Briefs Crested Butte

Local contractor lands steel bid for Big Mine roof
With all the turmoil in the world, the price of steel isn’t getting any lower so the town of Crested Butte moved quickly to lock in a price on the structural steel for the Big Mine Ice Rink roof. Reinman Construction of Gunnison was awarded the bid at $675,000. Six bids on the project were received, ranging from Reinman’s to more than $1 million.

The concrete foundation and electrical work still need to be bid out. The entire project will cost more than $1 million and is being funded primarily through a Great Outdoors Colorado grant and private donations.
The town, which is acting as the general contractor on the project to save money, hopes to have the new roof in place for the next skating season.

Council sees value in extra bus service
Believe it or not, more people used additional Mountain Express buses to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as opposed to going to the Health Fair.
The council approved a $3,000 allocation from the town transportation fund to help support extra Mountain Express buses for special occasions. More than a dozen events were cited as needing extra buses. For example, in 2010, the buses hauled 639 people during late-night runs on the Fourth of July between an abundance of fireworks shows. Other big events included College Ski Week and New Year’s Eve. Meanwhile, 17 folks were hauled up in an early extra bus to Mountaineer Square to attend the Health Fair.
Mountain Express director Chris Larsen said it costs about $86 an hour to run the extra vehicles.
Crested Butte Mountain Resort, along with Mt. Crested Butte, is also contributing to the extra service endeavor.

Putting MMJ on the backburner
Given the somewhat uncertain state of the state’s medical marijuana (MMJ) regulations, the town is holding off on making any changes to its MMJ ordinance. The town was considering opening up the application process and taking more submittals. But given the state’s position that it won’t be handing out any permits until probably 2012, town manager Susan Parker recommended holding off on any MMJ action. “We are fairly busy right now with other stuff,” she said. “The state lobbyist for the Colorado Association of Ski Towns said it would be a waste of time to move on this right now.”
Councilman John Wirsing suggested postponing MMJ discussion. “I just felt if nothing was going to be done by the state for a while, is it a responsible use of the town’s resources? I didn’t want to waste town time on it.”
Town attorney John Belkin said, “It makes sense to wait and see what happens in Denver. It will be just a couple of months. Ultimately I think if we wait, we can streamline the town ordinance.”
“I agree that if we are spending the people’s money it should be on something in the here and now like an affordable housing ordinance,” added councilperson Reed Betz.
Councilperson Jim Schmidt agreed there was no big hurry to change the ordinance. He did suggest the council take a “field trip” to Lake City to look at a grow operation in the town. “I hear it is odorless,” he said. “I’ll believe it when I don’t smell it.”
The council will have Schmidt and councilperson Roland Mason review what ultimately comes of the state MMJ regulations this spring. They will then try to dovetail the state regs with town rules and suggest to the rest of the council how to change the municipal ordinance this summer.

Zip lines and team building
The council heard an update from Crested Butte Mountain Resort officials on the upcoming summer. Resort services director Nick Herrin outlined upcoming changes to the resort’s summer season. Changes include running the lifts starting June 18 until September 5 and then running them on weekends through September 25. The Red Lady Lift will be open until 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays.
The resort is also prepping for the new zip line attraction. “That will piggyback on the success of the Adventure Park and Miniature Golf,” explained Herrin. “We promise to have you up for a test on the zip lines along with some businesspeople and the Mt. Crested Butte council.”
“Maybe you’ve thought of this, but can you have our council and the Mt. Crested Butte council up at the same time?” asked councilperson Reed Betz. “Maybe use this as a team building exercise for both councils. I think we can use that.”
“Sure,” promised Herrin.
Herrin also said since the zip line will be constructed on private land, it will be one of the first in the west at a ski resort. It will get a jump on other resorts that have yet to build such amenities on Forest Service land—something that is not yet allowed by the federal agency.
“I think this will be a draw and it gets our name on the map first,” Herrin said.
“The bike park and zip line could help draw people here,” added CBMR vice president of sales and marketing Daren Cole.
“Summer is already shaping up to be great,” he added. “Lodging is looking way up. We have a lot more conferences and weddings. The bike events like Ride the Rockies and Quiznos will help. We are on track for another record summer.”
Cole said this winter season should end on an up note as well, with the company expecting to see an 8 percent to 12 percent increase over last year in skier days.