County and town looking into Irwin code violations

“Nothing nefarious was going on…”

The proponents of a backcountry ski operation in the Irwin basin have run into several problems with Gunnison County by not following proper protocol under the county building and environmental health codes. Among other things, the developers installed a grey-water system without a permit from the county. Since the wastewater system is located within the town of Crested Butte’s watershed, the town should have been notified as well. It wasn’t.

The wastewater system, which has not yet been used, was installed this summer by Scarp’s Ridge LLC at what is known as the “movie cabin” near the Irwin Lodge. Scarp’s Ridge LLC owns the property and is attempting to get U.S. Forest Service permission for its subsidiary, Irwin Backcountry Guides to run a snowcat ski operation with the movie cabin as a base.
County environmental health official Richard Stenson inspected the site Tuesday and found several problems.
“There is a grey-water system that was never permitted by the county,” he explained. “They have a vault under the crawl space of the movie cabin and they never applied for that use. The county doesn’t allow such vault systems. It is considered non-complying. It was put in without our knowledge or approval. They have potable water located next to the grey-water vault and they need to have more separation. This type of thing would have to go through the Crested Butte watershed ordinance as well and it didn’t.”
Crested Butte mayor Alan Bernholtz is the Mountain Manager for Irwin Backcountry Guides. The watershed ordinance was instituted under his tenure as mayor. Essentially, any activity within the town’s watershed that could impact water quality falls under the ordinance and the town must be notified.
Crested Butte Town Manager Susan Parker was surprised to hear the news Tuesday. “I conferred with the public works director and we received no indication of a grey-water system being installed near Irwin by this group,” she said. “The town will further investigate the installation and pursue its authority within our watershed.”
Bernholtz said he was surprised and upset when he found out a grey-water system was part of the renovation. “Everyone needs to adhere to the rules and regulations of the jurisdiction,” he said. “I also don’t believe anyone was trying to be sneaky about it.
“I’m in charge of operations and that’s where my focus has been, not on the construction of the warming house,“ Bernholtz continued. “The construction falls under a separate entity within the organization. This has nothing to do with operations and I’ve never been part of the planning of the warming house. I know that the contractor brought the situation to the attention of the county to make sure that things were correct and when it wasn’t, everyone started working to make it right.”
The latest of several contractors on the renovation, Bill Coburn, said his company came into the project midway through completion. “We identified some issues in the project and took them to the county before asking for a final inspection by the building official,” he said. “I think it was essentially a bunch of guys working hard and working fast and there was a mistake made but it was tried to be corrected before the grey-water system was energized and charged. There was nothing nefarious. That’s why we took it to the county and tried to find the proper way to permit it before asking for a final inspection.”
Stenson said it appeared the system hadn’t been used. “I’m glad we found out about it before people used it,” he said. “If we hadn’t found out about it, there could have been health and safety risks to the public.”
Stenson admitted the matter came to light when the general contractor on the project came to the county building department and asked if everything was done correctly. The county said no. According to Stenson, it appeared there were violations in both the building department and in the environmental health offices. Stenson said that the Colorado Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Health and Environment governs the nearby Irwin Lodge septic system. Stenson said he was told during the inspection Tuesday that the Irwin Lodge sits on the same mining claim as the movie cabin and is owned by Scarp’s Ridge LLC.
“The state could modify its permit so that this is part of the Irwin Lodge but there is no indication they have been approached,” Stenson said. “I will check with the state but I don’t believe they would allow such a system. I will see who has ultimate jurisdiction but the county and town of Crested Butte would still have to be notified about this type of work before it commences and they weren’t.”
The county inspection found other problems as well. The county issued a permit for an incinerating toilet but it was not installed to county standards. It was put in a building next to the movie cabin. Stenson said the toilet was located too close to the adjoining property line. It was within a foot of the Forest Service boundary and there is a 15-foot setback required by the county. The toilet was also placed in a utility storage shed and that is in violation of the county building code. “There was also a propane generator located in the shed and that doesn’t meet either the residential or commercial building code,” Stenson said.
The county will touch base with the state and town of Crested Butte. Stenson said he asked the owners to correct the violations and not use the sanitation facilities. He said there could be fines in the future as a result of the action “but right now I am asking the owners to correct the violations and not use the facilities. It’s a small amount of grey-water we are talking about but it is a complex situation. The big picture is that the opportunity for risk was somewhat small but the non-compliance issue has to be resolved,” Stenson concluded. “They are not following county or state protocol. It was put in without our knowledge or approval.”
A formal notice of violation was being written Wednesday.