County adopts new parking rules at Kebler Pass Trailhead

{mosloadposition user 1} In a memo to the Board of County Commissioners, Gunnison County Public Works director Marlene Crosby said she drafted the new plan after hearing a number of concerns last winter about the management of the trailhead, and then holding a public meeting to discuss the concerns in September. Much of the frustration focused on the lack of communication and signage telling the public how the two lots could be used. The signs that had marked the parking area for Forest Service permitees disappeared one night, said Crosby. But, Crosby said, the Forest Service pays the county to maintain the upper parking lot and the bathroom facility expressly for permitted commercial operations in the national forest. To that end, Crosby recommended six overnight parking permits be made available each for Burt Rentals and Action Adventures, both snowmobile tour companies. Another three permits would be made available for Irwin Guides, which uses the trailhead to access backcountry skiing via snowcat. The main concern from the county’s perspective, Crosby said, was the number of vehicles remaining in the lots overnight, creating a problem for crews trying to clear snow. And since it’s not a public parking lot, Crosby said, the Forest Service doesn’t have to allow public parking if it interferes with the permitted users. Overnight parking will now be allowed in the upper lot and on the south side of Kebler Pass Road in the lower lot. “So the Forest Service has actually been pretty generous to allow that lot to be used,” Crosby said. She recommended the board give Public Works the authority to tow cars that are parked overnight in the upper lot without an identifying sticker or other marker. The only parking for trailers at the trailhead will be along Kebler Pass Road in areas that can be plowed extra wide for that purpose. To provide adequate parking for Irwin residents and also limit the number of cars in the upper lot, Crosby recommended issuing up to two overnight parking permits per Irwin household, at $100 for each permit. According to her memo to the commissioners, Crosby estimates there are 15 homes occupied in Irwin through the winter, with 20 residents, and “Plow crews estimate Irwin residents occupy 80 percent of the parking.” Crosby told the commissioners, “Some Irwin residents feel strongly that anyone who wants to use [the parking area] for recreation should have to pay. I explained that we see it as a recreation-based economy. They object to the permitees having reserved spaces. Last year we put up signs for the permitees and they rapidly disappeared.” Crosby said if that happens again this year, the matter would be referred to the Sheriff’s Office. “We had complaints that the upper trailhead slopes. The reason it slopes is because we can’t plow it when there are overnight vehicles parked and so the pack builds up and you get the slope,” Crosby said. Recreational users will now need to move vehicles parked in the lot overnight as the snow requires it. Deputy county attorney Art Trezise recommended Public Works give drivers 24 hours to move their vehicles, enforced only as needed. The public, like Irwin residents, will be restricted to overnight parking in the upper lot when there is space and on the south side of the road in the lower lot. No trailers will be allowed in either lot. The commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the plan, which will be in effect through the winter of 2014-15.