The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Creating a focal point, adding adaptability and accounting for parking
By Katherine Nettles
The Crested Butte South Property Owners Association (POA) is nearing the finish line on a Commercial Area Master Plan (CAMP), albeit with mixed results on its proposed development agreements with the owners of Block 6, a major part of the Crested Butte South commercial area.
The POA held its monthly board meeting on September 11, continuing to discuss the CAMP, which includes changes to the residential versus commercial uses required in the area, and public right of way easements.
Block 6 is a slightly rhombus-shaped area where Elcho Avenue, Gillaspey Avenue and Haverly Street connect, and the development agreements have proposed a “main street” easement there to encourage business growth in a defined area and to provide a focal point for the community to gather. Pioneer Plaza Commercial Townhome Association (Pioneer Plaza) owns property along the south end of the block, and Adagio Properties owns parcels on the north end.
According to association manager Dom Eymere, the POA code currently requires a minimum of 33 percent commercial use within Block 6. The CAMP vision is to remove this 33 percent restriction, requiring only that buildings maintain commercial form but not necessarily commercial use to allow for redevelopment over time.
The buildings could then become up to 100 percent residential, except on the primary street, as long as the design form allowed it to be altered to commercial use over time should the market pivot in that direction as well. Flexibility is the key theme.
“What we’re doing is focusing on a main street and what is scalable there right now,” said Eymere. For example, he said residences are a current need, and adding hundreds of square feet in commercial space is not likely to be successful.
An owner in Pioneer Plaza is currently constructing a building on Gillaspey Avenue within the commercial zone, platted as the Double Top Building, which is half commercial and half residential units. Eymere says this building is the first to go up in that zone since the Cement Creek Tavern was built in 1994.
The POA board proposed that in conjunction with Adagio Properties, Pioneer Plaza grant an easement to create a public right-of-way for a main street. The 15-foot easements would be used as a sidewalk and/or parking spaces.
Adagio has agreed to the easements on its property. Pioneer Plaza declined the latest proposal at the September 11 meeting, but Eymere said further negotiations between the developer and the POA may take place in the future.
The board of directors will move forward with adopting the master plan in the next several months, without the easement from Pioneer Plaza but with an agreement from Adagio. Final items to be worked out in the CAMP include a snow storage and removal plan.
If the POA board adopts the plan, the plan will go to the county for final approval.
