In second Council bid, Planning Commissioner wants Steamboat to take bite out of ski town’s big issues
- Dylan Anderson
- 7 minutes ago
- 4 min read
John Agosta said a core deliverable for the next city council should be a wholistic review of the city’s fiscal model.
John Agosta says he is running for the District Three seat on Steamboat Spring City Council because the ski town is changing, and he wants to work more proactively to address those changes.
“Change is here, change has happened and more change is still coming,” Agosta said, noting that many of these changes to issues like affordable housing, second homes, short-term rentals are being dealt with globally, not just in Steamboat. “We need to get into the driver’s seat and drive the ‘Boat to ensure that the changes work for the people of Steamboat.”
Agosta, who currently serves on the Steamboat Springs Planning Commission, has been a full-time resident locally since 2019, though he has been coming to Steamboat to ski since the 1980s. Being retired from a career in "high tech," Agosta said he feels he has the skills needed to help navigate the complex challenges the city faces. Planning Commissioner David Box has also announced a bid for the District Three seat on Council.
Two years ago, Agosta came up just 262 votes shy of serving on Steamboat Springs City Council, coming in second to now Council member Steve Muntean in a crowded race for the At-Large seat. As he launches his campaign for the District Three Seat, Agosta says he is running again because he feels the Council has often taken a reactive approach to the issues they face.
“We need to be more proactive in the evolution as the city moves forward,” Agosta said. “This is not going to happen on its own, it will take new ways of thinking about the problems.”
Agosta said he feels that reactionary approach can be seen in Council’s efforts toward fiscal sustainability over the past two years, where they pursued a lift tax and a vacancy tax, the latter of which has since been shelved. Rather than adding a one-off tax, Agosta said they need to look at building a fiscal model that better supports the city.
“Steamboat right now is a pure sales tax revenue model, and that worked when we were basically a ski resort town,” Agosta said. “What should our financial model be going forward?”
Agosta said that he feels the core deliverable of the next council should be to review the city’s fiscal models and chart out how to make sure Steamboat is on a sound financial footing for decades to come. Rather than talk about piecemeal approaches like a dedicated property tax for parks or a vacancy tax, Agosta said the city needs to take a more holistic review of the city’s finances.
When looking at the vacancy tax specifically, Agosta said it may be part of a future fiscal model for the city, but that it needs to be looked at as a piece of the solution.
“We need to take all of these [funding ideas] into play and look at them holistically,” Agosta said. “We’re not biting off the big problem that we have, which is trying to figure out fiscal sustainability that is going to take us into the next decades.”
“The fiscal health of this town is driving a lot of our pain points,” Agosta said, adding that he isn’t entering this conversation with a preconceived notion on what the fiscal model should be.
Housing and the lack of affordable options is also impacting the character of the community, Agosta said. While people may reminisce about the days when seven workers could pile into a small housing unit, Agosta said the reality is that small unit is no longer available for those people. Many of these workers have moved out of Steamboat, partially removing them from the community.
“It’s no longer your backyard, and that is the value of what Steamboat brought is this small little community that had all these amenities that people enjoyed,” Agosta said. “I feel like the vibrancy has been totally impacted by housing.”
When it comes to growth, Agosta said he understands that many locals fear building thousands of new units would negatively impact the character of the community. To avoid that, Agosta said the city needs to be thinking about how its policies are helping to build community and not just houses.
“People want to purchase homes within a community, because you kind of buy into that community. You buy into the culture, you buy into the heritage,” Agosta said.
Agosta said that he believes there is a future for housing at Brown Ranch and that he is looking forward to the results of the ongoing Deliberation and Stewardship Team process. Still, the bottom line is that Steamboat needs to build more housing, Agosta said.
“From 1990 to 2000 we built about 2,500 home units in Steamboat. From 2000 to 2010, we built about another 2,500,” Agosta said. “In the past 15 years, we’ve built around 1,100 units. That defines why we are having such a housing crisis. … Ultimately with Brown Ranch, I have high hopes that we’re going to be able to build some vibrant communities in there.”