VAIL — The Vail Town Council met in regular session on May 5, 2026, approved a five-year strategic plan that will guide the town’s budget and priorities through 2031, and received an urgent briefing from fire officials that wildfire compliance remains dangerously low despite four years of community outreach. All seven council members were present. Mayor Pro Tem Reid Phillips abstained from the consent agenda on a conflict of interest related to the April 7 meeting minutes; all other votes were 7-0.
An executive session held earlier in the afternoon on the West Lionshead Pre-Development Agreement and the Timber Ridge Development Project produced no formal action.
Strategic Plan
Council voted 7-0 to adopt Resolution No. 17, Series of 2026, approving the Town of Vail 2026 Five-Year Strategic Plan. The plan, developed from a two-day council planning session in January and multiple rounds of public feedback, sets measurable goals across four priority areas and will drive the 2027 budget process and departmental business plans.
The four priorities are: Create a Vibrant Vail Experience, Build a Strong Community, Protect Our Mountain Environment, and Ensure Good Governance. Key deadlines include a development agreement for the West Lionshead redevelopment by December 2026; a council decision on a community-anchored recreation center by December 2027; a comprehensive rewrite of the town’s land use and housing codes by mid-2027; Gore Creek removed from Colorado’s impaired waterways list by December 2029; and a 50% reduction in town carbon emissions against a 2014 baseline by December 2030.
The plan also targets a net 5% increase in locally owned storefronts by December 2028, reflecting concern that rising commercial rents are pushing locally owned food, beverage, and retail businesses out of Vail Village and Lionshead. Completing Timber Ridge Village, Southface Vail, and the Dobson Arena remodel — collectively the largest capital investment in Vail’s history — remains a central commitment of the plan.
Town Manager Russell Forrest told council the plan will be posted to vail.gov following approval and that staff will report progress quarterly through a public dashboard. Staff also plans to bring council a request to co-fund a Recreation Master Plan with the Vail Recreation District, with the town’s share estimated at approximately $75,000, to inform the recreation center decision.
Wildfire: Low Compliance, New Urgency
Paul Cada, Wildland Program Manager for Vail Fire and Emergency Services, opened the department’s wildfire preparedness presentation by telling council the 2025-2026 winter recorded the worst snowpack in Colorado history. Current fuel moisture conditions in the woods, he said, resemble what the department typically sees in early June rather than the first week of May. He said the water district’s answer to how long recovery would take was a full season of snow, and that episodic droughts of this severity should now be considered the new normal.
Despite four years of outreach, free chipping, community work days, financial incentives, and $86,000 available this year through the Fire Free Five community assistance program — which has supported 168 properties since 2022 — compliance with the Fire Free Five defensible space standard remains below 20% town-wide. Cada said a regulatory approach will likely be necessary to move that number.
Cada also presented preliminary results of a wildfire risk modeling study with a Vanderbilt University researcher that applies disease-spread modeling to the built environment. The town’s current baseline risk score is approximately 0.6 on the model’s scale. Combining community boundary mitigation, a five-foot non-combustible zone around structures, and a 30-foot defensible space perimeter could reduce that score to approximately 0.47. Final numbers are expected within a month.
On evacuation, Cada reported the town’s plan had not been updated since 2015 and was comprehensively revised in 2025, drawing on lessons from the LA fires, the Camp Fire in Paradise, and Lahaina. He said the most critical step residents can take is to register for the EC Alert notification system at ecalert.org. A staff tabletop evacuation exercise was recently completed; next steps include expanding future exercises to incorporate the hospital, schools, and Vail Mountain Resort. The department also scheduled two public wildfire evacuation game nights: May 18 at the West Vail Fire Station and May 20 at Vail Mountain School.
Cada told council that Vail received the first approval in Colorado to use its existing wildfire building codes in lieu of the new statewide minimum standard created by Senate Bill 23-16. Minturn, Redcliffe, Avon, and Eagle have since adopted the same code, and Eagle County is working through the same process, creating a uniform wildfire code across the county for the first time.
