The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“I see no show-stoppers”
CS Irwin received approval from the Gunnison County Planning Commission on Friday, July 15, to build a 6,665-square-foot parking barn on its property above Irwin. The Planning Commission continued a public hearing on additional plans by the company to build a 1,584-square-foot maintenance facility and expand the existing fuel dispensary, but a formal decision will be made later this month.
The backcountry guiding company bifurcated its original Planning Commission application, which included both new buildings, after a July 1 public hearing at which it became clear that questions over the location of the maintenance barn could delay construction of the parking barn—a building CS Irwin would like to use this winter. The town of Crested Butte Watershed District had sent the Planning Commission a letter indicating that it would likely request that CS Irwin move the planned maintenance building to a different location.
The new location, which would better protect the watershed, placed the building at odds with the wishes of neighboring residents because it would be more visible from Lake Irwin. But last Friday, the approvals process appeared to be moving along with both the county and the town.
Bill Coburn, president of Coburn Development and consultant on the CS Irwin project, informed the Planning Commissioners that he and CS Irwin’s director of operations, Alan Bernholtz, met with the town of Crested Butte Watershed District, including Crested Butte public works director Rodney Due, who was in attendance at Friday’s meeting.
According to Due, the Watershed District “hired an independent consultant to review the application for completeness and to give review of his thoughts. Typically, I handle minor applications but to get more eyes on it to see what might be needed, we hired Lane Wyatte.”
The consultant, who specializes in watershed development issues, agreed with the town, recommending that CS Irwin move the maintenance facility to a higher location on the property to better protect the watershed. With the agreement to move forward with the higher location, Coburn indicated that approvals issues raised at the July 1 meeting had been addressed, including concerns from the Coal Creek Watershed Coalition and a request from the Forest Service to bring the conditions of the road up to standard.
“I think there was desire from Coal Creek Watershed to keep the maintenance barn 500 feet from the water body,” Coburn said. “The [new location] is 430 feet from a wetland, but it doesn’t drain toward that wetland. It drains away, toward one that’s farther than 500 feet.
“We had follow up meetings with the Forest Service,” Coburn continued. “Essentially from the campground up to the site it’s the installation of three culverts and a little a bit of berming, about $14,000 of work, so fairly minor.”
Coburn indicated that CS Irwin would address one additional site on the road that was wet during the Planning Commission site visit by working with Army Corp of Engineers to determine whether it qualifies as a wetland and adding a culvert.
“As I recall from the site visit, Irwin Lake is pretty much directly [southeast] of this maintenance barn and at least part of it would be visible,” Planning Commission board chair Ramon Reed said. “I’d like to see you propose doing more landscaping on that side of the barn because this whole thing is being moved up to where the neighbors were originally objecting to… Something to make it a little less visible to ease that portion of that.”
“We did have a site visit with two landscape architects,” Coburn confirmed, “because in the parking barn area there is… going to be a significant amount of planting on the east side of parking barn, which isn’t on the plans.” The intention, he said, is to do the same for the maintenance barn.
Reed requested that the revised application include a written description of that intent. One member of the public, Irwin property owner Eric Jordan, did attend the hearing, suggesting that with proper monitoring the original location for the maintenance barn would be fine.
“In the initial proposal for the barn, why wasn’t the fuel shed considered for the lower elevation?” he asked.
“It is too close to the lake—we have to be a certain distance away to store fuel and when we surveyed property, the only [possible] location was where it is or across the street closer to your claim,” Bernholtz said.
“We are not making a decision about the fuel house,” Planning Commission member Kent Fulton explained. “That’s already in place and being done. All we’re talking about is the maintenance shed going in up there next to the fuel barn.”
The Planning Commission then moved and seconded approval of the parking barn with little additional discussion, pending approval by the town of Crested Butte Watershed District. According to Due, the town has not bifurcated its application.
“That being said, I see no show-stoppers with the maintenance barn being moved. We have some additional comments—we’re getting a list to Bill [Coburn] today,” Due said.
According to Due, once the town receives a written recommendation from independent consultant Wyatte, due to arrive Friday, July 22, and the revised application from CS Irwin, there will be a two-week public comment period before a decision is made. The public comment period could start as early as Thursday, July 28.
