Town sends Snodgrass letter to USFS

CB Council wants to be done holding public hearings over issue

Without much debate, discussion or fanfare, the Town Council of Crested Butte approved a letter to be sent to Forest Supervisor Charlie Richmond about the current Snodgrass issue. The letter states that the current council has not taken a formal position on CBMR’s Master Development Plan or its lift-served skiing development proposal.

At its last meeting on January 19, the council had agreed to send a “neutral” letter stating that the council listened to a number of people concerning the issue. They intend to send the entire public record to Richmond, including recordings of two public hearing sessions held by the council. (For a copy of the letter, go to www.crestedbuttenews.com.)
Richmond decided last November to turn down Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s (CBMR) request to continue pursuing plans to put ski lifts on Snodgrass Mountain. That decision is now going through a Forest Service appeal review process.
The council’s letter asks that the town be included in any future NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process if the matter goes that far. The letter also will ask that any further public hearings over the issue be conducted here by the Forest Service itself.
Councilperson John Wirsing asked if it would be more efficient to simply inform the Forest Service they could access the public record and recordings of the meetings whenever they wished, instead of sending the voluminous public record gathered by the town.
“I agree with John,” said councilperson Reed Betz. “Can we just make it clear that it is always available?”
“I think we should include it,” said councilperson Jim Schmidt. “Send them what we have. I think the letter is fine. [Town Manager] Susan Parker wrote it and [Town Attorney] John Belkin looked it over but I think we should send them everything.”
Mayor Leah Williams and councilperson Phoebe Wilson agreed. “When we directed the staff to formulate this letter in front of a lot of public, we said we would send the complete record,” said Williams. “I think we need to do that.”
Williams asked for public comment on the letter at the Monday meeting. There was none from the dozen people in the room for the issue.
Parker will update the letter to include the request for a Forest Service sponsored public hearing if appropriate and the letter will be sent to Charlie Richmond. Councilperson Reed Betz voted against the motion to send the letter.

click here for a PDF of the letter to Mr. Richmond from the Town of Crested Butte