Briefs: Crested Butte

by Mark Reaman

Miette approved for outdoor lunch seating

The Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) approved the application of John Leonardi on Tuesday, August 29 to provide outdoor seating for his new lunch business. Miette is an offshoot of Soupcon and Leonardi had started offering lunch on a small patio near the building earlier this summer  but town shut him down for not having the proper permits. He submitted an application that was heard by BOZAR this week and the board approved the use. According to staff, there are some “loose ends” that need to be tied up, but they will not postpone the decision and Miette can begin using the outdoor seating immediately. 

Mineral Point

The Gunnison County Electric Association has started to move electric utilities to the proper utility easement on the Mineral Point affordable housing land. The closing of the construction financing for the project is expected to be done by mid-October so the pouring of foundations for the building is anticipated to not happen this year.

Go away, Kentucky bluegrass

Town staff is converting an area of Kentucky bluegrass located near the marshal’s office to native grasses. It is being used as a test patch to see which replacement vegetation will work to convert bluegrass. Town hopes the test patch will show that native grasses can work and be a community resource showing how they can conserve water both on town property and in residential yards.

Numbers: from poop to paint to taxes

Not only has the town applied more than 246 gallons of street paint to town roads in 2023, which is almost twice the normal amount used, but over a two-week period around the Fourth of July, 130,000 feet of toilet paper were used in public restrooms in Crested Butte. That is 25 miles of TP. Sales tax numbers for June were down 2% compared to 2022. For the year, sales tax numbers are also down overall by 2%. The Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) is down a whopping 48% so far this year. Some councilmembers expressed concern with the drop, but town manager Dara MacDonald said the RETT was extraordinarily high last year with several commercial transactions and the sales tax levelling out is not unexpected given the big trajectory after COVID. 

Disorderly parking

Town received a letter from the attorney for Cypress Foothills LP, the entity that owns the six unsold Augusta subdivision lots near the Aperture development north of town. The Augusta lots are located in town. The letter, from Marcus Lock of Law of the Rockies, asserts that the town should not allow camping vehicles and trailers (many holding snowmobiles) to park along the Pyramid Street right-of-way that leads from Gothic Road to the Augusta subdivision. “People are taking advantage of the lack of enforcement to the detriment of just not my clients, but the Town as a whole,” stated the letter. “The storage of vehicles and equipment and the camping along Pyramid Avenue are highly visible, unsightly, unattractive and incompatible with what is otherwise one of the most beautiful towns in the country.”

MacDonald told the council that parking in the town rights-of-way is not illegal and happens all over town. Council took no action on the request.