Briefs Crested Butte

Judge talks about “naked bicycle guy” case
Municipal Judge Ben Eden gave the Crested Butte council his annual report at the September 6 Town Council meeting. “Last year I reported that the case load was decreasing and this year we are still seeing a small drop,” he said. “One reason may be that there are fewer marijuana possession cases with the coming of medical marijuana cards.”

Other highlights of the report were that Crested Butte had its first jury trial in 14 years. A man was charged with possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and he argued that he qualified for a medical marijuana card but didn’t have the money to obtain one yet. So he argued that he should not have been charged. He was found guilty.
“Another interesting case was what I called the ‘naked bicycle guy’ case,” he said. “He was charged under disorderly conduct which was better than indecent exposure, which could have labeled him with a sex offender tag. Given the high-jinx aspect of the situation, that wouldn’t have been appropriate, so the local marshals did a good job with how they handled it. Once the naked bicycle guy realized he could run but could not hide, he was very cooperative.”
Eden did say that as a judge, he was taking threats from those in his court more seriously. “I’m just bringing it up for public awareness,” he said. “There are some unbalanced people out there and people’s behavior can be unpredictable.”

Sales tax soaring
Crested Butte sales tax is up. In fact, July was huge, bringing in $332,527 to the town coffers. Led by a 13 percent increase in the Bar and Restaurants category, that’s an overall 6.2 percent increase over 2010. For the year, sales tax is up 6.9 percent.

Changes to affordable housing fees coming?
Town Planner John Hess told the council that the town housing committee has been meeting to review the immediate ramifications of recent changes to the Crested Butte Affordable Housing regulations. Recent changes resulted in huge increases to the affordable housing payment-in-lieu fees. The committee is reviewing that aspect of the code and may come to the council with a recommendation for further changes.

No drop box for the ballots this year
Town Clerk Eileen Hughes informed the council that the county would not allow the town to have a ballot drop box during this coming election. In the past during a mail ballot, a box located in the clerk’s office was available for local citizens to drop off ballots. But Hughes said the county has issues with the security aspect of the drop box so voters will have to mail in their ballots this year.
“This is just one more reason I don’t like the mail ballots,” said councilperson Jim Schmidt.

You can still take the fireworks survey
Hughes said as of September 6, ten people have responded thus far to the town’s on-line fireworks survey. It will be up until the end of September.

Subdivision regs being amended
The council set for public hearing Ordinance 16, which centers on changes to the town’s subdivision regulations. That hearing will take place on Monday, September 19. Schmidt suggested when completed, they have a college business class, perhaps at Western State College, and do an economic analysis of the impacts the changes will have on the town.
Should Fannie pay Real Estate Transfer Tax?
Town Attorney John Belkin is keeping on eye on cases across the country involving real estate transfer taxes and mortgage company Fannie Mae. Apparently Fannie Mae doesn’t want to pay such taxes when property changes hands. But Belkin made it clear the RETT is an excise tax and they should be paying the town the fee. “This is the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “A lot of communities across the country are missing out on tax revenues.”
MMJ rules will return to the council
Belkin also told the council to expect to see a revised draft of the town’s medical marijuana ordinance next month. He will be rolling in the state regulations to the town code. The council can also decide whether or not to make further changes. In an unrelated twist, the town did cover up the marijuana leaf that was painted on a town street for the USA Pro Cycling Tour. “We didn’t think it was family-friendly, being down by the Farmers Market area,” explained Town Manager Susan Parker.