BOZAR hears public support for Center for the Arts expansion

Board generally supportive but parking seems to be a lingering issue

By Mark Reaman

A generally supportive crowd of about 50 people squeezed into the Crested Butte Town Hall on Thursday, July 21 to voice support for the expanded Center for the Arts plan in front of the BOZAR (Board of Zoning and Architectural Review). The public hearing on the proposal was part of the process to get an approval for a new complex that would take the current Center and attach it to a new building to the north.

BOZAR listened to comments predominately in favor of the plan. Basically, the expanded Center would be oriented north to south and be situated close to Sixth Street. The three-level, 36,805-square-foot building would sit on a 23,640-square-foot footprint in the Town Park and incorporate the current structure into the plan.

The new theater would be located in the new portion of the building and have about 50 more seats than the current theater. While the space could theoretically hold 500 to 600 people comfortably, it could hold as many as 900 people by code.

According to the plans, the theater space can be configured in four different ways, from fixed seating to different combinations of fixed seating, flat floor standing room and cabaret tables and chairs. “While the exiting and bathroom facilities have not been evaluated to see if they are designed for this occupancy, the architect has represented that the maximum occupancy [meaning standing room on an entirely flat floor] would be in excess of 900 people,” explained Crested Butte building and zoning director Bob Gillie. “The Center has represented that it is not their intent to operate the theater at this capacity.”

Center executive director Jenny Birnie said the board has a vision of filling the space with about 300 audience members during any given show.

The Alpenglow stage would remain where it is but be reconstructed and have a cover shell that would allow for better lighting and sound. There would be four dedicated visual arts spaces, four dance performance studios, a gallery space near the entrance, a community room that could be used for a variety of purposes, a catering/teaching kitchen and the theater space.

“We believe the building defines the character of Crested Butte,” explained local architect Andrew Hadley. “It is a beautifully sculpted building in the middle of big green space that you see coming into town. The message is we recreate and we love art. This building is a gallery for displaying the arts in this town. The Center needs this space for the arts to flourish.”

There are a lot of windows in the proposal and Hadley said that will help draw people to the building to see what is going on inside.

Lead architect Nestor Bottino of Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture said the building complies with the town’s dark sky ordinance, so the lighting is controlled.

“It’s been a delicate balancing act, fitting in the needs of the art community and trying not to have a big building,” he said. He pointed out there is a seven to eight foot slope coming from Seventh to Sixth Streets so the new building can be built in part into that slope, taking out some of the height.

“The character of the building was also a balancing act,” Bottino said. “We think it takes components of buildings in the community but puts them together in a new and creative way.”

Birnie said the plan has evolved through many meetings with the public in general and neighbors in particular. “We’ve reduced the size and moved the building away from Seventh Street,” she said. “It’s been a year of collaborative work with the design team, the town, BOZAR and the public.”

Daily primary parking is expected to be set near the Center for the Arts building. During major events such as Alpenglow, the Center will be relying on so-called public satellite parking lots like the Four-way Stop and at the Crested Butte Community School. Traffic flow could require shuttles and staff to help direct traffic during large events.

Most people who spoke publicly praised the design. Max Lenker said the collaborative effort paid off in a great design. “The key now is raising $3 million to get this thing going,” he said.

Local artist Mary Tuck said she conducts classes at The Studio of the Center for the Arts on Elk Avenue and she said the main problem is space. “We turn people away all the time,” she said. “It would be wonderful to have this space to give the knowledge of art to our residents and visitors. As for the theater, we need a new one badly.”

Neighbor Ben Pritchett thanked the design team for moving the structure away from Seventh Street and putting the vehicle drop-off points on Sixth Street. He did bring up some concerns with the traffic flow potential near the play park on the east side of the park and the location of an artist’s courtyard near the playground.

Local artist Jesse Blumenthal asked for a better balance between the visual arts and the performing arts. He advocated for more visual art spaces in the building.

