Mt. Crested Butte nods on Snodgrass

Cites historic support for CBMR expansion

In the next few days Mt. Crested Butte town officials will be sending a letter to the U.S. Forest Service indicating their community’s support of Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s (CBMR) proposal to expand lift-accessed skiing onto neighboring Snodgrass Mountain.

With little discussion during a regular meeting on Tuesday, April 15, the Mt. Crested Butte Town Council unanimously approved a draft letter to Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest supervisor Charlie Richmond in support of CBMR’s efforts to expand terrain and encouraging the Forest Service to accept an anticipated Snodgrass development proposal and enter the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process.  
The letter cites the results of a 2006 community survey as an indication of the town’s support. According to a report to the council from town manager Joe Fitzpatrick, “This expansion to skiing would originate within the boundaries of Mt. Crested Butte, and has been supported by the town since the early 1980s.”
Plans to expand the ski area onto the 11,145-foot-high Snodgrass Mountain, adjacent to Mt. Crested Butte, have come and gone for more than two decades.
Plans for Snodgrass resurfaced in 2005 when CBMR submitted a preliminary proposal to the Forest Service for consideration before it officially entered the NEPA process, which would determine impacts of the development. The Forest Service and CBMR agreed to explore potential “deal breakers” before the federal agency accepts the resort’s official application.
Those deal breakers include the mountain’s geology, community support and impacts on the neighboring Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.
According to Richmond, the Forest Service is awaiting a review from the United States Geological Survey of two separate geological studies of the mountain, one conducted by the Forest Service and another by CBMR.
The Forest Service has not given a timeline of when the other deal breakers will be resolved.  
After the meeting, Fitzpatrick said while the deal breakers are still undecided and the resort has not presented an official proposal, the intent of the letter is to make the Forest Service’s consideration of Snodgrass a priority once a proposal is received.   
In his report, Fitzpatrick cites a community survey conducted by the town in 2006 that asked area residents about their stance on issues such as the development of the North Village, the need for more public amenities like parks, and whether or not they support the Snodgrass expansion.  
The survey indicates that 68 percent of the general respondents support the expansion and 66 percent of full-time Mt. Crested Butte residents support the expansion.
According to Fitzpatrick, there were 1,907 surveys mailed out to all registered voters, property owners, and business owners within the town, and 706 surveys were returned.  
Snodgrass is also discussed in the town’s 2007 Community Plan, which was partly based on results of the survey. In the Land Use and Growth Management Section, the plan states the town should “support CBMR in its effort to expand ski terrain onto Snodgrass Mountain.”
The plan also describes the results of the survey as “a clear majority of the community.”
Concerning the community’s stance on Snodgrass, Mt. Crested Butte mayor William Buck said the survey and Community Plan “lay it out pretty clearly.”
Mt. Crested Butte’s survey results closely follow the results of a survey recently conducted by the Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce, which showed that 60 percent of 134 responding business owners were in favor of lift-served skiing on Snodgrass Mountain, with 31 percent opposed and 9 percent unsure.
The results of the Chamber’s survey were discussed during a Crested Butte Town Council meeting on April 7. During the same meeting, the Crested Butte Town Council received a petition signed by 231 people with ties to town in support of the resort’s expansion. The response was very different from views expressed by citizens at a March 24 public work session, during which many people spoke against the proposal. With new information and a desire to contact Richmond over what the Forest Service was seeking in terms of comments, the Town Council opted to put off considering its letter until its April 21 meeting.
The town of Mt. Crested Butte received several pieces of correspondence regarding the Snodgrass expansion prior to their meeting this week. Buck said there were six letters in favor of the expansion and one against it.  
Mt. Crested Butte part-time resident Jim Archer wrote, “I think the Muellers (CBMR’s owners) have shown themselves to be responsible contributing members of the community and I believe they will take care to have a minimal impact on the mountain.”  
Town Council member David Clayton asked about the possibility of CBMR giving a presentation on their expansion proposal.  
Fitzpatrick said a presentation describing the layout of lifts and ski trails would likely be given by the resort later in June.
The council then passed a motion unanimously approving the town’s letter of support to the Forest Service.  
The Crested Butte Town Council will discuss its letter to the Forest Service on Monday, April 21.