The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Hearing set for August 24
The Gunnison County Planning Commission voted on Friday, July 10, to send their version of the Special Development Project Resolution (SDPR) to the Board of County Commissioners for the final phase of review.
“I know it’s not the final step,” Planning Commission chairman Ian Billick said of the recommended resolution, “but it’s a pretty big step.”
The idea for the resolution was born from several pieces of legislation, including a state mandate, commonly known as 1041, that requires the county to identify local projects that could affect all of Colorado.
The result is a resolution requiring proponents of “mega projects” being proposed in the county to show how they will meet the county’s standard for development before any permits are issued.
The process of creating the SDPR started in January 2006; monthly meetings to fine-tune the document ensued.
Since the process began, four major drafts of the resolution have been reviewed by the Planning Commission with regular input from county attorney David Baumgarten and outside counsel Barbara Green of Boulder law firm Sullivan Green Seavy, and in several joint meetings with the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).
The version passed on to the public and commissioners will be draft five, which will include a version of the SDPR; errata, or list of the changes that have been made throughout the process; a list of definitions important to the document; and the standards for approving or denying a permit.
“I appreciate all of the work [the attorney’s office] and staff has put into this and I appreciate the patience you’ve had with us in getting our comments documented,” Billick told Baumgarten, while commissioners and staff congratulated one another.
Now the resolution is out of the Planning Commission’s hands, probably for good. Planning director Joanne Williams said the BOCC could decide to require further review from the Planning Commission, but it’s doubtful that they will.
The BOCC voted at a special meeting on Tuesday, July 14 to hold a public hearing on the SDPR on August 24 from 1 to 5 p.m., which gives the public and the commissioners just over the required 30 days to review the document.
An argument might be brewing over the Planning Commission’s inclusion of a provision in the resolution that would require all projects applying for a permit from the county to be carbon-neutral, or to have “no net contribution into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide or other gases that when emitted into the atmosphere trap heat,” according to the SDPR.
Billick said, “The carbon-neutral issue came up pretty fast and I suspect that things will come up for the county commissioners and I’m encouraging them to be on the lookout for information that the public has to offer. It’s a hot topic”
The BOCC can choose which pieces of the recommended SDPR to keep and which to do away with. Billick hoped that the BOCC would view the carbon neutrality provision as a “conversation-starter and not a conversation-ender.”
Since there are already two projects being considered in the county that might fall under the requirements of the SDPR, the conversation about carbon neutrality is definitely not over.
One of those projects is the possible expansion of Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) onto neighboring Snodgrass Mountain. The other is the molybdenum mine being proposed on Mt. Emmons.
CBMR director of planning John Sale said the resort supports efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and has voluntarily purchased carbon offsets in the past, but forcing the companies to be carbon-neutral in the current economic environment could be an unnecessary burden.
Although CBMR has not made an official comment to the BOCC, Sale said, “We will make some comments the during public comment period and there is a pointed discussion we would like to have; we’d like to have a discussion on what is carbon neutrality. The definition in the resolution is pretty vague.”
Sale pointed out that Triple Peaks LLC, the company managing CBMR, has been purchasing offsets for many years to bring their three resorts closer to carbon neutrality. Last year they changed to buying renewable energy from the local supplier.
According to Sale, Triple Peaks has been spending over $100,000 a year to green their energy consumption, “but in the current economy we are looking for some areas to cut back and one of those areas were the [renewable energy credits] and they decided not to purchase those this year.”
Perry Anderson, director of community relations for the Mt. Emmons Project, a molybdenum mine being proposed in the county that would also fall under the scope of the resolution, says he still is not sure what the final version of the document will include and will withhold any judgments until it is finalized.
“We do plan on preparing some comments for the commissioners, but we’re kind of waiting on them right now. We’re going to continue to be a part of the process,” he says.
Dan Morse, public lands director for High Country Citizens’ Alliance who has also been a nearly constant presence at discussion on the SDPR, says he thinks the resolution is a good step toward protecting the county’s people and resources.
He says, “The county has been working hard to get these things done in a timely and thorough fashion.”
To see a copy of the SDPR, visit www.gunnisoncounty.org/planning.html or stop by the Planning Office in the Blackstock Government Center, 221 N. Wisconsin, Gunnison.
A public hearing will be held Tuesday, August 24 from 1 to 5 p.m. in the Board of County Commissioners meeting room.
