The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“A balance needs to be maintained in order to assure the future of ballooning in the Crested Butte area”
Mt. Crested Butte resident Chad Morin, who operates Nostalgia Ballooning sometimes out of Gunnison, went to talk to the council on behalf of two other balloon companies who are having a disagreement about the fairness of the town’s regulations related to hot air balloons.
Morin called the town’s ballon regulations “archaic” and suggested a fresh look at when and where hot air balloons should be launched in Mt. Crested Butte.
Recently a Montrose balloon company launched a balloon illegally from the base area of Crested Butte Mountain Resort and violated a more than 20-year-old ordinance.
The ordinance dealing with commercial hot air balloon flight operations opens the season May 1 and closes it again October 31 and allows licensed and insured companies to operate on the same three days each week. Three launch sites are open to operations on Morning Glory Lane, Buttercup Lane and Sunflower Drive across Gothic Road from Mountaineer Square. The base area is not on the list.
According to Mark Irving, owner of Big Horn Balloon Company, the restrictions laid out in the ordinance are probably for the best.
Irving, who has been flying in the valley since before the first ordinance was passed 25 years ago, told the council in a letter there’s good reason for keeping balloon launches out of the base area.
“The noise from the inflation fans and the burners reverberates between the buildings—most of which are residences or lodging,” he wrote. “For most visitors this is a unique experience and a welcome sight on one or two days of their vacation. For long-time residents and late risers it is an unwelcome interruption to their morning.”
Town Manager Joe Fitzpatrick agreed with that opinion, telling the council the discussion surrounding the ordinance in 1987 was started by residents of the base area who didn’t want the constant disruption of hot air balloonists firing up their engines.
The issue, Irving says, is fairness. “Is it fair to change the rules after 25 years just because a new business in town doesn’t like them?” he wrote. He concluded his letter saying, “A balance needs to be maintained in order to assure the future of ballooning in the Crested Butte area.”
Morin said Irving was playing the “fairness” card to protect his business and called the ordinance “archaic to begin with.” He pointed out the changes that have taken place in town since the ordinance was passed and requested five days a week to launch and a two-day allowance to launch from the parking lot in the base area.
The council agreed that a public hearing on the matter should precede any change to the ordinance governing commercial balloon operations. Morin said he would draft an official proposal for the council to consider.
