Crested Butte Briefs

Which came first, the chicken or the problems?
Councilperson Dan Escalante gave a heads-up to the rest of the council that he is hearing the word chicken… a lot. As in live chickens and whether or not they are allowed to be raised inside town limits. “I was at a house party recently and I saw the chickens,” he said. “They are here. The chickens have arrived.”
He asked the town staff if the town should address rules to govern the raising of chickens.
“Should we wait until there is an issue?” asked acting town manager Bob Gillie.
“Or should we be prepared?” said Escalante.
“I’m pretty sure the foxes and coyotes in town are in favor of the chickens,” said Gillie.
Gillie said he would prepare a chicken memo for the council to review at a future meeting.

Ride the Rockies after a Crested Butte beer garden?
The Town Council approved the permits for the upcoming Ride the Rockies event. Scheduled for June 10-12, the event is the start of the bike tour that will bring in 2,200 riders, their families, friends and entourages.
The middle of Elk Avenue will be closed June 11 for bands, street games and a beer garden. “We wanted it at Third and Elk to showcase the town and bring people to the doors of the businesses,” explained Chamber of Commerce events manager Scott Still. “It will be packed and we expect the businesses to see a big boost, given the time of year.”
“I agree that early June is still off-season and it is great to have this here,” said mayor pro tem Dan Escalante.
Camping will be allowed at the Community School. Bands will perform until 9:30 Saturday night. The opening ceremony is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. the next day before the riders take off toward Buena Vista.

Will Phoebe be the new Sue Navy at the P.O. this spring?
The Town Council is ready to find ways to raise money for this year’s July 3 fireworks show. They allocated $3,000 for the show from their budget but plan to raise the additional $7,000 between now and the summer holiday.
Councilperson Roland Mason is looking at the slow but steady method. “Let’s put out 20 or 30 jars at local businesses,” he suggested. “It’s going to get busy with Ride the Rockies and other early summer events. A grassroots effort is needed to collect funds from locals and tourists.”
“I think we also need to set up a booth outside the post office and Clark’s as we get closer,” added councilperson Phoebe Wilson. “We have five weeks to campaign and raise money.”
“Let’s make a fun event out of it,” suggested Escalante, “or we can think out of the box and pick a day to use the sales tax collected on that day for fireworks. We can get people excited about going out.”
That went over like a wet firecracker with the town staff.
“We should come up with some solid ideas before the next meeting,” said Wilson.

Quickies
Council okayed the idea of micro-distilleries in the town’s business zone. The move will accommodate a new rum distillery and tasting room to be located in downtown Crested Butte.
Gillie told the council to expect to start hearing about Sixth Street Station again. The large lodging and retail development proposal is getting ready to start being reviewed by the Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) again.
Snow pack is showing the area above Crested Butte could be at 184 percent of average. “We might be busy at thaw time,” warned town planner John Hess.
The council listened to a presentation about why the county is considering allowing vault systems on certain properties to accommodate wastewater. The council expects to see a proposal for such a vault in the near future and wanted some information.