The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Slow it down with local registration — or go all in
By Mark Reaman
The Crested Butte town council appears split on whether they should allow people driving vehicles registered in Gunnison County to park on the streets near the Mountain Express bus stops along Sixth Street for more than two hours at a time next ski season. The split is between council members who want to slowly implement more parking management regulations that give some slack to locals using town streets as a park-and-ride to catch the Mountain Express to the ski hill in that Sixth Street area, while others on the council are ready to move faster and implement more stringent action that limits parking to two hours during certain daytime hours on those streets for everyone who doesn’t live nearby.
The matter was again discussed during a council work session on Wednesday, May 29, and the proposed winter changes impact parking on sections of Gothic, Butte, Teocalli, Maroon and Elk Avenues within 500 feet of the nearby bus stops (not including the main Four-Way or tennis court parking lots). Specifically, the question of how to regulate parking on Butte and Teocalli Avenues between Fifth and Seventh Streets and on Maroon and Elk between Sixth and Seventh streets is the focus of the discussion. About 115 parking spaces would be impacted in the winter if so-called neighborhood parking permit area restrictions were instituted. No CB summer parking changes are being contemplated other than shifting from head-in to parallel parking on a section of Fifth Street north of Elk Avenue.
Council ultimately asked the staff to come back next fall with a written proposal explaining how the two-hour limits near the Sixth Street bus stops would work in practice. Council had received negative feedback from both in-town and out-of-town residents about limiting parking near those bus stops. Given that, council continues to debate the issue knowing they have several months to decide and sign a contract with Interstate Parking for the winter.
Crested Butte Community Development director Troy Russ told the council that the town looked at the Four-Way Visitor’s Center parking area over the Presidents’ Day weekends of 2021 and 2022 and while crowded, there were some parking spaces always available with the exception being between noon and 1 p.m. on the holiday’s busiest day (Saturday in both 2021 and 2022). Russ reiterated that the idea to institute more parking restrictions was part of the town’s Transportation Mobility Plan and he said that based on “three well-known national best practices proven to improve mobility choices, reduce vehicular trips and increase community livability,” managing parking convenience was the most impactful.
“Parking is the number-one deterrent determining if someone chooses to drive or not,” he said.
The local registration idea came from mayor Ian Billick. “The first half of the blocks off of the Sixth Street corridor are mostly commercial,” he noted. “I would love to see a year experiment where we allow local permits. That gives us time to collect more information, secure the school lot and possibly get an intercept lot near the Whetstone project on Brush Creek Road. My understanding is that local permitting is easily feasible, and I would like us to consider that with cars that have a Gunnison County registration. We don’t want to get too cute.”
Councilmember Mallika Magner asked Russ if the town had data on the main parking lot capacity during a powder day. Russ said they only monitored the lot on Presidents’ Day weekends of 2021 and 2022, and 2022 was a big snow year. He said that data could be obtained with more work in the upcoming ski season.
Russ said there have been two meetings with the town parking partners that include CBMR, the Mountain Express, the town of Mt. Crested Butte and the RTA. “Great progress is being made with the partners. This gesture to move a little slower would be a good move with them,” he said. “Talking about this has made them aware of our concerns. Doing local permitting reduces the urgency and gives time to the partners to work through the process.”
Councilmember Anna Fenerty, who also sits on the Mountain Express board, said it would be difficult for the Mountain Express to make the needed shifts to service the Crested Butte Community School parking lot by next winter. “It is more complicated than it appears,” she said.
“I am a fan of slowing down the implementation,” said councilmember Jason MacMillan. “CBMR and the partners have heard us. It is good to have time to implement alternatives and I agree Mountain Express probably can’t shift to the school parking lot by next season. Baby steps in this case are good.”
Councilmember Kent Cowherd again advocated for a council letter to the community explaining what exactly is being considered and why it matters to the council.
Billick emphasized that the idea to allow local parking in the area was for a one-year experiment after which the council would reconsider the plan. “Everyone should understand there is no guarantee it would continue beyond that,” he said.
Councilmember Beth Goldstone said she didn’t think the original plan to impose the two-hour limits on all vehicles was too restrictive and she nudged the council to continue with that plan.
“I lean more towards Beth’s position but understand the reasoning for local registration,” said Fenerty. “I think we need to discuss more the caveats of the local parking and how it works. Discuss the general fairness of it.”
“I don’t love this but until we have the intercept lots, I think it is tough for some people who live outside of town,” said councilmember Gabi Prochaska. “Until we have some of those alternatives, including the school lot, we should have this temporary solution.”
“I agree with Beth,” said Magner. “I think we should stick with the original plan.”
“I think we should keep it simple without having a local registration element,” agreed Cowherd.
“I think there will be significant backlash without the local registration option,” countered Billick, who has held several public outreach meetings with local residents on the issue.
“I would like to sit with the registration idea longer,” said Fenerty.
And so, they will. The council will look for a staff analysis next fall of how a local vehicle registration addition would work in that area of Sixth Street for next ski season. Councilmembers Magner and Fenerty will draft a letter to the public explaining the work being done on the potential parking regulations. That letter is expected to be released sooner rather than later but no timeline was set.
