CHRIS ROMER 2020-12-31 22:26:30
Confronting community Changes in Gateway and Natural Amenity Regions Small cities and towns outside of significant natural amenities such as national parks, public lands, ski areas and scenic rivers throughout the western United States are becoming increasingly popular places to visit and live. Naturally, many of these Gateway and Natural Amenity Region (GNAR) communities are found throughout Colorado, including Steamboat Springs, Vail and Breckenridge. GNAR communities often place at least as much value on their community’s character as they do on their surrounding natural amenities. These destinations maintain a strong sense of place and identity, including a “small town feel.” This happens intentionally—through the ways the community interprets and shares its history, designs and maintains built environments, and protects and provides access to recreational opportunities and natural landscapes. As a result of their proximity to popular natural attractions, these communities are grappling with a variety of “big city” issues, including congestion, lack of affordable workforce housing and concerns related to sprawl. Other GNAR communities are just beginning to (or may soon) experience significant growth and tourism pressures. These issues have resulted through a phenomenon called amenity migration: an age-old trend of a mass migration of people moving to places with more amenities—in this case natural amenities, such as hiking trails, wide-open spaces, cleaner air, dark skies and outdoor recreation. The COVID-19 global pandemic has accelerated this trend due to the immediate rise in remote work, as workers have more flexibility in where they can live, resulting in so called “Zoom Towns.” Effective and proactive planning is critical for helping GNAR communities preserve and enhance the qualities that make them such desirable places to live and visit. Many of these communities experience differences between residents and visitors, full-time residents and seasonal homeowners, old-timers and new-comers, different economic sectors and a range of political views. These groups are likely to have differing views on how typical GNAR challenges should be faced. The GNAR Initiative, a collaborative program focusing on research, education and capacity building, aims to solve some of these challenges through a variety of resources such as case studies, model ordinances and community toolkits. “A lot of our focus is going to be on those planning and development challenges that places experience as they grow,” says Danya Remore from GNAR Initiative. Planners, public officials, consultants and others working with western GNAR communities are seeking resources to assist these places in addressing the interconnected challenges they face. It is important for the business community to engage and be active participants in these discussions, which can often be achieved through collaboration with your local chamber of commerce.
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