The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
What about the bathrooms?
By Mark Reaman
A pirate ship theme will dominate the new town park that will replace the current Mary Yelenick Park off of Seventh Street behind the expanded Center for the Arts once the expansion is completed. A presentation to the town council was held on Monday, October 17 by park consultant Tina Bishop.
With the Center expansion, the new park space will be about 15,000 square feet and will cost about $500,000. The hope is to obtain a GoCo (Great Outdoors Colorado) grant to subsidize the expense. Bishop and town staff held meetings with local adults and children to try to determine what was desired in a new park.
“We are in the concept development phase of this plan in conjunction with the Center for the Arts expansion,” Bishop said. “We have found that swings are an important part of parks pretty much everywhere, but here the kids really want slides as well. It is important to keep the pirate ship theme, too. Kids like exploring and climbing. So we have a crow’s nest with a slide as a centerpiece, for example. We want [the park] to have fantasy and imagination elements with a Crested Butte feel.”
Trees and art would be part of the park elements as well, according to Bishop. “We also wanted to take advantage of the playground’s setting and the views,” she explained.
Councilman Jim Schmidt strongly objected to the loss of the current bathrooms near the Pitsker softball field. He felt there was no reason to eliminate the facility and said the alternative bathrooms were too far away to be convenient for softball players and little leaguers.
“There is a grove of trees that replaces the bathroom,” he noted. “Why not just keep it?”
“Trees? So now it’s for men only,” quipped councilman Chris Ladoulis.
Parks and recreation director Janna Hansen said the bathrooms are overdue for a major renovation and BOZAR approved the site plan without the bathroom facility there. The council asked the staff to reconsider moving or eliminating those bathrooms.
The $488,000 cost estimate was at market rate, according Bishop. “Having the town do some of the work could bring the cost down a lot.”
The council agreed to approve a resolution in support of asking GoCo for a $350,000 grant for the project. The council agreed to provide $100,000 in matching funds.
