Routt County commissioners are raising concerns about a proposed federal oil and gas lease sale covering nearly 14,000 acres of national forest land north of Hayden, with Commissioner Sonja Macys calling it potentially the “largest extractive resource play” in the county during her lifetime. 


The U.S. Forest Service is analyzing an expression of interest for oil and gas development on approximately 13,850 acres in the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District of the Routt National Forest, accordi...

The Yampa Valley Housing Authority has decided against submitting a petition to the Steamboat Springs City Clerk to put an annexation measure for the Slate Creek Neighborhood — formerly known as Brown Ranch — on the November 2026 ballot, instead formally committing to their original roadmap to put the annexation question on the November 2027 ballot.


The decision came after an hour-and-a-half discussion at a special meeting convened by the housing authority Thursday afternoon, where board memb...

Data centers are highly unlikely to come to Routt County any time soon, according to Routt County Planning Department staff. 


Routt County Planner Michael Fitz told the newspaper this week that the county’s Unified Development Code, adopted in 2024, includes a list of allowed uses, of which data centers are not mentioned. Any uses not included in that list are then “prohibited by default,” said Fitz. 


“There are great (and justifiable) fears in many parts of the country that data centers c...

Steamboat Springs and Routt County officials are beginning to map out what could become a crowded slate of ballot questions over the next few election cycles, raising concerns about voter fatigue and prompting early discussions about coordination and timing.


During a joint work session Tuesday night, members of the Steamboat Springs City Council and Routt County Commissioners identified a growing list of potential measures that could appear between 2026 and 2027, ranging from funding for the...

The Brown Ranch Governance Group, convened by members of the Steamboat Springs City Council, the Routt County Commissioners and the Yampa Valley Housing Authority, is pivoting away from the “Brown Ranch” name, opting instead to refer to the long-proposed affordable-housing development as the “Slate Creek Neighborhood.”According to the March 26 meeting minutes, “the group reached consensus to rename the project they are working toward (previously Brown Ranch).”“From here on out,” the minutes stat...

Steamboat Springs City Council signaled Tuesday that its ready to confront the long-simmering dilemma of how to keep the city running at current service levels when the city’s sales tax‑driven finances are increasingly vulnerable to low-snow years, influx tourist spending and economic downturns.At council’s Tuesday work session on fiscal sustainability, Finance Director Kim Weber stressed that city leaders first need to define the problem before staff can recommend concrete solutions over the ne...

After hosting an affordability roundtable in Routt County last month, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet described what he sees as Colorado’s defining challenge — and part of the reason he’s running for governor.


“We have an affordability crisis in Colorado,” Bennet told the Steamboat Pilot & Today in a Jan. 22 interview. “This is not a passing problem. It goes to the very heart of what kind of state we’re going to be.”


Bennet, who announced his campaign for governor in April last year, said one of...

When longtime Steamboat Springs local Bright Stevenson signed his lease at Anglers Four Hundred, he expected stable, reliable, well-managed housing in a community marketed to Routt County’s working class. 


Instead, he found “a disaster”: a unit that was not move‑in ready, dirty common spaces, hallways and stairwells littered with trash and grime, and what he described as a disappointing lack of support from both the Yampa Valley Housing Authority, which developed the property in partnership w...

Nearly 20 community members attended Tuesday’s regular Steamboat Springs City Council meeting to comment on Stagecoach Mountain Ranch, the proposed 6,100-acre private ski area to be developed by Discovery Land Company, as council prepares to submit a letter to the Routt County Board of Commissioners regarding potential impacts to the city.At council’s Oct. 14 meeting, councilors, chief among them Councilor Amy Dickson, had expressed their opinion on the Stagecoach Mountain Ranch development, wit...

With an early-September deadline looming to finalize a ballot question proposing the formation of a Regional Transportation Authority, Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp. has backed away from a pledge to commit $1 million annually for the next 20 years to help fund it.


Although not ruling out a longer-term commitment, Ski Corp. is now committing to only a one-time, $1 million contribution to the RTA — an unexpected change that could potentially fracture the proposed RTA’s coalition of Yampa Valley l...

Steamboat Springs’ approach to enforcing short-term rental licensing has come under intense scrutiny, as mounting evidence reveals a pattern of abrupt, punitive action with no prior notice or warning for property owners, leaving many feeling blindsided, financially devastated and ignored by their local government.


The wave of frustration among local STR operators has prompted the Steamboat Springs City Council to consider whether the current policy is fair and effective, or in need of reform....

In Steamboat Springs, the view is world-class, the community is tight-knit and the teachers are among the most dedicated you’ll find anywhere.


But for the educators shaping the next generation, living in the town they serve has become a daily struggle defined by housing insecurity, second or third jobs, tolls on mental health and a constant juggling act just to get by.


“The cost of living in Steamboat Springs, especially housing, has reached a point where many of our teachers can no longe...