County open to form working group to fix Kebler issues

As Irwin grows into ‘Crested Butte North’ problems increase

By Mark Reaman

As more people spend their winters living in the old isolated mining town of Irwin, the county is having more difficulty managing the trailhead a few miles west of Crested Butte on Kebler Pass Road.

This year, parking permit issues caused some early season stress among the Irwin community so about a dozen and a half of the residents attended the Gunnison County commissioner’s meeting on Tuesday, December 10 to give voice to their concerns. The county officials listened and agreed to form a working group this winter to discuss the problem and try to head off potential problems in the future.

Gunnison County Public Works director Marlene Crosby has been working with the Irwin community for years. She explained that there are several similar communities around the county, from Arrowhead to Gold Basin Meadows to Wilderness Streams, that have similar winter issues.

At the Kebler trailhead, homeowners in and around Irwin must purchase a $100 per space parking permit to be allowed to leave their vehicles overnight before snowmobiling to their homes. But as the population increases, the number of parking spaces is not enough to handle all the traffic.

The county commissioners had told the Public Works department to make sure that every household had an opportunity to purchase one permit per house before issuing more. That put a crunch on households with more than one vehicle.

“Gunnison County is a large county and there a lot of people living beyond where we provide winter service,” said commissioner Jonathan Houck. “The goal today is to review the management structure at Kebler. The commissioners wanted to ensure all the property owners got at least one permit.”

Crosby said the trailhead has gotten more crowded in recent years—and not just from residents. More recreational snowmobilers are going to the trailhead in large trailers and disrupting the parking scheme. She said if the residents wanted to take over some of the plowing responsibility to clear the road above the current trailhead, that would have to go through a Land Use Resolution change, where it would be reviewed for issues such as avalanche danger, wildlife and general safety.

Ultimately the commissioners would have to approve the request after a Planning Commission recommendation.

As it stands, the Irwin residents basically have a parking lot plowed by the county and dedicated to the landowners, but it is not large enough to accommodate all the requests. Gunnison County commission chairman Jonathan Houck said the trailhead was one of the busiest winter trailheads in the county and a priority of the county.

“We can print as many permits as is wanted but there won’t be enough spaces,” said Crosby. “That doesn’t solve the issue. If there are 33 residents up there, [with two permits each] that would be 66 permits.” She said some people receive parking permits and come for only the weekends but their vehicles could be the tipping point in parking mayhem.

Attorney Jacob With of Law of the Rockies represented some of the Irwin area property owners before the commissioners. “It feels like for this season it has been largely worked out,” he said. “But there was some confusion with the permitting process and concern over the number of permits from the residents living up there. From a policy standpoint it seems this deserves a working group to look into the issue. The area has changed a lot over the years and everything is increasing. Those increases will lead to problems. We feel it is a good idea to have the stakeholders come together, sit down, and have a reasonable planning discussion about the solutions.”

This will be Kristi Murrin’s eighth winter in Irwin. She told the commissioners there is a lot of effort that goes into living up there, especially in the winter. The confusion over parking permits added stress that costs her sleep.

Murrin said Irwin is growing both with permanent residents and with recreationalists taking advantage of modern snowmobile technology to zip up to the beautiful area for the day. “Things are changing a lot up there. When I first arrived I couldn’t make a phone call from there. Now you can use the phone and the Internet and watch Netflix. More people are moving up there. I call it Crested Butte North,” she said. “And as it gets more expensive to build up there it is not just a place for working people. I believe it will continue to grow. It isn’t slowing down.”

Crosby wanted to further discuss the details with Murrin and suggested there could perhaps be a priority system used for the second parking permits.

Murrin said her count indicates there are 28 full-time residents in the Irwin area and another 24 part-timers and there are good reasons for them to have two permits per house. “It is working right now and is actually better than it has been in a long time,” she said. “We appreciate what Marlene and her crew does. We are very resourceful and we want to plan for the future. A working group to help us sort out questions and concerns seems right.” 

Jacob With said he felt it appropriate that the landowners should take some responsibility in maintaining the parking area at the trailhead if it is exclusively for them. “There is a real benefit to have everyone sit down and talk about it now and report back to you,” he said. “It could be a real mess in five years.”

County commissioner John Messner agreed with the idea of a working group. “Such working groups can reach solutions as long as everyone on them understands it usually takes compromise to get to real solutions. But it is a good opportunity,” he said.

Crosby agreed with the concept, saying that January would be a good time to begin the process “when the problem is in our face.”

Commissioner Roland Mason said Irwin was becoming a part of the workforce housing solution, with people finding it cheaper to build and live there rather than in Crested Butte. “I think this is a good chance to lay out all of the options and go through them all,” he said.

Crosby said the Forest Service should be a major player and Gunnison District ranger Matt McCombs agreed. “We are a willing partner and will participate,” he said. “Our Kebler involvement is somewhat unique and we always try to work with the county in management of the site. It is an opportune time to have this discussion. As we look to the future and winter travel management, this is one of the places where we can start the discussion now.”

“My main concern is eliminating some of the stress,” said Mason. “Understanding that not having parking security year after year is concerning. So if we can come to a consistent long-term decision, that would be my ultimate goal.”

Houck said the commissioners have been paying attention to the Kebler situation and understand the changes coming to Irwin. “It sounds like there is momentum for a working group,” he said. “We’ll get some folks together and work on this.”