CB Council Briefs

by Mark Reaman

Center for the Arts hits the BOZAR road; public hearing this month

Crested Butte building and zoning director Bob Gillie informed the council that the BOZAR (Board of Zoning and Architectural Review) process has started for the proposed Center for the Arts expansion. Architects will attend BOZAR meetings dealing with size and massing. A public hearing on the issue will be held Tuesday, November 17 at 6 p.m.

Tightening up the accessory dwelling regulations

The Crested Butte Town Council approved an ordinance at the November 2 meeting that will tighten up the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) enforcements available to the town. The ordinance is meant to make it clearer to people with accessory dwelling units what is expected of them and how enforcement might be handled by the town if those units are not rented. There was some concern that it would discourage some potential owners from building and renting ADUs in the future.

Under the updated ordinance, owners must actively try to rent the units. If the ADU is not rented after three months, the owners of the unit will be in violation of the code.

“I think this is a simple way to make it easier for people to comply with the intent,” said town attorney John Belkin.

“We’ll give owners every opportunity to get into compliance,” promised building and zoning director Bob Gillie. “We will not approach this with a heavy-handed manner. We will work with the owners of these units.”

Budget and fall grants

Council approved the 2016 budget and adjusted the 2015 budget. There was concern about some of the community grant allocations included in next year’s budget. Councilman Skip Berkshire pointed out that the town was giving the Crested Butte School of Dance money to redo the Pump Room floors when the group is a for-profit business and it received cheap rent with the idea it would pay for such maintenance. The chamber of commerce received several grants for events such as the Fat Bike Championships in January and the Pole-Pedal-Paddle race that takes place after the ski area closes. Vinotok will get $2,000 for next year’s festival to go toward port-a-potties.

Town spending big money on lot for snow storage

A public hearing was set for Monday, November 16 to discuss the purchase of a downtown lot that will be used primarily for snow storage. The lot is located on the south alley at Third and Elk and will cost the town $837,250. There is an old building on the property the town might use and the lot can also accommodate some summer parking.

Transportation impressions

Town planner Michael Yerman told the council that representatives from the Colorado Department of Transportation made a site visit to Crested Butte to begin looking at the idea of a round-about at the entrance to town. Yerman said that area is a major utility junction and that will add to the cost of any such project. He also said the CDOT officials said it was likely that a new acceleration/deceleration lane would be required at the top of the hill coming into town if a campground was opened at Avalanche Park.

Annexation philosophy

Councilman Jim Schmidt asked the council to have a sit-down and discuss its “annexation philosophy.” Developers of the property just north of Crested Butte pulled their annexation application and have indicated they will deal with the county rather than the town to subdivide the 44 acres between town and the cemetery. Mayor Aaron Huckstep and councilman Skip Berkshire thought it more prudent to discuss that particular parcel of land rather than annexation in general since there wasn’t much else for the town to annex.