Fire Chief Mark Novak presented the insurance portion of the briefing. He told council that Colorado House Bill 1182, which takes effect October 1, 2026, will require insurers using catastrophic risk models to disclose wildfire risk scores to property owners and allow appeals of those scores. The law ties potential insurance credits to verified mitigation — including a non-combustible five-foot zone around structures — through certified programs such as Wildfire Prepared Home. Self-reported improvements will not qualify. Novak said homeowners who receive non-renewals should not wait for the law to act; insurers are required to give 60 days’ notice, and he said 60 days is often not enough time to complete the necessary work. Colorado’s FAIR Plan, an insurance-of-last-resort program, caps coverage at $750,000 per single-family home.
Mayor Pro Tem Reid Phillips asked whether the town could attach a Fire Free Five exterior inspection requirement to the existing short-term rental annual fire inspection and licensing process. No formal action was taken. Phillips also raised the risk of public safety power shutoffs, asking about utility responsibility for trees near overhead lines in East Vail and Matterhorn. Cada explained that utilities are responsible only within their right-of-way and that Vail’s power involves both Holy Cross Energy for distribution and Xcel Energy for transmission, meaning either company’s decision could affect the town’s power. He said residents should be prepared for that possibility.
Fire Chief Novak to Retire
Town Manager Forrest announced during the evening’s wildfire proclamation that Fire Chief Mark Novak will retire. Novak has served as Vail’s fire chief since January 2015 and has approximately 42 years in the fire service, beginning as a reserve firefighter with the Poway Fire Department in California in 1984. Forrest credited Novak with expanding Vail’s wildland fire program, leading the remodel of Station 1, developing the Fire Free Five program, and serving as a national leader through the International Association of Fire Chiefs and on the Colorado Fire Commission. Novak thanked council for their support.
Wildfire Preparedness Month
Mayor Davis opened the meeting by reading Proclamation No. 2, Series of 2026, designating May 2026 as Wildfire Preparedness Month in Vail and across Eagle County. The proclamation noted that 20 of Colorado’s largest wildfires have occurred within the last 20 years and that four of the five largest fires in state history occurred within the last six years. Eagle County and the towns of Gypsum, Minturn, Eagle, Redcliffe, Avon, and Vail are co-participants in the designation.
Public Comment
Three members of the public spoke. A West Vail resident urged council to restrict non-functional outdoor irrigation this summer given drought conditions, citing consistent guidance from the water district. He also raised concerns about the town’s use of Flock license plate reader systems on I-70 on-ramps and off-ramps, questioning privacy implications and the town’s obligations under public records law. A second speaker raised two items: the apparent removal of no-semi-truck signage through Dowd Junction, and a suggestion that Narcan training be incorporated into required TIPS alcohol service certification classes, citing a recent overdose incident in which a bartender administered Narcan. An Avon resident called in online to inform the public about the upcoming Holy Cross Energy board of directors election, noting ballots would be sent to account holders beginning May 13.
Consent Agenda
Council approved the consent agenda 6-0, with Mayor Pro Tem Reid Phillips abstaining due to a conflict related to the April 7 meeting minutes. The consent agenda included: April 7 and April 21, 2026 meeting minutes; Resolution No. 15, designating bank account signatories for the Timber Ridge and Residences at Main Vail housing developments; Resolution No. 16, approving a CDOT grant agreement for enhanced bus service launching June 8, 2026; and a contract award to Coughlin & Company for property management at both Timber Ridge and the Residences at Main Vail following a competitive RFP process. The contracts were approved in a form authorized by the town attorney, with final language still being completed.
Ordinances
Council approved two ordinances on second reading, both 7-0. Ordinance No. 3, Series of 2026, amends the town code to restrict large waste and recycling collection vehicles from certain pedestrian mall areas in Vail Village. Staff said collection companies have assured the town that the operational changes will not affect pricing and that dumpsters have already been relocated in several locations. Ordinance No. 5, Series of 2026, expands special enforcement zones to include Lionshead and Vail Village. Deputy Chief Matthew Westenfelder of the Vail Police Department said there were no changes from first reading. No public comment was received on either ordinance.
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