Briefs Gunnison County

No green light for Kebler Pass
It’s official. Kebler Pass and Cottonwood Pass will not be open in time for Memorial Day. When it will be open is anybody’s guess.
“We were up on Kebler this week, and there were seven feet of snow at the fork for Irwin,” said director of Public Works Marlene Crosby. “We’ll evaluate again next week, but for now we’re also trying to get Cottonwood open in time for Ride the Rockies. People are just going to have to call and check in.”
The Department of Public Works can be reached at (970) 641-0044.

It’s not the thickness that counts
The Board of County Commissioners put to rest the debate over how to account for wall thickness when measuring the square footage of a building. The measurement influences county calculations such as building permit fees, workforce housing linkage fees, and the home valuation. But at a work session on Tuesday, May 24, commissioner Hap Channell asserted that an adjustment was unnecessary.  
“I challenged this originally on the basis of the building permit fee, a fee for services. And the service is the same regardless of whether a house’s square footage is calculated one way or the other,” Channell said. “The question was, did we want to account for thicker-walled buildings. And if a house is 2,000 square feet with six-inch exterior walls, your services are the same as for a house that is 2,000 square feet with 18-inch walls.”
He went on to suggest that the incentive to build thicker walls comes not from square footage calculations but the savings in utilities. Commissioners Paula Swenson and Phil Chamberland agreed, and measurements will remain unchanged.

Perpetual sunrise for Land Preservation Fund?
The Land Preservation Board is considering a ballot initiative for the 2012 election reauthorizing the Land Preservation Fund. With current funding set to sunset December 31, 2013, the board went before the Board of County Commissioners on May 24 to discuss the possibility.
Since 1998, the fund has spent $3,365,783 to serve 45 projects, including the Lower Loop Project, the Dillon Pinnacles near Blue Mesa Reservoir and the Rozman Ranch Phases I and II. All told, the projects total 16,103 acres and are valued at $43,521,549.
“For every dollar we’ve given we’ve leveraged about 12 dollars from other funding sources. That’s bringing a lot of dollars into the community,” said Pelletier.
The Land Preservation Fund is funded by a voter-approved use of the county sales tax; set at a minimum of $50,000 per year, the amount can increase with increases in the county sales tax.
“We’re all of the same mind that we want to do this, right?” asked Commissioner Hap Channell.
“I generally don’t have a problem with letting voters decide what they want to do,” said commissioner Phil Chamberland.
The county commissioners will add the ballot measure to the agenda of an upcoming regular meeting for formal approval. The Land Preservation Board plans to assemble a steering committee to raise campaign funds, and consider a potential name change as well as the potential of excluding a sunset date on the ballot.

Riverland access road approved
The new southern entrance into Riverland Industrial Park got the green light from the county on Tuesday, May 17, when the Board of County Commissioners approved a boundary land adjustment between John Rozman and John Nichols and the subdivision of a three-acre parcel on the Rozman ranch.
“Part of this request is for the construction of the new access road for southern access to Riverland Industrial Park. Existing access has been problematic for years,” assistant planning director Neal Starkebaum said.
 The decision also paves the way for the relocation of the United Companies batch plant from the west side of the East River to the new three-acre parcel, which is a previously mined area and already depressed about 15 feet below the elevation of Highway 135. According to Starkebaum, United Companies plans to depress the site about six feet further to level it out. In the plant’s new location, only part of the silo will be visible.
“Gentleman, congratulations! You’ve worked diligently on this one,” said commissioner Paula Swenson.
The relocation of the plant will occur within the next two years, but reclamation on other parts of the property and road construction will begin this spring and summer.

Linkage fee discussion goes on…
The Workforce Housing Linkage fee discussions continued as the Board of County Commissioners formally approved a deferment process for linkage fee payments. Homeowners may opt to delay payment of the linkage fee for no more than two years at an interest rate of 7 percent per year. The fee must be paid prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy.
The commissioners also discussed adding an extra linkage fee discussion to a future agenda: smoothing out the stair-step nature of the current fee schedule as discussed at the May 10 public hearing.
“To make it the best discussion possible, I think we should direct [executive director of the Gunnison Housing Authority] KT Gazunis to look at the Adjusted Median Income. To find out, is it appropriate? Where are we at? And to look at the size of houses that are being built. Do we have too many steps? Not enough?” said commissioner Paula Swenson.
“And [to find out] if we should smooth it out,” commissioner Hap Channell said.
Commissioner Phil Chamberland agreed, citing one instance shared by a constituent in which an increase in the total square footage of a house by fewer than 200 square feet almost doubled the linkage fee.
The commissioners directed staff to schedule that discussion at the earliest possible date that still allows Gazunis to compile complete information.