The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Rent increase to cover “pain” factor?
It appears that somewhat reluctantly the Gunnison County Metropolitan Recreation District will sign a lease with the Kapushion family to continue to maintain a television transmitter and building site on Sunlight Ridge in Mt. Crested Butte.
In a sometimes heated discussion Monday night, September 20, the Met Rec board, led by director Paul Wayne Foreman, questioned Kapushion family representative Wayne Meredith about changes and rent increases in the lease.
“We have been negotiating this lease for over a year and it frankly feels like it will never end,” said Meredith, noting that was one reason there was a $3,000 renewal charge in the latest version of the lease. “It is meant to help cover legal fees.”
“I’m looking out for the taxpayer,” countered Foreman. “I also see you have raised the rent $100 a month and I understand that is to pay for a survey of our building, which you estimate will be $1,200. But the lease covers four years so it is really a $4,800 increase.”
“I don’t know how much it will cost to do the survey and you can say that is what the extra $100 a month is for,” said Meredith. “But frankly, if you were worried about the taxpayer you could have signed the lease a year ago and you would have saved $5,000 already. We have had more trouble with this board than all the other renters combined.”
“Can we pay the $1,200 up front instead of the extra $100 a month?” asked Foreman.
“The simple answer is no,” responded Meredith. “Pay the rent in the lease now or move your stuff out of there. You have been extremely hard to deal with. It’s like you don’t understand a landlord-tenant relationship. It’s how it works. Don’t sign the lease. We don’t care. But then move your stuff off our property. I don’t want to go through this.”
“We didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot,” said director Dave McGuire.
“When some of you brought up the threat of condemning our property what did you think was going to happen?” asked Meredith. “That is stealing.”
Meredith’s attorney David Leinsdorf asked the people in the meeting to settle down and stick to the lease. “Let’s all stop pointing fingers. Do we have a deal or not?”
Foreman outlined the lease terms. There is a $3,000 renewal fee. The lease would go through August 15, 2015. Rent would start at $4,200 the first year and rise each year to $5,700. Originally the five-year lease started out at $3,000 for the first year and ended at $5,000 for the last year.
“If you are uncomfortable with it, don’t do it,” said Meredith. “It is a small fraction of what the other tenants are paying. Everyone else up there is paying a lot more than what we are asking of you.”
“We aren’t a for-profit business,” said Foreman. “You are taking money out of the taxpayers’ pockets, just so you know.”
“That’s why this rent is significantly cheaper,” said Meredith. “The other leases up there are more arduous but it is a much smoother process to get them signed.”
“The Kapushions are aware that you are a non-profit and that’s why the terms are more favorable to you,” said Leinsdorf.
“This was the most extensive lease we’ve seen,” said McGuire. “It was a lot of new stuff for us to understand.”
“If you choose not to sign, you will have your stuff out by the fall before the snow flies?” asked Meredith.
“Yes,” said Foreman. “And the television signal will go away and KBUT will go away.” KBUT shares their transmitter site with the Met Rec district.
“We’ll find a place for KBUT,” said Meredith.
The board investigated other sites in the north end of the valley to place a transmitter but acknowledged that Sunlight Ridge is the best place to service Crested Butte, Mt. Crested Butte and the nearby outlying areas for the low-power digital television signals.
The board discussed the situation and agreed to the proposed lease. The four-year lease will cost the board $22,800. McGuire will inform Leinsdorf to make the changes and draw up a lease for both parties to sign.
