The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
New building or new roof?
By Mark Reaman
The owner of the property he describes as “one of the ugliest buildings in town in one of the most visible locations in town” in Crested Butte’s B-2 zone off of Sixth Street approached the Town Council last week about possibly finding some flexibility within the zone. As with the last B-2 property that requested a zoning change, Roger Sherman’s request was denied.
Sherman, who owns the Wine House building at Sixth and Elk, said an established local restaurateur interested in renovating and expanding the site and building had approached him. It is located in the B-2 zone and has a non-conforming use status. To accommodate that potential expansion, Sherman wants the town to allow a second free market residential unit as part of the project (the building already has one such unit grandfathered in).
Sherman said that extra unit makes the project work economically. He was not asking for an increase in allowable square footage or parking, but a break on the restriction against free market units in the B-2 zone. As part of the proposal, he said he was willing to also include two deed-restricted affordable housing units. He said that under existing B-2 rules, that is more than double what is required.
“We are thinking about redeveloping the site but would need some leeway with the town,” Sherman told the council at the July 5 meeting. “Strict B-2 doesn’t work. We are asking that the council look at how this fits into the whole Four-way area. It seems now is the time to start working with that entire corner in a planning sense.”
Sherman said the 49-year-old house would fall under the town’s historic classification next year. That could limit what could be done with the structure and is playing a part in his request. Sherman said if he expanded the structure but kept the current ratio of commercial and residential and non-conforming allowances, the town could get two more deed-restricted affordable housing units.
“If we can’t figure something out, I’ll probably just put a new roof on the building and it will stay the way it is for the next 20 or 30 years,” he said. “We all understand that this is a special site because of the location but if there is no interest, we’ll leave it the way it is.”
Crested Butte building and zoning director Bob Gillie said the existing rule set does not allow Sherman to redevelop the site as he would like. Gillie said Sherman could ask for a zoning change, “but we usually don’t do one-off deals. What Roger would get, everyone in that zone would get, so there are implications for all of the B-2 including Sixth Street Station, which is preparing a new plan that we expect to see soon.”
Sherman said he didn’t believe his request would be setting a precedent that applied to Sixth Street Station since he had an existing building. “It’s apples and oranges. This is a pre-existing non-conforming use, already grandfathered in,” he said. “New projects are just that—new, and have no claim to pre-existing consideration.”
Mayor Glenn Michel encouraged Sherman to go through the town process with his request, starting with BOZAR (the Board of Zoning and Architectural Review).
Councilman Chris Ladoulis said he was open to discussing Sherman’s idea as part of a greater planning effort focused on the Four-way Stop area of town.
“A comprehensive Sixth Street Corridor plan is a good thing to do,” he said. “We are having eight separate conversations about that area right now—the tennis courts, the transit center, the bathrooms. Like the Creative District did, let’s look at Sixth Street and have a single planning conversation.”
But Michel said the planning was embodied in the zoning and it had been discussed. Given the ramifications of Sherman’s request, he again asked that he go through BOZAR if he wanted changes to his current zoning.
The rest of the council agreed. Sherman said he was looking for a read from the council before starting a lengthy process. He got one.
