housing and childcare. The current 80/20 split of these funds between workforce housing and childcare will need to be subject to ongoing periodic review based upon the relative needs in each area.
5) It is not possible for me to describe my views on development with the finite choices given in your question. Development is a product not of the extent to which Town trustee want development, but what property owners and developers bring to the Town for consideration. I believe in smart development consistent with the development standards in our development code, but certainly not unrestrained development. Our Town development standards are designed to ensure that development occurs in a manner consistent with the values of our residents and to preserve the safety of our residents. The role of the Town board is simply to assure compliance with these standards.
6) While the Estes Valley Comprehensive Plan addresses development outside of Town limits, the Town has no jurisdiction on development outside of Town limits. As a result, I have no particular opinion on development in those areas.
7) All of the listed areas have a high priority for the Town. The priority of each of these areas in specific decisions varies based upon the nature of the decision involved. For instance, wildlife protection and wildfire mitigation are very important considerations in land development, but are less important with infrastructure decisions related to drinking water supply and distribution and stormwater management. However, wildfire mitigation is paramount in decisions relating to our electrical distribution system because of the risk of downed power lines initiating wildfires.
Kirby Nelson-Hazelton
No, I would not support the Town hiring and paying attomeys to attempt to overturn Ordinance 11-25. I believe the voters cast their ballots and it would not be wise for the Town to change that. If the Town were to face litigation related to Ordinance 11-25, then it would be my responsibility as a trustee (if re-elected) to consider legal advice from the Town Attorney and examine the risk the Town (and its taxpayers) may face as a result of that litigation.
I believe it is the Town’s responsibility to address issues facing our community, including the lack of affordable and attainable workforce housing. I do not believe it is the Town’s responsibility to provide housing for all workers, nor should we be the one solution to this problem. We are one of many who should be working together, with other agencies and businesses, to solve issues facing our community.
Same answer as #2, and one of those partners would be Larimer County and the Board of Commissioners.
At this time. yes. I believe we are still learning about how these funds can be most effective; I expect we will continue to adjust our strategy as we gain more information and experience.
Medium growth. I also strongly believe in redevelopment, vs. just added growth, so that we are not always expanding our footprint but examining how to invest in our current aging infrastructure. I would say the same answer as (the above) for where our decisions make impact, but the Valley is outside of our land use jurisdiction so would be up to those Valley residents and the Board of County Commissioners.
Priority listing: 1-Wildfire mitigation; 2-Housing; 3-Preservation of open land; 4 -Wildlife protection; 5-Transportation; 6-Parking; 7-Evacuation (“I’m slightly cheating. as I believe this is part of wildfire mitigation).
This is a tough question! So much of what we do in one area, affects the others, and all are needed (among even more factors) for a balanced and well-functioning community.
Aidan Rosenau
No. Ordinance 11-25 was enacted through our democratic process. I do not think that it would be appropriate for a member of the Town to try to hire an attorney to overturn the ordinance.
Yes. I believe that it is our duty as a society to ensure that our fellow community members
are not left behind. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau average U.S. home sale
prices have increased 261% from 2014 to 2024. In the same time, average personal income has increased by only 22%. So we can see that purchasing a home is becoming rapidly less accessible. The best way we can give our workers a fighting chance at owning a home is by ensuring that rental units are affordable enough for workers to save money.
Not exactly. My goal would be to build affordable housing in the Town of Estes Park. We want to ensure that anyone who is working in Estes Park is able to afford a decent home to line in. Affordable housing in Estes would benefit people who reside in other parts of the Estes Valley who wish to move closer to where they work in Town.
Yes. 6E funds are distributed by giving 80% towards housing projects, and 20% towards childcare projects. These percentages were voted upon and approved by the residents of our Town. Housing and childcare needs assessments have been completed in our Town, and this 80/20 split is the result of analyzing the findings of these needs assessments.
I believe in balanced growth, which is well planned, well constructed, environmentally conscious, and harmonious in appearance to our natural environment. It is my desire to strike a balance between necessary development, such as affordable housing, and the preservation of our natural environment.
My top three goals if elected (in no particular order) are: 1) To increase the amount of affordable housing in Town; 2) To listen to the voices and concerns of our people; 3) To improve our local economy. Issues like preservation of land protection of our wildlife, and natural disaster prevention are also important issues which will be top of mind for me, if elected.
Chris Eshelman
Right now, it is the law and until it is amended or reversed, we must follow this ordinance. I think it is unlikely the Town would hire attorneys to overturn it. I will say the ordinance has flaws and there have been unintended consequences, but I do not think it’s the Town’s place to try to overturn it.
