The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Historical, climate, community documents in the works
By Mark Reaman
The Crested Butte town council and members of the Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) held a two-hour work session earlier this month to get an update on the progress associated with the town’s Compass Plans currently being formulated. The Historic Preservation Plan, the Climate Action Plan and Community Plan were all under review.
First up was the Historic Preservation Plan (HPP). The town officials all seemed on board to implement a second period of significance and more clearly delineate areas of town into historical zones. The core historic district would still be tied primarily to the National Historic District boundary, which relates to buildings from the period of significance (POS) representing Crested Butte’s mining era between 1880 and 1952. A second POS would encompass structures built between 1960 and 1984 during the ski and recreation period. Most of those buildings are found in areas throughout town and it would not be a contiguous district, as with the existing POS. Eligibility in this new POS would be determined through further survey work, which would start in 2025. The council and BOZAR all seemed ready to loosen architectural standards specific to style in areas outside of the two POS while continuing to regulate mass/scale/form/orientation to encourage more diverse looks in the overall town.
“The goal is to ensure the town’s architectural identity is a reflection of Crested Butte’s deep sense of community and its evolution over time,” said Crested Butte planner III Jessie Earley.
“The new POS is really important since the town’s mining era was followed by a new era focused on recreation,” said historic planning consultant Stan Clausen.
“To be clear, it seems the plan’s intent is to also maintain the mass and scale of Crested Butte everywhere,” said mayor Ian Billick, to which Earley said yes.
“That sounds good as I’ve been struck by the importance of mass and scale more than form,” said councilmember Gabi Prochaska.
“I agree mass and scale are important and I would add that pedestrian orientation is important,” said councilmember Mallika Magner. “
“I’m also interested in what building materials are used to help our Climate Action Plan,” said Magner.
While some things would become stricter such as developing new standards and guidelines for the new POS and regulations specific to demolitions of houses built between 1960 and 1984, generally the town officials are hoping to provide more flexibility in architectural regulations outside of the two POS’s and clarity of allowances in both the design standards and guidelines and zoning code for all areas of town.
“This plan gives more flexibility than there is currently,” said community development director Troy Russ.
“It gives everyone more options,” added BOZAR chair Erik Nauman. “It provides more options but writes more rules.”
“So, in some cases it is more restrictive but can be more limiting? Overall, it has more flexibility,” summarized Billick.
The town is looking at reviewing potential changes to the zoning and building codes in 2025. That is where things like restrictions on demolitions and “demolition by neglect” issues could be addressed. New design standards for buildings outside the two POS areas would also be added.
BOZAR reviewed a final draft of the plan at its October 29 meeting and council will see the draft and be ready to adopt it in mid-November.
Climate Action update
The Climate Action Plan (CAP) continues to evolve with the primary focus being on how to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in buildings in town over the next several years. While admitting that reducing GHG in buildings is complex and a challenge, focusing on energy efficiency and electrification is one strategy.
It was noted that the Gunnison County Electric Association’s wholesale energy supplier, Tri-State, recently announced they are anticipating an 89% emissions reduction in Colorado in part by moving more toward renewable energy sources. In her report to the council, Crested Butte sustainability coordinator Dannah Leeman said throwing that in the equation means, “Crested Butte can now anticipate a 42% reduction in community emissions by 2030 from 2022 levels.” She said if anticipated additional measure in the CAP are implemented, another 10% reduction in emission could be possible.
While discouraging vehicle use is encompassed in the town’s Transportation and Mobility Plan, the CAP strategies are geared to building decarbonization. The idea is to enable climate friendly future development, minimize the GHG impact of new construction and reduce emissions from existing residential, commercial and town buildings.
“Buildings rise to the top in terms of the biggest bang for the buck,” Leeman said.
“One of the big questions centers on second homes and short-term rentals,” said Nauman. “They both use our public utilities. A lot of second homes have their heat turned on to 72 degrees 365 days/year to they can come in for a few weeks and have it comfortable when they arrive. STRs make a lot of money and use the public utilities. Town needs to go after that. There are huge impacts from that.”
Of the 1,280 residential units in Crested Butte, 259 of them are considered second homes, 164 are used for vacation rentals and 17 are short-term residential rentals with leases less than six months. Nineteen are vacant.
Leeman noted that the proposed CAP is considering action around STR energy efficiency measures to address visitor energy usage.
“I would prefer any actions we address with buildings start with incentives,” said Billick. “Another idea is to renegotiate the Atmos natural gas franchise when the current one expires in 2028. Right now we receive a 3-5% franchise fee. That could be more that we funnel to climate action. That would be a pretty direct carbon tax.”
Magner wanted to be cautious with financial impacts to Crested Butte’s middle-class residents.
“There are incentives we provide like helping with energy assessments in deed-restricted units,” said councilmember Beth Goldstone. “Mandates can only be triggered when an owner chooses to do things like apply for a STR license or do a remodel. We’re not going to mandate for example that everyone has to get rid of their natural gas. That won’t happen. A homeowner would have to trigger action. I would like to see an energy assessment required with remodels. I would like to keep talking about incentives to make it more affordable for deed-restricted structures, and equally important is then offering paths for homeowners to deed restrict their property and be able to access these incentives. That’s what the Good Deed program does.”
Billick said his interpretation of public feedback was that people didn’t want the town telling them what to do with existing buildings. “That’s why I prefer focusing on incentives,” he said.
Councilmember Anna Fenerty relayed that a local building recently installed solar panels and then immediately raised the rent on tenants. While the utility bills would go down, the immediate rent increase was hefty. “That hurt the tenants and is a blow to the community,” she said. “Is there a way in this plan we can bridge that type of gap?”
“All costs get passed on,” said Nauman. “Every time you touch something it will cost more and it touches everybody.”
“We constantly talk about dealing with low hanging fruit,” said Fenerty. “I would fall on prioritizing the most cost-effective actions we can take.”
Billick said he could see council starting there first.
Donny Davol of BOZAR said he could see town in a few years considering a carbon tax and perhaps starting with STR buildings. “We could also think about the embodied carbon of materials,” he said. “For example, a lot of energy is required to create triple-pane windows, and the entire emissions inventory should be considered.”
“It’s easier to put a tax on natural gas,” said Billick. “That’s a direct carbon tax.”
Leeman said she was hearing that the CAP should prioritize for cost effectiveness and incentives should be utilized to promote decarbonization of existing buildings.
Billick asked the staff to compile data on the efficiency of the town’s use of electric vehicles.
The Climate Action Plan went out for public comment on October 21. The revised CAP will come back to the council for review at the December 16 meeting.
Community Plan
In a brief review of the Community Plan and the weeklong charettes held last month, Yemma said there was a lot more work to do. Initial work is to consider zoning code adjustments for deed restricted housing and some commercial areas in the C-zone and along the Sixth Street corridor. “We are in the process of refining the vision,” she said.
Council will get a new update at the November 18 meeting.