Council continues Elk Avenue reconfiguration discussion

When people come here they want to feel safe

By Mark Reaman

The Crested Butte Town Council will continue discussion on Monday, May 4 over whether to utilize portions of Elk Avenue for private business expansion this summer for things like restaurant seating or retail displays, due to social distancing restrictions likely being in place because of COVID-19.

While it appeared a majority of the council at the April 27 meeting was lukewarm on converting Elk into a street with a single lane of one-way traffic, they agreed to further discuss the concept next Monday.

The premise is to help restaurants and retails stores that could be limited in the amount of people allowed inside their establishments because of social distancing requirements. This idea would allow businesses to basically expand out onto the street in front of their store or restaurant. But that would mean there would be no parking on the town’s main street, aside from delivery vehicles.

Not all businesses are in favor of the idea. The Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce is conducting a survey of nearby businesses and chamber executive director Ashley UpChurch said of the 65 businesses that responded quickly, about 70 percent favored the concept and 30 percent opposed it. But those opposed to the idea were adamantly opposed.

Aaron Tomcak told the council his business, Mountain Spirits Liquors, suffers anytime Elk is closed for special events. “When it is closed my sales go down by half or more,” he said.

Carrie Jo Chernoff of Synergy Athlete agreed closing Elk can be detrimental to business. “Closing Elk Avenue pushes the parking down to our block and it will discourage people from joining my gym,” she said, noting in her hometown when a similar plan was employed it turned the area into a “ghost town” and the town opened it back up. “There are way bigger issues out there for everyone right now. Is this where the town wants to put its energy?” she said.

Local artist and gallery owner Shaun Horne said retail spaces are designed for specific merchandise and so most retail doesn’t easily spill out onto the street.

“The plan seems ambitious for this summer,” said Priscila Palhava of Studio West Interiors. “There are a lot of professional offices along the street as well and if you eliminate the parking, they will be impacted.”

Town manager Dara MacDonald went through a number of major issues with the plan but indicated they could be mitigated. “The intent is not to create a festival atmosphere on Elk,” she said. “It is meant to let people spread out, given social distancing restrictions. We don’t want people to gather.”

Mayor Jim Schmidt said the issue of “malling off Elk Avenue” comes up every four or five years and the same issues arise. Always concerns in the discussion, he said, are where delivery vehicles can unload; how much the nearby neighborhoods will be impacted by pushing parking off of Elk and onto Sopris and Maroon Avenues; ADA access for business; and convenience for people using the post office.

“I’ve heard from both sides on this one in the last week,” Schmidt said. “They are either passionately for it or passionately against it.”

“The summer of 2020 will not be like any other summer—either before this one or in the future—so those previous discussions are irrelevant,” councilmember Mallika Magner responded. “We are trying to help local businesses. The local parking issue probably won’t be a major problem this summer. Look at it as a short-term solution to help businesses during this crisis.”

“It is really more complicated and there is not an easy answer,” said councilmember Will Dujardin. “In response to the COVID-19 recovery plan, it could really put a wrench in some plans. This needs more long-term discussion instead of shooting from the hip. Closing Elk from Second to Fourth Streets seasonally might be a good idea in the long-term but this summer could add more grief. Without a town parking plan, for example, it could be a disaster for nearby neighborhoods.”

“Does having 70 percent of the chamber’s respondents in favor of the idea mean nothing?” asked Magner, who said she believed the town had the “bandwidth” to pull off such a plan for the coming summer.

“I see a lot of roadblocks with this,” said councilmember Chris Haver. “I at first thought about trying it now to draw locals. Right now restaurants are using curbside pick-up and this plan would hinder it. I don’t want to cause heartburn for businesses already dealing with a lot on their plate.”

“All these businesses spent tens of thousands of dollars on parking fees and eliminating parking will leave ill will with the town,” added councilmember Laura Mitchell. “We can’t use a half-baked idea. I don’t know if we have the time or energy to work through all the details for this summer, given everything else we are dealing with.”

“If the county health orders continue to loosen up then the harder it will be to roll out answers to some of these questions. Things are changing fast,” said councilmember Mona Merrill. “Pursuing this depends on where [the restrictions] are all going.”

Councilmember Candice Bradley, who initially brought the idea to the council on April 20, said it had emerged from the restaurant and retail subcommittees organized as part of the recovery plan. “I wasn’t trying to shoot from the hip with the idea. I’m still in favor of investigating it more,” she said.

Darcie Perkins of the ICELab said based on their data, people are going to want to travel when allowed. “They want to be safe where they go,” she said. “And right now people feel safest outdoors. How to make our customers feel safe is a question to ponder and we may have to change our thinking on something like this. This could make people feel safe out there.”

“With the feedback I’ve received, I’m not comfortable with it right now,” said Dujardin. “Maybe we can find a hybrid solution with more parking on Elk Avenue. But it will take a lot more conversation.”

Haver said if the expansion was meant for dinner hours, other considerations like heaters and lights come into play.

With more than 20 people attending the Zoom meeting (and apparently lots of chatting going on during council discussion), no restaurant owners spoke, so Schmidt asked UpChurch to reach out to them to see if they would even take advantage of the idea.

The council agreed to continue the discussion next Monday, May 4. The hope is to have more information from the chamber survey and more direct response from business owners on whether the measure will be utilized if put in place.