The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“There are always challenges when doing a project of this magnitude”
By Kendra Walker
During the October 3 Mt. Crested Butte town council meeting, the Crested Butte Fire Protection District (CBFPD) presented a district update and answered questions from the council about the new fire headquarters and search-and-rescue (SAR) building project.
CBFPD CEO Sean Caffrey gave a brief overview of the fire district and its latest statistics. In September, the fire district celebrated its 50th anniversary. Currently, CBFPD has four stations and 56 total members. Among those members are five primary responders per day, two chief officers, two operations lieutenants, administration, fire prevention, part-time staff and volunteers. The CBFPD also has six housing units, four of which they own and two that are master leased. One of the master lease units is owned by the town of Mt. Crested Butte.
The CBFPD’s service area covers 220 square miles, and Caffrey noted that their largest area of responses is in Mt. Crested Butte. “That has a lot to do with the clinic at the base of the ski area,” he said. From August 2022 to September 2023, there were 387 responses in Mt. Crested Butte, 336 in Crested Butte, 195 in unincorporated Gunnison County and 69 in Crested Butte South. The call volume is seasonal in nature, with the largest calls in July, followed by February and March.
The CBFPD continues to move forward with plans for its new fire headquarters, a proposed 22,000-square-foot fire station and 6,000-square-foot search-and-rescue building. District voters approved a bond issue to fund the project in November of 2021, and CBFPD was able to secure just over $30 million.
The facilities will be located on seven acres just north of the Crested Butte town boundary and south of the Slate River in unincorporated Gunnison County along Gothic Road. The district is currently working the design development and final pricing for the project. Building permits will be requested in early 2024 and construction is expected to begin in spring 2024 as weather permits, with the project expected to take two years to complete.
The council asked Caffrey to elaborate on the employee housing obligation as part of the bond. The CBFPD has chosen not to build housing on site.
“We are holding at $1.5 million for housing offsite,” said Caffrey. “Our primary activity is acquiring a couple parcels in the Larkspur subdivision that are empty. We’re also exploring units with the town of Crested Butte in Mineral Point, and Whetstone will probably be of interest to us as well as that comes along. We’re looking to expend those funds as expeditiously as possible.”
“Is the obligation to units, or beds or an amount of money?” asked councilmember Roman Kolodziej.
“It’s the amount of money right now, so we’re looking to maximize that,” said Caffrey. “The ongoing question is, is it better to identify a piece of land and build in the future or better to buy units outright as they come online?”
“Wouldn’t it be the cheapest option to build affordable housing as part of this because you own the land and you already own a building,” asked Kolodziej.
“It makes a decent amount of financial sense, but we’re also on the list for units at Mineral Point and those could come online sooner than when our construction will end,” said Caffrey. “It’s just easiest to buy something that someone else built than build it yourself. If there is space in the future, potentially yes. But I think that’s ok, I think people don’t want to live that close to their jobs all the time.”
The council asked about the status with water and sewer utilities with the town of Crested Butte and Caffrey said they have a conditional approval on a sewer connection with the town and lift station to be shared with adjoining properties. Water for the site will be done independently on a well with an augmentation certificate.
“If you have a fire at the fire station, what are you going to use to put it out?” asked mayor Nicholas Kempin.
“There’s a 25,000-gallon storage tank in the ground that will provide fire protection to the fire station and SAR building,” said Caffrey. “It will also allow us to fill the trucks off of that same tank.”
Kolodziej raised the concern that there are no turn lanes for entering and exiting the property off of Highway 135. “Has there been any modification to that?” he said.
“There has not,” said Caffrey. “It’s a county road so the access to the road is controlled by public works about ingress and egress. They’re generally happy with what we have right now.”
“Do you feel that entry and exit is safe for cyclists and pedestrians with no deceleration or acceleration lanes?” asked Kolodziej.
“The county has not asked us to make any modifications to the road,” said Caffrey.
“It seems like the plan to go to the county and redesign was to save money,” said Kempin. “With these ongoing negotiations with the town and the land acquisition, I imagine that’s cost a bit. Will we have some sort of accounting in the future addressing whether you saved the taxpayers money by going this route?”
“We went into a bond election in November 2021 when the building environment was not what it is today. Estimates from 2019, 2020, 2021 are not the same in 2023, 2024, 2025. The amount of money off the bond is essentially fixed, but the building costs are in flux,” said Caffrey. “We’re still doing a station, and SAR building and housing. We’re trying to get as much station as possible with what we have.”
“Is there a timeline when you need to get this project built?” asked Kolodziej. “Would it make sense to get all your ducks in a row and wait for interest rates and costs to go down…do you have the ability to wait?”
Caffrey responded, “There is cash in the fund from the bond right now. We have to prove substantial performance at the five-year point on a bond. We were out of space when we asked for the bond. We’re going to jump at the first opportunity that makes sense.”
“Everyone’s faced the same challenges,” said Kempin. “There seems to be the narrative that this is somehow the town of Crested Butte’s fault that they didn’t play ball with the fire station. I wonder where that narrative comes from and if that’s the way the fire district feels about it?”
“There are always challenges when doing a project of this magnitude,” said Caffrey. “You really want to have the best partnerships you can get. Sure, there’s been changes in direction and we’ve had some challenges along the way, but I don’t think it’s going to end up badly.”
“How would you describe the relationship between the fire district and SAR?” asked Kempin, noting that it hasn’t always been cooperative, and it was the town of Crested Butte that years ago told the fire district to make room for SAR.
“We all work cooperatively together,” replied EMS and fire chief Rob Weisbaum. “The relationship between the two of us is great. Does it need work? Yes. Any relationship needs work.”
“At the end of the day we’re all on the same team,” said Caffrey. “As I look at this project today, one of the things I’m most proud of is you will not see another project in the state of Colorado where we have brought in a nonprofit search and rescue organization and very much want to include them in this very important safety project. I think it’s going to be great when we pull it off.”
