The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Safety, Internet and pavement issues arise at annual POA meeting
[ By Katherine Nettles ]
During the annual Crested Butte South property owners meeting on Sunday, August 10, approximately 50 people were in attendance and many discussed concerns that varied from lack of speeding and OHV enforcement to Internet connectivity, street and rec path paving and other issues with an “underserved area” for the largest population of Gunnison County north of Gunnison. Election results were also announced for the board of directors, the metro district reviewed some plans for better water management in the future and staff members reviewed the upcoming covenant change vote coming in October.
CBS compliance coordinator Sue Wallace reviewed the potential new covenant changes and upcoming ballot language, although the final document is not yet available. The last public informational meeting on the restated covenants will take place September 3, and the voting will open October 1, ending October 31 at 5 p.m. There will be paper and electronic ballots available.
CB South Metro District manager Ronnie Benson also offered updates that the district is working on a water efficiency plan, bringing water meters online in the future to help conserve and allow for an increasing demand alongside increasing population. He said he is getting an estimate from an engineer to finish paving some of the streets, for which several attendees showed enthusiasm.
Many attendees brought up issues with speeding vehicles along Blackstock and Bryant streets, and there was discussion of how the new Teocalli Street speed signs are working. Some people mentioned forming a citizen’s committee for trouble areas, and mention of adding speed bumps or “street furniture like the town of CB” to slow people down drew negative commentary. “Someone is going to die,” speculated board member Allison Butcher about the problem. Some attendees asked if the recreation path on Teocalli could be paved to increase pedestrian usability, but Benson explained there isn’t enough in the budget for the streets, and there are no plans for getting asphalt on the rec path.
Wallace advised that speeding and OHV violations are enforced through the Gunnison County sheriff’s department and the POA has no jurisdiction to enforce them.
“We encourage you to call the sheriff’s office when you have these issues, and let them know, as the largest group of constituents north of Gunnison, that you would like to see more enforcement coverage here,” she said.
POA association manager Dom Eymere reviewed the fairly straightforward and modest financials for the POA, which come mostly from the special district’s annual association dues. He said upcoming goals are to finalize a master plan in 2023-2024 that includes plans for the commercial district, parks and recreation and pedestrian pathways. He also responded to questions about Internet connectivity, such as hopes for a new cell tower, that the population is too small for that project to appeal to a cell carrier and will have to be placed through other funding.
Board president Mary Haskell explained that Met Rec (Gunnison County Metropolitan Recreation District) is one potential way to leverage GOCO or other funds and make improvements.
“Part of the reason Met Rec wants to do this is they’ve identified CB South as an underfunded, sort of over-served area. We don’t get a lot of funding and so they have a new granting system for really large projects…they really want to take a look at what we have here in build-out plans.” She said that could be for rebuilding the tennis court, pickle ball, the hockey rink, soccer fields or other projects. “It’s a huge boon for CB South. So this planning process is the first step,” she said.
Wallace reviewed the potential covenant changes in detail for attendees, and the voting process that will occur this fall. Covenant changes to vote on include short term rental (STR) regulations that would allow owners to rent their properties for a total of 90 days as STRs. STRs would be defined as rentals of 30 days or less. Another proposed covenant change would allow various types of small and medium sized campers to be parked on properties for more than 24 hours, and another covenant change proposal would allow campers to be occupied (but not rented) for up to 14 consecutive days on private property. The other covenant change would clean up antiquated language.
Wallace said a lot of people are asking for a covenant change document they can view. She assured everyone the legal team is finalizing that and it will be available online soon. She also explained that the association will be able to track which property owners submit a vote but how they vote on each question will be anonymous. She emphasized that no covenant changes can pass without a majority of eligible voters voting in favor of them, and that rather than abstaining from a vote, the association still needs to hear from people if they are a ‘no’ vote to understand what people prefer rather than wonder if they were simply disengaged in the process.
Last, Haskell reviewed the results from the POA board of directors election process leading up to the meeting. Newly elected board member Andrew Sandstrom will serve through August of 2024; President Mary Haskell was re-elected through 2024; Sandstrom and Haskell join current members Matt McCombs (treasurer), David Neben, Liz Jordan, Scott Thomes and Allison Butcher whose terms end in August 2023. Out of 900-plus property owners, there were approximately 270 votes.
Neben pointed out that the covenant change survey response rate has not been as high as they would like, and the POA will certainly need better voter participation for the October ballot.
