Briefs Crested Butte

Slow pain or a fast punch?
Changes to the affordable housing regulations in town are ongoing. The council will look at an ordinance making changes to the regulations at the April 18 meeting. The most striking change would be a significant increase in affordable housing fees on residential and commercial building projects. The council will decide whether to stagger the increase over three years or simply enact the fee hikes in one fell swoop.

“Compared to other resort towns, our fees will still be low and I don’t see the benefit of taking three years to pro-rate it,” said Mayor Leah Williams.
But councilmen Jim Schmidt and Roland Mason said it might actually entice some builders to start a project sooner rather than later if they could come in under lower fees.
The council will hold a work session to discuss the issues before the next meeting and plan to take action at the regular meeting.

Sales tax heading in the right direction
Sales tax in town has made a bit of a turn. The town collected $152,330 in sales tax in February, which is 5.2 percent more than it took in during February 2010. Thus far, the town sales tax is up 4 percent for the first two months of 2011 compared to the previous year.

I see a vision
Under the guidance of councilperson Dan Escalante, the town is searching for a vision. A meeting will be held April 25 at 5:30 p.m. and the public is welcome to come and share their vision of what the town vision statement should be. “It’s not rocket science and it doesn’t have to be long,” said Escalante. “If people don’t want to come to the meeting, they can e-mail us their ideas.”
“Most towns have a pretty textbook vision statement,” said councilperson Phoebe Wilson. “Whatever we end up with should have a Crested Butte flavor.”
“I agree that most of these things sound pretty generic,” said Schmidt. “All people like to think they have good values no matter where they live. Following through is the hard part.”
The council will entertain all ideas and try to distill their vision starting at the April 25 meeting.

Quickies:
—United Companies received the bid to pave the town parking lot at First and Elk this summer. The company came in at $52,273.
—Liz Sawyer is the new chairperson of BOZAR. Glen Michel will remain a member of the Board of Zoning and Architectural review but Liz will hold the gavel.
—People can sign up for “E-Alerts” at the town hall. When an emergency (or something less than an emergency like Elk Avenue closing) happens, an email will be sent to those on the list.