Briefs Crested Butte

Council dealing with private sidewalk
Third Bowl ice cream store owner Kendall Tankersley came to the council during the public comment section of the August 6 meeting asking for help with the parking situation outside her business. Vehicles pull in the west side of Fourth Street toward the Donita’s building and sometimes block the private sidewalk in front of and near the store entrance.

“It’s a safety and ADA issue,” she told the Town Council at the meeting. “Wheelchairs and strollers can’t get through on the sidewalk. That puts people out into the street and that’s dangerous. There’s also no curb and if someone accidently put their vehicle in drive, there’s no tire block. The vehicle could hit the building or a person.”
She asked the council to consider installing curb stops at the location. “I understand there’s not a lot of money in town but think how much a lawsuit would cost the town if someone gets hurt there. Probably more than putting in a curb,” she said.
The council and staff addressed the issue later in the meeting. Public works director Rodney Due said he’s gone out of his way to help alleviate the situation. “I’ve dealt with the building’s owners and we put up signs on the building asking that compact cars use some of those spaces. There’s not a lot of room over there. Maybe it needs more enforcement diligence,” he said.
Councilperson John Wirsing suggested Tankersley purchase free-standing signs that could be placed on the private sidewalk and help define the area better.
“The fact is, this is an historic town and it wasn’t platted for Ford F-250s with King Cabs,” said Due. “I’ve gone about as far as the town can go. They can certainly put signs on the private sidewalk. Maybe they should talk to the landlord.”
Despite that suggestion, mayor Aaron Huckstep directed Due and town manager Todd Crossett to continue pursuing some sort of solution. Due said he would try to sort out the situation further but didn’t know what else he could do.

Council open to promotion funding
Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association executive director Pamela Loughman gave a heads-up to the council that she was pursuing an idea to put a perforated eight-page insert into the Colorado Vacation Guide. That guide goes to people requesting vacation information from the state tourism office. There are 400,000 such guides printed annually.
“These get in front of customers interested in Colorado. This eight-page insert would separate us from the clutter,” she said.
The cost for the piece would be $96,000 plus design, production and photographs. Loughman said she was applying for $25,000 in matching funds from the state. “But the match has to come from cooperative partners outside our annual funding sources,” she said, indicating the town might be asked to pitch in. The TA would pick up the balance.
While no formal request for town money was made, the council indicated it was open to considering such a request.

June sales tax was big
June sales tax was off the hook. Crested Butte saw an increase of 9 percent over June 2012. That makes it the best June in town ever. For the year, sales tax is up 7 percent. Any bets on July?