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  A lot of growth has occurred in the Yampa Valley. During this time most citizens felt that decisions were controlled more by powerful forces than citizens of the community. From time to time small unorganized groups of individuals who would gather to fight some issues, but there was no consistency to their efforts. On one occasion a frustrated City Council member called John Spezia and asked why no one had attended a meeting to support an important action for the community…a lift ticket tax.

This phone call initiated John to create some kind of watchdog group to be vigilant in the community. At that time, the only organized community groups in our valley were the Northwest River Association (which later morphed into the Friends of the Yampa) focusing mainly on the Yampa River Festival; the Sierra Club which worked on the proposed Catamount Ski Area and the power plants at Craig and Hayden; and Environment 2000 which put on a conference each year on relevant topics related to the Yampa Valley.

A small group gathered to devise a simple system to keep an eye on the community and give a voice to ordinary citizens when important issues came up. In 1999 this group became The Community Alliance of the Yampa Valley a 501(c)3 non-profit. CAYV held informal meetings within our community. The result was a decision to focus on growth by participating in the updates to Steamboat Springs Community Area Plan and the West of Steamboat Springs Area Plan. This group kept an eye on the activities of Steamboat Springs and Routt County governments. CAYV's first organized campaigns included opposition to an annexation of a proposed gated-community and awareness of the effects of Triple Crown to our sense of community.

CAYV became a Western Colorado Congress member group in 2000 . We hired an organizer and were able to expand our efforts to cover water, oil and gas development and continued work on growth (sprawl, affordable housing, transportation).

The Community Alliance currently has 200 members and continues its efforts to speak for the community. We are now “self-staffed”, needing to raise all of our own funds. Our current campaigns include: West Steamboat Annexation, preserving workforce housing, and Home ReSource.

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MAJOR CAYV ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Opposition of a Gated Community – Successfully lobbied City Council to deny an annexation application for a Ski Lake / Gated Community. (1999)

Triple Crown – Continue to raise awareness of the impacts that this group brings to our community.

City Council Election Guide -Created a candidate Q & A that was distributed to the community. (2001 and 2005)

Home ReSource - Support of the non profit effort to reuse materials that would otherwise end up in the landfill: Fundraise for a recycled building; Give bikes back - Donated over 50 bicycles to underprivileged citizens.

Hosting of Community Forums – In order to better educate citizens and encourage participation CAYV has hosted many forums including: Urban Growth Boundary (2008), Workforce Housing Needs (2006), Growth impacts (2001)

Lobbied Legislators for the benefit of our community – Required Workforce Housing (2006), Big Box Restrictions (2006), Ridge line development regulations (2001), Oppose Fast Track Development Permits (2000)

New Pioneers of the Yampa Valley: Created our first signature event. Collaborating with several organizations, and 20 volunteers from throughout the community. Educating people about cool projects, products and programs happening locally. Locally grown dinner.

(2006-present)

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