The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Final plan has to be feasible
By Mark Reaman
The Gunnison County Metropolitan Recreation District (MetRec) board of directors last week unanimously agreed to start the process of developing a comprehensive regional recreational master plan. The idea is to look at the entire valley between Mt. Crested Butte and Gunnison along with all the major drainages and determine the recreation focus for both summer and winter.
In a presentation to the board, MetRec district manager Derrick Nehrenberg said the plan should include both indoor and outdoor recreation possibilities that are available in both the summer and winter. A Request for Proposals from planning consultants will be crafted this summer and a firm would be expected to be hired in the fall. Data would be collected over the next year, and a plan developed with MetRec’s North and South District’s Recreation Advisory Committees and public input.
While costs have not been determined, Nehrenberg told the board it would likely land somewhere between $200,000 and $400,000 depending on the scope of the process and ultimate recreation masterplan design requirements. There was some discussion by board members of asking regional partners to share in the cost, but no decision was made on that front.
Public input is expected to be solicited in early 2024.
Nehrenberg said that recreation is a broad term encompassing activities individuals choose to do during their leisure time. It includes a wide range of activities such as sports, outdoor adventures, arts, culture, and watching TV. “We are striving to ensure all interests have equal opportunities to engage MetRec,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, we are a small organization with a limited budget, and we are focused on meeting our community’s biggest needs and wants. We don’t have the capacity to prioritize everything, and our services must be cost-effective.”
MetRec staff has contacted some recreational consulting firms and while no such plan has ever been attempted in this sprawling valley, that is part of the attraction. “Our lack of a regional master plan is quite intriguing and has already attracted interest from some of the top recreation consultants in our state. It’s new, big, and exciting to the pros out there,” Nehrenberg said.
The conversation about master planning started because Nehrenberg said MetRec needed a plan to help guide its funding decisions and strategic planning. He explained that special Districts like MetRec are local governments created to solve regional issues. “The individual towns are making multifaceted plans, but no one is taking a valley-wide approach to recreation planning because it’s not their job. As I have been talking to stakeholders, the general response has been, ‘Hey, Derrick, that sounds like a good job for MetRec.’ The endgame is to create an actionable master plan that identifies the needs and wants of the community and a phased plan for acting on things the community wants to get done.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the process, but it’s clear that the citizens’ needs and wants are potentially quite significant,” Nehrenberg continued. “In many ways, we already live in a recreation paradise, and recreation is why a lot of people live here. But some amenities aren’t so cool, like too few fields, not enough recreation paths, no indoor recreation in the North Valley, etc. So, a thorough recreation master plan will help provide some clear decision points on the recreation priorities, how much they will cost, and a phased plan for acting on the priorities if that is what the community wants. It’ll likely provide general and specific guidance on where MetRec should spend its dollars.”
At the May board meeting the board members all agreed that a Master Plan would be a valuable tool. “I was wondering at first if the community currently has planning fatigue,” said board chair Loren Ahonen. “But thinking about it more I realize I need a good road map to help guide decisions on funding.”
“I like it because it can help bring regional entities together in collaboration,” said board member Cassia Cadenhead.
“It only makes sense to do this and through the CB South planning process I’ve seen the depth it can help provide,” said board member Mary Haskell.
“It has the potential to tie it all together,” added director Keith Bauer in regard to the various regional needs.
“One of my big things is feasibility,” said director Earl Marshall. “A consultant’s plan could say that it’s worth making ice in Crested Butte, but the town’s sustainability plan probably doesn’t warrant that. We have to make a plan that is completely feasible.”
“That’s where the three or four months of intensive research comes in to help guide the consultant that is chosen and provide the real lay of the land,” said Nehrenberg.
The board voted unanimously to officially embark on crafting a regional recreational master plan and Nehrenberg was charged with coming with an RFP to solicit bids from firms able to accommodate that the process.
That final plan is expected to be released by the first quarter of 2025.