Crested Butte native Anne Moore said she had seen a lot of development in town including the construction of the large school buildings at the entrance to town. “Those were a need and that’s the key word,” she said. “Looking at this building, it is beautiful but it is fraught with problems. The first is parking. Satellite parking isn’t thorough. Those spaces are already being used for a lot of other uses so I would expect Seventh Street to see a lot of parking impacts.”

Moore also advocated for a larger theater that could bring in bigger name national performers. “Is this plot of ground the best place for this building? I don’t know,” she said. “The truth is, I don’t know if we still really know what we need.”

Center board member Joel Benisch, who is also on the board for the proposed Mt. Crested Butte Performing Arts Center, said satellite parking would only be used during Alpenglow and perhaps three or four other times a year. “Most days the traffic will be parents dropping off their kids for classes,” he said. “The mission for the Crested Butte Center for the Arts is to provide access to the arts of all kinds to visitors and residents. It is not so much to provide big performance artists shows. But that is part of the mission of the Performing Arts Center on the mountain and we are working in conjunction with them in exactly that way.”

“Crested Butte South and other outlying areas are growing fast,” noted BOZAR member Roxana Alvarez Marti. “And that means more people driving in for things like Alpenglow. The growth will impact the use of the building too. We’re still not adequately responding to parking. It’s not something we can just brush away. We have to deal with it if this space becomes the space you all want it to be.”

“The size of the building will constrain the number of people coming to it,” said Benisch.

“The other part of that equation is that we don’t have any desire to pave our Town Park for parking,” noted BOZAR member Austin Ross.

Some audience members wanted to make sure that trees would be part of the plan along with “un-programmed space” in the park where people, especially kids, could simply hang out. Ross assured the audience the board had specifically asked for such space in the design.

Kyleena Falzone said she was proud of the design team and the end product. “It would be so great to have space dedicated to keep bringing great things of all kinds to Crested Butte. What a great opportunity. The town is growing and we get to work on an expansion for the arts,” she said.

Nicholas Reti, who sat on one of the many citizens’ committees for the expansion, said the building “will be a reflection of everyone sitting in this room. The designers kept an open mind and listened to a lot of input and made a lot of changes. This will become the community heart in the park.”

Bonnie Farnell said she thought the design “pushes the potential of every square foot. I am fully in support exactly as it is. The community needs this. Art is healing and brings the community together. The community’s entire parking problem doesn’t need to be shouldered by the Center for the Arts,” she said to applause.

Harvey Castro seconded that sentiment. “Don’t hold the project hostage to parking,” he said. “I also love the design and think you did a good job of scaling it down from a year ago. The concept is fine. I mean, look across the street. There’s a gas station, so anything you do is fine.”

Mary Tuck suggested using the vacant lots across from the Center for parking.

“Suggest that to the Center board,” suggested BOZAR chair Liz Sawyer.

“It shouldn’t be the Center’s responsibility to buy more parking,” said Jackie Kingsbury. “It should be the town.”

Crested Butte town planner Michael Yerman said turning the very limited vacant commercial lots on Sixth Street into parking was a bad idea—period. “Town is almost built out,” he explained. “As it grows we will need commercial uses on those lots to help with tax revenues. And from a land use perspective, we don’t want to pave the entrance to town.”

“We appreciate the room being filled and people sharing their comments,” concluded Sawyer. “This room is obviously in favor of the project.”

Sawyer said the board had gotten “to a place architecturally where the members were comfortable with the building from where it had started.”

While many in the room were chomping at the bit for some sort of BOZAR approval of the plan, Gillie reiterated what was said at the start of the meeting—that several details still needed to be worked out with the developers. He said things like snow storage and other winter concerns had yet to be solved. “There are lots of details still to work out,” he said.

After a second showing of a video 3D 360-degree view of the proposed structure that wowed the audience, the board voted to continue the public hearing until August 30. In the meantime, the town and design team will continue ticking away at the details. The Center board hopes to get approval and raise enough money to break ground on the expansion next spring.