I would support a project for the Town of Estes staff. I think many employers have or are considering providing housing for employees. t don’t necessarily think it should provide housing for others. The Town should facilitate housing development by examining the requirements they put on those building projects that in turn raise the cost to the very people they set out to assist in the first place.
This is very much the same as the previous question as far as supporting workforce housing. However, if it is Town owned property located in the county, they would need to ask for an exception from the county otherwise, the Town would have to defer to the county on all development approval and permitting, relinquishing some control over the project.
As with any large organization, and from the outside looking in, there are purchases that made sense to me and others that I questioned, so am I totally confident, no. i do have much to learn about how the funds are being used. There are always many conversations behind the scenes and until you are a part of those conversations, you don’t always have all the information on why decisions were made.
As I have said before, I am not in favor of stopping development but doing it responsibly. t feel development has happened organically through the years based on the economy, interest rates, land cost and availability. I have seen growth surges and slowdowns as well. I do feel that growth is slowing from what it was simply due to less land being available, and think redevelopment is going to be on the rise. I would take the same approach in the county, but the Town has no jurisdiction in the county. With the Estes Valley Planning Commission being dissolved approximately six years ago, it has further separated the Town and the County in the valley.
Priority listing:
1. 0ther. My main priority is the health of our Town’s water system, with the Town’s Water Master Plan, rates and new water treatment plant on the horizon, that is where my passion and area of expertise lie. As the former water superintendent and having worked for the water division for close to 14 years, I will be able to contribute toward a better understanding for the trustees on these large decisions that will affect the entire community and are coming up for approval very soon.
2.Housing. Affordable, attainable, housing has been a longtime issue. Progress has been made, but we must keep working towards a reasonable solution that meets the needs of those who call Estes Park home.
3.Parking. Again, continue to work toward the best possible improvements.
4.Transportation. Needs continuous effort between improving our roads and public transportation.
5. Wildfire mitigation This will take a collaboration between county, Town and private entities to help mitigate fire danger. We çan all help reduce the risk, but it will never be eliminated.
6.Preservation of undeveloped land for Open Space, conservation. Open space is valuable, nice to have and enjoy. We do have a fair amount between dedicated Town open spaces, Bureau of Reclamation, and conservation easements. New development typically has open space buit into the project. There is a balance on how much taxpayer funds should go toward open space vs other needs.
7.Evacuation. It certainly is important and needs thoughtful emergency planning and refinement. We have learned from recent fires and I’m confident solutions to relaying vital information and earty evacuation procedures are being discussed and implemented.
8.Wildiife protection. I enjoy the elk and deer as much as anyone. in my opinion, even with increased density, the elk and deer population has not been affected, I think it is important to continue to educate our visitors with regards to safety when viewing the wildlife and there are efforts being made with educational signage. With that being said, there will always be risk for the people and the wildlife as they interface so closely together.
Jamie Mieras
1. No. It is likely that a private entity or individual will challenge this ordinance when limits their land. If the measure is found to be unconstitutional or a violation of state laws, we will then need to continue the conversation about how to better involve neighbors and residents into land use decisions.
2. I believe that the Town is responsible for making choices that support the local economy, The lack of attainable housing has caused shortage of workers, resulting in instability for local businesses. By increasing workforce housing, we allow workers to establish themselves and invest in our community. A stable workforce is necessary for a functional and thriving community.
3. Yes, because the Valey and the Town are interconnected. The Town and Valley both face affordable housing shortages. I support the Housing Authority’s use of living “within the boundaries of the Estes Park School Distict R-3” to quality for workforce housing. This boundary encompasses the Valley and allows workers to support the Valley economy.
4. Yes, currently. The need for workforce housing and childcare represent the biggest challenge to achieving workforce and economic stability at this time. The Town has developed a plan to tackle these issues in the 2026 Annual Funding Plan, which addresses needs in the 2023 Housing Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan and 2023 Childcare Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan. There is flexibility built into the fund which would allow us to adapt as needs change.
5. Medium Growth We need to continue to cultivate the downTown experience and support the diversity of businesses within the Town of Estes, and focus on refining previously developed areas.
7. Slow Growth. I believe residential housing can continue to be built in appropriately zoned areas, ideally within a way that integrates with the surrounding natural beauty. I also support the continued work on trails to connect the urban and rural areas.
Priority listing: 1. Housing; 2. Wildfire mitigation and prevention; 3. Evacuation; 4. Preservation of undeveloped land for Open Space, conservation; 5. Transportation; 6. Wildlife protection; 7. Parking.