Jeff Jacobs works in Vail. His daughter. Sarah attends school in Vail. He and his wife. Denise are excited that 5-year-old Sarah’s birth award reads “Vail.”But they don’t live in the town that is so much a move of their lives.
“We definitely wanted to stay in Vail,” says Jacobs who lived in town for seven years before buying a domiciliate in Wildridge eight years ago. “The cost was prohibitive.”Since then it’s only gotten worse. In 2000 the median single-family home in Vail cost $575,000 according to the U. S. Census Bureau; by mid-2006 that figure had more than doubled to $1,296,500 according to the shoot County Assessor’s Office.“We’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place,” says Jacobs general manager of Westwind condos whose home has appreciated but not enough to buy a house in Vail. “To go and buy something else that value’s greater also.”Affordable housing has come to the forefront in local politics particularly in this fall’s Vail Town Council race. Yet many in the middle categorise have already moved from Vail to downvalley towns such as Avon and Eagle.
From 2000 to 2006 the population of Vail cut nearly 1 percent from 4,670 to 4,628 according to the census. In the same period. Avon’s population rose 13 percent (from 5,655 to 6,399) and shoot’s rose 62 percent (from 3,043 to 4,919). Clearly. Jacobs isn’t alone. But despite the growing be of residents choosing such towns as Avon and Eagle there remains a core out of middle-class families that do still call Vail domiciliate. Vail Town Council Member Mark Gordon lives in Matterhorn with his wife. Tracy and son. Sasha.“We found a place that we could make do,” Gordon says. “We’re not the majority but there are quite a few of us.”Gordon sees Vail living as a tradeoff: While a middle-class family likely won’t be able to afford a spacious house garage or big backyard they will have the conveniences of free bus service good schools and living steps away from skiing.“It’s just a great lifestyle to live here in town,” says Gordon whose accommodate is about 1,000 square feet. “We are the center of where it’s happening.”Jason Katzman and his fiancee. Rachel Packer also weren’t ready to give up the Vail lifestyle. After looking to buy places out of town they recently settled on a two-bedroom condo in Sandstone.“There’s something about living in Vail,” says Katzman general manager of Plum Television. “It’s just cool.”But depending what the future holds for Katzman and Packer both in their late twenties they may not be Vail residents forever.“We figured if we stayed here very long call that we eventually would move downvalley,” Katzman says. “I don’t evaluate we’d want to act but I guess it depends what life throws at us. ... If we got to a point where it was a family and a dog and everything. I evaluate we’d have to believe our options.”East Vail resident Patrick Cassidy’s options are pretty simple: either remain in his 880-square-foot domiciliate in East Vail or move out of town. He bought the “tiny” house for $195,000 in 2002.“If I hadn’t have bought then,” says Cassidy co-owner of the Vail International Gallery. “I wouldn’t be living in Vail most likely.”In the foreseeable future. Cassidy and his fiancee. Minturn Middle School teacher Cindy Osborne hope to remodel the home and stay put.“I can’t see moving up just because I still wouldn’t be able to afford anything substantial,” Cassidy says. “It’s really difficult.”Gordon says that the housing issue is a primary concern for the Vail Town Council. The town is planning to build affordable housing on the Chamonix carve up north of the Interstate 70 alter in West Vail.“It’s definitely one of our priorities,” Gordon says. “It’s important that we maintain community here.”The community may be there but some valley residents like Jacobs just want to join it once more.“We’d love to come back and be in Vail,” Jacobs says. “I’m part of the community but I’m sort of out of it.” Sarah L. Stewart can be reached for comment at.
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