The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
by Mark Reaman
Cop talk: Bears, weather, Whatever
Chief marshal Tom Martin told the council that it has been a somewhat busy time for the department. “The weather seems to be taking a toll on people,” he said. “It is getting busier.”
Martin reported that while the bears are awake and hungry, the town has been relatively bruin-free. “There is much less activity in town than in some recent years,” he said. “The community seems to understand the need to keep the garbage away from the bears.”
And Martin said he has had conversations with law enforcement officials from this year’s Whatever USA party location (Catalina Island). He sent them the notes and action plans prepared from last fall’s Crested Butte event and the Catalina officers were very impressed with the prep work done by Crested Butte.
Skate park limbo
After a very long discussion Monday, the council was still not ready to commit to a new location for the Crested Butte skate park. As part of the Big Mine Park Master Plan, it has been suggested that in order to retain a bigger, safer sledding hill in town, the skate park should move. But the council has gotten pushback from neighbors near the Rainbow and Town Parks when these parks were suggested as Skate Park locations.
Staff is supporting a move to the Town Park behind Pitsker Field. “It is a use consistent for a park,” said town manager Todd Crossett.
Councilman Glenn Michel did not like the idea of replacing green space in the Town Park with concrete, especially with a proposed 35,000-square-foot expanded Center for the Arts in the same immediate area. He also raised the question of compatibility between a skate park and art patrons. He said the skate community was passionate about keeping the skate park where it is.
The issue is not urgent, admitted the entire council, since there is no money to build a new skate park any time soon.
The council asked the staff to explore more options, including moving it closer to the school and gravel pit. The staff wants a decision by the council soon so a completed Big Mine Park Master Plan can be tied up this summer.
This long discussion will get longer as council continued the debate to their June 1 meeting.
