The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Looking for a bigger room…
Responding to a couple hundred people who filled the Town Council chamber Monday evening, the Crested Butte Town Council unanimously agreed to place the Snodgrass issue as a discussion item on their December 21 meeting agenda. There was an acknowledgment that a larger venue might be needed to accommodate all those who might wish to speak to the issue.
The crowd asked the council to write a new letter to the United States Forest Service reversing a letter sent to Forest Supervisor Charlie Richmond in May 2008. That letter stated the town had several concerns with the proposal by Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) to expand lift-served skiing onto Snodgrass Mountain and felt the community was too divided to proceed with the plan at the time.
Richmond ultimately decided to turn down the CBMR proposal in the so-called “pre-NEPA” (National Environmental Policy Act) review process. He cited the original town letter as one of many reasons. The decision came last month and has caused a firestorm of protest from a previously quiet public in favor of the Snodgrass expansion.
Monday’s rally and march started at the Four-way Stop and ended in the council chambers. During the council meeting, about 10 people spoke from the crowd. The crowd was polite and respectful through the 30-minute public comment period.
“We are not asking the council to take a stand on whether the Forest Service should approve the Snodgrass expansion or not,” said spokesman for the group and 41-year valley resident Dan McElroy. “We are asking the council to revisit the letter the town sent to the Forest Service dated May 19, 2008. We are asking this council to ask the Forest Service to move ahead with a collaborative NEPA process. We want your support in allowing CBMR into NEPA. There is overwhelming support within the community to let the ski area go through the NEPA process and we want your help in convincing the Forest Service to allow that process.”
Allison Yeary lives in Crested Butte and works as Marketing & Special Events Manager for the Mt. Crested Butte Town Center Community Association. She said she felt like some of her basic rights had been taken away by the Richmond decision. “I was waiting to speak up on the issue during NEPA, when I thought the public would be allowed to comment,” she stated. “Based on Charlie Richmond’s decision document, the town’s letter clearly had an impact on the Forest Service not going into NEPA.”
Yeary cited elements of the original town letter that bothered her. “The letter makes it seem like an additional 200,000 skiers would come all at once as a result of the Snodgrass expansion. In fact, they’d be spread out over the season and that would amount to just an average of 290 additional people a day,” she said. “Parking issues would be alleviated on the site. Affordable housing concerns in the letter would be addressed in the North Village and Snodgrass. I think hiking and mountain biking trails that are currently on Snodgrass would be improved. And contrary to the letter sent by the town, I’d love to have a few extra bucks in my pocket to spend in town. I urge the council to represent me and get my voice back from the Forest Service.”
Mt. Crested Butte resident Jamie Watt presented a list of businesses that have declared their support for lifts on Snodgrass. He said of the 455 businesses that have responded to his request for a declarative stance on the issue, 82 percent are for expansion onto Snodgrass, ½ of 1 percent are against it, 5 percent are neutral and 12 percent had no response. “You put that on top of the Chamber of Commerce survey which showed 84 percent in favor of letting CBMR go through the NEPA process, and I think if Charlie Richmond had those figures, there’s no way he’d make the decision he did,” he said.
Local businessman Al Smith told the council he was concerned about the future of the ski area. “When you have a ski area not making money on a consistent basis, you have a problem,” he said. “They simply don’t have the product. I hear it all the time over at my place on Painter Boy. People want to ski terrain like Painter Boy.
“If the ski area goes down, we’ll end up looking like Lake City,” Smith continued. “We’ll open on Memorial Day and close on Labor Day. Jobs and families will be lost. I am asking that this council rewrite the letter to show there is more local support for this.”
Crested Butte resident John O’Neal told the council, “I went to school in this classroom that is now the council chambers. I watched my dad struggle to earn a living here. I have four kids I’m raising in this town and I want to be able to continue to do that. I think Snodgrass helps make that dream happen,” he said.
Another town resident, Bo Stambaugh, who works for CBMR, made a similar point. “My wife and I are raising two boys in this town. I voted for five of you that are sitting up there,” he said. “You are my voice. The original letter sent by the town had an impact on the decision to turn down the Snodgrass proposal, and I ask that you re-examine that and ask for your support in getting the proposal into NEPA.”
CBMR ski instructor Neal Manecke reiterated that his clients want the more easy terrain that can be found on Snodgrass. “They can’t ski Upper Ruby Chief and they need this terrain,” he said.
Local resident and business owner Priscila Banks reminded the council, “We are a tourist town. Tourist towns are some of the best places to live,” she said. “They are clean and fun and a great place to raise children. They sure are a lot better than an industrial mining town, or even worse, a ghost town.”
Local resident Kristi Hargrove said she was shocked when the previous council concluded the town residents didn’t support the Snodgrass expansion. She pointed out she submitted a list of more than 500 people who lived, owned property or worked in Crested Butte and who supported lifts on Snodgrass. “I feel like that list was ignored at the time,” she stated. “Now, we’d like the council to speak on our behalf.”
The council was obviously impressed by the turnout. “I’d very much like to put it on the agenda and consider our options,” said councilperson Jim Schmidt. “I think we might have to find a venue large enough to handle the people who want to speak for and against it.”
Even councilperson Reed Betz, who in the past has indicated he didn’t want to revisit the issue, was moved. “It certainly warrants being put on the agenda,” he said. “I would ask our town attorney to get more involved with the process this time. I don’t think he participated too much the last time.”
Mayor Leah Williams acknowledged the “high level of energy” and said it was an obviously emotional time. “Whether or not we all end up agreeing, we want to be open and listen,” she said.
The council agreed to put the issue on the agenda for the December 21 meeting. Town Manager Susan Parker will look for a larger room to handle the potential crowd.
