The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Elk Avenue should be fixed by end of the month unless…
There are still some lingering reminders of the Whatever USA Bud Light event held ten days ago in the upper valley. Some reminders will linger longer than others, such as the lone blue light pole at Second and Elk. Others should be gone before the end of the month, such as the half-milled, half blue section of Elk Avenue.
What to do with the $500,000 gift from the event will be decided by a joint Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte committee.
Overall the Crested Butte Town Council and staff felt the event came off smoothly and meetings are still being held with the event organizers to check off the final punch list. The council held a work session Monday, September 15 to review the event.
Town manager Todd Crossett told the council that most of the small items have been completed. The cleanup is done. The bike racks and benches have been repainted green.
Elk Ave repair slated for end of the month
“The two big issues are Elk Avenue and some of the dasher boards and Plexiglas at Big Mine,” he said. “We are still not entirely sure what happened with the paint on the street. We don’t know why it flaked when it rained. That is likely to come down between the paint company that mixed the color and the event people. The paint should have been weatherproof but obviously wasn’t. We mitigated the environmental impacts when it started to flake. But we aren’t sure if the seal coating would stick now with the failed paint.”
So the town milled the top layer of Elk but Crossett said the staff wasn’t sure if they got enough paint up off the street. A crew from New Mexico is slated to come to Crested Butte next week and grind up the street surface completely with a larger milling machine. That crew will also get Elk Avenue smooth. If the weather holds, a slurry coating will be applied. But the temperature must be at least 50 degrees before that happens. If the weather has turned colder at that time, the town will wait to seal the street until spring.
“It will be smooth and drivable for the winter no matter what,” explained Crossett. “The event company has been working with us and we won’t be paying for it.“
“They can sort it out with the paint company that mixed the paint if need be,” said Crossett.
So the street will get another day’s worth of grinding and it will take an additional day to apply the seal coating. “The intent is to do it by the last week of September,” said Crossett. “But the weather could skunk us and push the asphalt part into spring.”
Can the deposit be used to help business?
Councilperson David Owen said some of the $250,000 performance deposit should perhaps be used to help local businesses offset losses that occurred after the event was over but came about because of the unexpected street closure. “The deposit was there to ensure compliance with the permit,” he said. “Because of the paint situation, Elk was closed three extra days from what was stated in the permit and we can expect it to be closed in the future another two days. The extended closure is the concern. There should be compensation for businesses that suffered losses as a result.”
Crossett was not a fan of that move. “We don’t have an existing policy for that,” he said. “I would caution against it. It could lead to a slippery slope if we start doing this, but I’ll do whatever the council directs.
“In any big event, there will be things that go wrong,” continued Crossett. “For the government to try to administer claims and damages could be messy. It would be opening a can of worms. In the future with big events, we would have to treat everyone the same including local events and not just people from out of town. Are we really equipped to do that?”
The rest of the council was hesitant to move in that direction, given the potential precedent that would be set but the council asked town attorney John Belkin to look into whether that was even an option.
Crossett said some strike crew members reinstalled some of the ice rink dasher boards and Plexiglas in the wrong spots. That ended up damaging the boards and glass. So the company that originally installed the rink will be brought in to inspect and replace the damaged areas. The event will also pay for that fix, which should take place later this week or next. The boards will be in place and ready for the upcoming hockey season.
“Depending on the weather, the big issues should be wrapped up by the end of the month,” said Crossett.
