The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Courthouse project under way
Gunnison County is moving forward with its plan to construct a new county courthouse, at the current courthouse location.
Employees currently working in the building, which is scheduled to be deconstructed beginning January 1, 2014, are being relocated to other county offices. The building will be completely vacated by county staff by mid-December, said county manager Mathew Birnie.
“On January 1 we will hand the building over to the contractors and they will begin deconstruction,” said Birnie. “After that the next step will be excavation, which will begin when weather allows—likely in March or April.”
The project contractor, GE Johnson, has said it will be able to complete the project by March 2015.
The county has a $12.75 million budget for the project, and Birnie said he is “comfortable that we can build the building with the money we have raised.”
Changes to LUR aimed at sage grouse protection
The Gunnison County Board of County Commissioners voted on Tuesday, November 5 to unanimously adopt amendments to the County’s Land Use Resolution. These amendments are updates and revisions to already adopted protections that regulate activities located in Gunnison sage grouse habitat.
One of the largest changes to the protections is related to how grouse habitat is determined. Under the new adoptions, areas that are designated as suitable habitat are those that are defined as such using the Gunnison Basin Sage Grouse Habitat Prioritization Tool.
The habitat prioritization tool uses computer modeling and global information system (GIS) technology to determine appropriate habitat for sage grouse and rates it on a numerical scale. According to county wildlife biologist Jim Cochran, the tool should allow land managers and owners to better determine where building and other human activities can occur without disturbing the birds.
The county commissioners first began considering the changes to the LUR on September 6.
