The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Discussion and possible consideration on July 17
By Cayla Vidmar
During the next Mt. Crested Butte Town Council meeting on July 17, the council will discuss and possibly consider a major alteration to 17 acres in the North Village planned unit development, from a park designation. The change, which could allow affordable housing on the property, would require participation from the other owner of the lot, the Muellers of Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
Currently, the 17 acres is designated on the North Village plat as a park in the North Village subdivision and serves as open space and tent camping during the busy summer months. Developing this parcel would eliminate this particular bit of open space.
However, according to community development director Carlos Velado, the reasoning behind developing this 17-acre lot hinges in part upon the town’s having recently converted 96 acres of the 106-acre Promontory parcel to a conservation easement—so the need for open space has gone down, while the need for other development continues to rise.
The discussion of the North Village lot came about after Gunnison County attorney David Baumgarten facilitated a discussion about The Corner at Brush Creek at the June 19 Town Council meeting. During the discussion about solutions for Brush Creek, Baumgarten said, “One of the solutions is actually a parcel of land just outside the window. Are there other pieces of land where affordable housing conversations can take place?”
Later at that meeting, attorney for The Corner at Brush Creek’s developer Gatesco Inc. Kendall Burgemeister stated that Gatesco didn’t want to be presumptuous in assuming the 17 acres was available until it was offered in a more formal way.
Baumgarten’s reference to the 17-acre lot didn’t spark much interest among council members at the time, as they were eager to discuss Brush Creek. However, it seems a spark was ignited, and during the July 3 council meeting, council held a closed-door executive session to discuss the future potential uses of the 17-acre lot.
The public conversation will take place at the July 17 Town Council meeting at 6 p.m.
