First county review of Slate River development is positive

Thorough sketch plan impressive to Planning Commission

By Mark Reaman

A Gunnison County Planning Commission public hearing about the Cypress Foothills Slate River development proposal will be held this summer at the Crested Butte Town Hall. The proposal is in the sketch plan phase of the Gunnison County review process and is part of an unusual “hybrid” development proposal that coordinates county approval of 30 acres and an annexation of 14 acres to the town of Crested Butte.

Cypress wants to develop the 44 acres just north of Crested Butte across from the Gas Café. The proposal calls for 23 home sites on the east side of the Slate River that would stay in the county.

The 14 acres west of the river would be annexed into Crested Butte and be used primarily for public purposes including a possible school site, parks, affordable housing, a potential site for a new fire hall and eventually even a possible recreation center.

Approximately 11 of the acres would be conveyed to the town. There would be six private home sites on the west. All the lots would be connected to the Crested Butte wastewater treatment system. There would be public access to the Slate River and a river trail.

The developers came before the county Planning Commission on Friday, May 20 in Crested Butte for the first of many meetings with the regulators.

Cypress attorney Marcus Lock gave a history of the project, saying that the developers have been working on it for about two years. While the original idea was to try to annex the entire property to the town, Lock said negotiations broke down and that idea was scrapped. When the developers went to the county for development approval, they were told to go back and try to work out a deal with the town for sewer services. Crediting the fall election and town planner Michael Yerman, Lock said the talks last fall “turned into a very productive process. This is a cooperative approach for a project with the county and the town,” he said.

“There is an integration between the county and the town processes so we really want you to think about it as a whole,” Lock told the planning commissioners. “A lot of the public benefits are on the west side of the river so don’t look at the east side in a vacuum.”

Cypress vice president Cameron Aderhold said the intent of the proposal is for the development to blend into the community. “Our approach has been to enhance the community and keep impacts to a minimum. We want a first-class development,” he said. “We see this as a transitional property with the west side following the grid of the town and the east side design being more contoured to fit in with the land. There are a lot of potential community benefits and there would finally be a resolution to the dump.”

Part of the property was used as the old community landfill. The developers have said they will clean up some of the dump on the west side of the river if the development is approved. Other sections of the dump would be “capped.”

County planning commissioner Tom Venard wanted to make sure that if and when the old landfill is disturbed, the public would be protected from any potential hazards that are currently buried on the property.

The developers have had environmental clean-up expert Paul Casey of Casey Resources look at the dump situation and it appears there has been no impact to the ground water and there is very little hazardous material involved.

“The cleanup is an issue of great concern to the Town Council and people of town,” Lock said. “Our studies indicate the stuff in there is relatively benign. We want to be careful about it and do it right but we want to get it done. We want this to be a vibrant part of Crested Butte.”

In conjunction with the pre-annexation agreement that has been signed with the town, Lock said the developers have agreed to larger setbacks from the wetlands that are required by the county. He said the developers have also agreed to limit the size of the homes on the property to 5,000 square feet for the main house and 750 square feet for accessory dwellings.

The developers have met with local Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials and understand that there are elk that use the area, in part for migration. He said the developers will put in fencing height restrictions, along with rules for leashing pets and requiring bear-proof trashcans.

“The elk use this area and migrate through there,” Lock said. “The Parks and Wildlife officials don’t know what the elk will do after the development. But we all agree that education is very important. Cypress intends to work with CPW officials to make educational resources available to lot purchasers.”

Lock said the Crested Butte Fire Protection District would ideally like two access points into the future subdivision. One would be off Gothic Road and they hope to put in another through Eighth Street in town. Part of the landfill could sit beneath the area that includes Eighth Street so discussions need to be conducted about how to best handle that part of the landfill.

Water would be supplied through augmentation and underground storage tanks. The developers will conduct a thorough traffic study that looks at future potential traffic on Gothic Road and increases caused by not just the development, but other factors that could put more vehicles on the road.

“I appreciate the thorough sketch plan application,” Gunnison County Community Development assistant director Neal Starkebaum told the commission. “I wish they all were this thorough. It should cut down on the time frame for the review.”

Starkebaum said, “in the interest of good planning,” he has requested the developers have a conversation with the developers of the proposed Foxtrot subdivision just north of the Cypress property to talk about potential easements for a wastewater pipe connection.

Lock said as part of the pre-annexation agreement with the town, there is a clause asking them to do that as well, “so it has been contemplated.”

A 30-day public notice is required for a public hearing about the sketch plan so the Planning Commission has tentatively scheduled a site visit and public hearing for Friday, July 15.