The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
How can town determine good reasons to close the street?
By Mark Reaman
The Crested Butte town council approved a last-minute request from the Chabad Jewish Community Center Aspen Valley to close Fourth Street by the CB Museum for an hour on December 29 to hold a Menorah lighting ceremony, but councilmembers asked staff how to make sure the town is protected when organizations from outside of town request such street closures.
Rabbi Yossi Hirsch made the special event application for Chanukah in Crested Butte that would commence with the lighting of a 10-foot Menorah outside the museum. The request was to close Fourth Street from 4:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. on December 29. After the lighting of the Menorah, there will be a gathering indoors at the museum.
Some elements of the application were not complete, so town clerk Lynelle Stanford brought the application to the council for consideration given its timeliness.
Mayor Ian Billick noted that it was not a Crested Butte group asking for the street closure. “I am okay with this particular group and application but there have been instances where outside groups in other communities have been a problem. This isn’t a Crested Butte group, so I am a little nervous about closing the street for a group outside of the community.” He asked town attorney Karl Hanlon if town could not approve such applications.
“It is hard to determine a local group versus a non-local group so probably not on that basis. Town needs to be clear of the rules for closing a street and not have it based on local versus non-local,” he said.
“This group was here last year so I’m not concerned in this particular instance but am looking to the future,” said Billick.
Hanlon said he would think about it more and return to council with the intent of developing a policy on street closures for the future.
“We’d definitely need some help and guidance figuring out those parameters,” said councilmember Mallika Magner.
“I’m good with this request tonight but want to be clear I am not in favor of easy street closures,” said Billick.
Council approved the special event application for the Chanukah event dependent on four contingencies to complete the application details.
