Council ponders new campground south of town

Should the $250K project be a priority?

One thing lacking in or near the town of Crested Butte is a campground. Former Town Council member Dan Escalante was always a huge proponent of developing camping facilities that would be convenient to town, and it became part of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan document.

In 2003, the town purchased a piece of property less than half a mile south of town near the county shops. Parks and Rec director Jake Jones presented the council with some preliminary data last Monday about putting a campground on the “Avalanche Park” site.
The location would accommodate a campground of approximately five acres and could handle about 30 total RV and tent sites. The current council indicated that it is interested in pursuing the potential for such a campground but they aren’t yet willing to earmark money to the proposal.
Jones told the council that Kevin and Cari Freeman were hoping to open up a small campground in the Riverland Industrial Park this summer. Kevin said the plan is to have about four RV sites, nine sites large enough to handle pop-up trailers, and six tent sites.
“I could see how the two campgrounds could be compatible,” said Kevin Freeman. “Overflow could go either way. The two ideas could be very compatible.”
“We are big campers,” added Cari. “We love going to small towns and camping. We went to Ouray recently and it was a treat to be able to camp and walk or ride our bikes to the amenities in town. I think Crested Butte is missing out on that.”
Jones estimated that it would cost about $250,000 for the town to develop the site into a nice campground. That doesn’t include the $47,000 the town would have to take from the general fund to replace funds originally used from the town’s Open Space fund to purchase the property. He would hope to garner grant monies to help defray the development costs. “But once developed, it would generate income and that’s promising,” he said.
Under the report, Jones estimated the town could take in $50,000 in revenue with $15,000 in operating costs each summer. Cari said based on her experience of nice campgrounds in good locations, the revenues could be even greater.
When asked by Councilperson Glenn Michel why the town would get into a business many government agencies are getting out of, Jones said the scale of the project could be handled by the staff. “I also envision a camp host that would be low cost but high return,” he said. “It also attracts in-state summer tourists who love to camp and those people could go to town easily to spend money at restaurants and shops. It could be good for the town’s economy.”
Town Manager Susan Parker noted that almost every time there is a special event in town, whether it is the Arts Festival or a softball tournament, there are numerous requests for close-in camping.
“It could also relieve some pressure from the dispersed camping that pops up around here,” said Jones. “Some of the other local lodging properties that I spoke with in town also see benefits. They see the potential for a good symbiotic relationship.”
The land could be annexed to Crested Butte since it sits across from the Town Ranch. Getting water to the site could be expensive but power is readily available. A traffic study would have to be done and that could throw up some expensive red flags with turning lanes or road widening.
“The question is: Does the council want us to pursue this?” asked Jones. “Should this move up the priority list? We already have a lot of things backing up because of the budget situation.” He cited projects that GOCO grants could be applied for besides the campground. They included a major upgrade to the town tennis courts, finishing out Big Mine Park, or polishing the Eighth Street greenway.
Councilperson Jim Schmidt suggested waiting a summer to see how the Freeman campground pans out. The rest of the council concurred and told Jones to go ahead and put some more time into the concept as needed but not spend any town funds on the idea yet.
“So move forward but don’t spend any money,” summed up Jones.
Jones has had an offer from part-time resident and planner Mary Devlin to help with the project as well as an offer from former building department employee and current master’s degree (in planning) student Philip Supino to help move the project along. They will all keep their finger in the campground pie.