Woman injured in bike versus vehicle accident on sixth street

Town news
Bike accident on Highway 135 in town
A bicycle versus vehicle accident in Crested Butte on Thursday, June 26 sent a woman to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The accident occurred in the afternoon at Sixth Street and Belleview Avenue. The bicyclist, a 25-year-old Crested Butte woman, was treated and released that night.

Mt. Crested Butte news
Town pursuing permanent fix for Cinnamon
Mountain Road
The town of Mt. Crested Butte is looking for a long-term solution to fix a section of Cinnamon Mountain Road that is slowly eroding due to a landslide. Last month the town hired Buckhorn Geotech to study the slope movement and its effect on the road. On Tuesday, July 1, town manager Joe Fitzpatrick reported to the Town Council that Buckhorn was preparing a proposal for additional geotechnical investigation to develop several solutions to mitigate the slope movement. “They’re really going to look at what alternatives are out there to stabilize the slope,” Fitzpatrick said. He said the study would cost approximately $16,000.
Council member Gary Keiser asked if it would be possible to include the roadwork on a proposed bond issue the town will be asking voters to pass this fall. Fitzpatrick said it was too late to include any repairs to Cinnamon Mountain Road in the bond issue, as the engineering firm would not be able to calculate mitigation costs in time for inclusion on the bond.
Fitzpatrick said the road is open and passable for general traffic. No serious work on the road would occur until next year.
Council member David Clayton asked, “Can we keep the homeowners up in that area appraised of what’s going on?”
“We’ll let them know,” Fitzpatrick said.

Security funds to be utilized on overdue development
For the first time, Mt. Crested Butte will utilize a developer’s design review compliance and cleanup deposit to appease neighbors’ concerns about a project on Castle Road.
Mt. Crested Butte residents Steven Meredith and Kathy Hooge appeared before the council on Tuesday, July 1 to request that the town take action to make sure a lot near their separate properties on Castle Road is cleaned of building supplies that have not been moved in two years. “It’s all usable building supplies,” Meredith said.
Meredith also requested that the town ensure that the developer fulfill his obligation to create an easement from Castle Road to Hunter Hill Road, including a pathway and pedestrian bridge. He said the easement, pathway and bridge were required as a condition of the town’s granting the developer a height variance.
Town manager Joe Fitzpatrick said the town had given the developer several warnings to have the issues taken care of, and although the developer indicated he would clean the lot and build the path, nothing was really occurring.
Council member Wendy Fisher asked how many warnings a developer could get before the town would utilize the cleanup funds.

Community development director Bill Racek said, “The town may have guarantee funds to use for this sort of thing, but town hasn’t ever had to use that. There isn’t guidance in the town code as to how much rope we should give a contractor.”
Racek said the town should look into creating guidelines for the use of cleanup funds. He said the town would utilize the cleanup funds to do whatever work needed to be accomplished.
“We’ll make it happen,” Fitzpatrick said.

Council appoints three people to serve on DDA board
The Mt. Crested Butte Town Council appointed three members to serve on the Downtown Development Authority board during a meeting on Tuesday, July 1. The town received three letters of interest prior to the meeting. Two of the positions that needed to be filled were four-year terms that expired in June, belonging to Allen Cox and Sara Morgan. Both sent letters of interest, and were reappointed to their respective seats.
The third position was formerly held by Randy Barrett, who resigned from the board in June. His term was set to expire in 2009. The council appointed the third letter writer, Crested Butte Mountain Resort real estate and sales director Michael Kraatz, to fill the position.

County news
Sunday liquor sales allowed
Colorado residents will be able to purchase full-strength beer, wine and liquor on Sundays, starting this week. The state legislature passed a new law allowing Sunday sales this past session and it goes into effect on Sunday, July 6.
Proponents say the “blue law” outlawing Sunday sales had outlived its usefulness. The change will allow stores to serve consumers who expect to be able buy alcohol on Sunday. Thirty-four states now allow liquor sales on Sundays.
Critics of the bill have said the change is an attempt to increase sales tax revenue at the expense of independent liquor storeowners, who may feel forced to stay open on Sundays in order to compete. Analysts estimate that Sunday sales could fetch the state an extra $4 million in taxes annually, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
A similar law was defeated in 2005, when liquor store owners vehemently protested Sunday sales, stating that they preferred to have the day off to spend with their families. This time, liquor store owners said the would accept Sunday sales in order to head off another piece of legislation that would have allowed grocery stores to sell full-strength beer and wine, but not liquor. That bill was killed in a Senate committee.
In the Crested Butte area, Acme Liquors, Mountain Spirits, Red Mountain Liquors, Treasury Liquors, and the Wine House will all be open on Sundays, starting on July 6.
Acme Liquor manager Molly Carson says she has mixed feelings about the change but hopes it will bring in more customers. “I was really happy not being responsible for this place one day a week,” she says, “so I have mixed feelings.” But she hopes it will improve business. Carson says the biggest challenge thus far is finding someone to pick up a Sunday shift. “No one wants to work weekends in the summer.”

Gas prices continue
to be high
AAA projects that 10.48 million people in the western states (including Colorado) will travel 50 or more miles away from home for the Fourth of July holiday weekend. This is a decrease of .8 percent from the 10.57 million who traveled in 2007.
“The Fourth of July weekend is typically one of the busiest travel holidays of the year,” said Sandra Barnes, AAA Colorado’s director of travel services. “We anticipate this year to be no different, with many Colorado travelers planning to celebrate the Fourth of July away from home.”
The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Colorado is up 85 cents from last year. The average cost of filling a 15-gallon tank with regular unleaded in Colorado is $60, compared to $47.25 last year.
According to AAA’s online fuel cost calculator, a roundtrip journey between Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park will cost approximately $19.72 for a common mid-size car using regular unleaded gasoline. Last year it cost $15.50.
Nationally, 85 percent of all holiday travelers are expected to travel by automobile, a 1.2 percent decrease from the 34.6 million people who drove to their holiday destinations last year.