The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
But not ready to stir the hornet’s nest
by Mark Reaman
While no one on the Crested Butte Town Council was particularly pleased that the aspiring developer of The Corner at Brush Creek affordable housing project, Gatesco Inc., had apparently not conducted a water well test on the property last winter, a slight majority of council members were not willing to send a letter to the Gunnison County commissioners asking them to deny the request for an extension of the preliminary plan application.
But there was plenty of discussion at the July 15 Town Council meeting concerning the issue.
Gatesco this month sent Gunnison County a letter asking for a one-year extension to submit a preliminary plan. The company received sketch plan approval from the county last August. Normally there is a one-year period to prepare and submit the next step. But the towns of Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte, both part-owners of the Brush Creek property located just south of Crested Butte, met several times before coming to a consensus last January that they would impose three additional conditions on the development.
They basically wanted no more than 156 units included in the project, wanted two parking spaces for each unit built and wanted five of the 14.3 acres designated to either intercept parking or other future uses.
Will Dujardin, who has been the most vocally supportive councilman for the Gatesco proposal, noted that in their letter to the county Gatesco said their team has been “analyzing various alternatives for moving the project forward.”
“That’s news to me,” Dujardin said. “If they are being truthful then we should have a work session with them to see if they really are analyzing other solutions.”
“For me the fact they haven’t done the water testing in January or February that the county required is most disappointing,” said mayor Jim Schmidt.
“There have been at least six months of silence,” pointed out councilman Chris Haver.
Councilwoman Laura Mitchell said the Gatesco team also told the county they’ve been too busy focusing on a potential affordable housing project in the city of Gunnison. Mitchell also said her indications were that the county commissioners were leaning toward granting the extension, in part because of fear of a lawsuit.
Friends of Brush Creek attorney David Leinsdorf said if the extension were granted, it would be many years before any housing is located on that property. “No project with this much public opposition has ever been approved in the county,” Leinsdorf said. “If the extension is granted it will be three, four or five years before anything is ready for occupancy out there. If the town is trying to get something productive at that location, when this man has done nothing in a year, our hope is you weigh in and move on to something productive.”
Former councilman Kent Cowherd said the council should ask the county to deny the extension for several reasons. “No water testing was done last winter when it should have been. They dropped the ball. There has been no progress on the county’s sketch plan conditions that were made. Gates has already said he cannot do what the two towns required with putting a cap of 156 units on the property,” Cowherd said. “And this is an unnecessary and self-imposed delay. They need to take responsibility for the delay and let other developers step up.”
Skyland resident George Gibson said the complexity of the water and sewer issue would take significant time to solve. “Based on his track record it will be a minimum of four years from now before anything is built,” Gibson said. “It is madness that he didn’t do the water testing.”
Speaking as a private citizen, Ashley UpChurch spoke in favor of granting the extension. “I don’t see that it is [Gates’] fault that the project has stalled. I don’t see that he hasn’t tried to move it along,” she said. “I would like to see 180 units out there so maybe I could stick around and that would be awesome. I just don’t see it as all his fault.”
“I don’t see why [Gates] hasn’t even done the water test,” said councilman Paul Merck.
“He’s got other stuff going on, including the project in Gunnison,” responded UpChurch.
“The compromise the two towns reached with a cap of 156 units would still be the largest project ever built in the county,” said Schmidt. He also suggested the county perhaps extend the application deadline just until next February when a winter water test could be done.
“It is abundantly clear we as a community need more affordable housing,” said councilwoman Mallika Magner. “It is also clear the community didn’t want this particular project. To delay it further keeps our business community struggling. To delay this another year, a delay that is self-imposed by the developer, doesn’t help the community.”
“From a business perspective, he’s basically asking for a mulligan,” said citizen Robert McCarter. “Water is the number one issue, followed by sewer, and [Gates] hasn’t done a thing. A water test isn’t hard and it isn’t expensive. I support affordable housing on the property 100 percent. The best way is to start over, bring everyone together and put together a package everyone can support. If the county starts over today, it will happen faster in my opinion.”
Schmidt wrapped up the conversation asking if the council should send a letter to the county asking the commissioners to turn down the extension. There was a tepid response.
“The process has been screwy and frustrating,” said Dujardin. “In this case it is frustrating they didn’t do the water test. But it is fair to say the two towns delayed the developer from taking action for five or six months. And I don’t think we need to send a letter to the county that would open up wounds we’ve been working hard to heal. We can stay involved and trust the process. If they came to 156 units somehow, that would be awesome. It’s all a puzzle piece. We need to look at the big picture of the municipal-county relationship and not stir the hornets nest.”
Schmidt then asked the council if anyone wanted to send a letter to the county supporting the extension request. That question was met with silence.
In the end, Schmidt, Magner and Mitchell indicated they were ready to send a letter to the commissioners encouraging a denial of the extension request. The other four council members shied away from that move, so no formal correspondence will be sent to the county.
Schmidt suggested that if the county turns down the extension request, the property owners should look into conducting the water tests on the property to determine how much water there is available for future development.
