Application for Foxtrot approved

Town and county settle wastewater treatment terms

by Olivia Lueckemeyer

A drawn-out process ended mundanely on Friday, July 15 when the Gunnison County Planning Commission formally approved the application for the Foxtrot Subdivision, located just north of Crested Butte off of Moon Ridge Lane.

After a tense back and forth between the county and the town of Crested Butte over whether Foxtrot should be required to connect to the town’s central sewage line if it comes within a certain distance of the subdivision, conditions were agreed upon that satisfied both parties.

AdvanTex on-site wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) will be used, but if in the future the town’s line comes within 400 feet of the subdivision, each property owner will be required to connect, as per the requirements of an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) formed in 1996. This could occur if the proposed Slate River Development just south of Foxtrot and adjacent to Crested Butte is approved.

Attorney for the applicant David Leinsdorf was adamant that clear language be included within the subdivision’s Declaration of Protective Covenants that a connection be required only if Gunnison County determined it to be “technically and economically feasible.” This wording bothered certain members of the Town Council and staff, who contend that enforcement authority should lie exclusively with the town, since Foxtrot lies within its designated service area.

Interim Crested Butte town manager Bill Crank attended the final public hearing to address this grievance. He pointed to one sentence in the Planning Commission’s recommendation that says if the town’s line comes within 400 feet, “… then the owners shall be compelled and required to connect any building designed for human occupancy to such central sewer line…” Crank argued that the language was ambiguous.

“There’s no process,” Crank said. “It doesn’t say shall be compelled by whom or how—it’s left open-ended.”

County attorney David Baumgarten tried to soothe these anxieties, explaining that if a connection is available, the “first threshold decision” to connect belongs exclusively to the town.

Once the town has decided it is “ready, willing and able,” to provide a connection, Gunnison County must then determine if such a connection makes sense based on several factors, including cost and availability of access.

Still, Crank made it clear that the town should determine feasibility, since the area is within the town’s wastewater jurisdiction.

“In 1995 we said in a public hearing that we would serve those areas on our terms, and that is still our position,” he said. “We will determine feasibility, not somebody else.”

“The town has complete control over its own system,” Leinsdorf replied.

While there still seems to be some tension over the language of the recommendation, the town has retreated for now. However, it does plan to meet with the county in the near future to review the terms of the IGA that have been so hotly debated over the past few months.

Planning Commission chairman Kent Fulton made the motion to accept the application, member Jack Diani seconded, and the application was finally approved.

Applicant Sissy Lavigne, who was present for the final hearing, let out a relieved “Hallelujah.”