The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Assessor’s report
With the appeals period over, Gunnison County assessor Alexandra Cohen reported that the county had the lowest number of property assessment appeals this year since 2015. There were 609 appeals. “We denied about two-thirds of those,” she said, which amounted to 417 petitions. 192 appeals were adjusted. Cohen calculated the approximate total assessed value for Gunnison County at $1.2 billion.
New river legislation?
Commissioner Laura Puckett Daniels attended the state legislature’s water and agriculture meeting last month, and she reported that two issues came up that may be relevant to Gunnison County. The first is a “right to float” legislation considered for January to clarify some of those laws regarding recreational rights. She said there are people advocating for more recreationalist rights and others concerned about private property rights and misuse of river corridors. Second, she said the state engineer gave a presentation about whether it may be time to start developing a plan for forest water conservation to meet Colorado River demands. The state is taking widespread community input at this stage.
Housing Authority in a “learning period”
Puckett Daniels, who is president of the Gunnison Valley Housing Authority (GVRHA) board, reported that the organization is continuing its deed restriction compliance reviews, which it started in the spring. She noted that former GVRHA director Melissa LaMonica, who left that position to take on a role as the county’s chief financial officer in July, has continued working for the GVRHA part-time. “As we’ve engaged in this compliance work it’s become clear how complex it is, how emotional it is, how stressful it is and how important it is,” she said. “I am hearing a lot of feedback from folks in the community about that process,” and she asked other commissioners to share any feedback they are getting as well, “Because this is the first time in a really robust way that we’ve undertaken deed restriction compliance.” She said the GVRHA staff had worked to integrate the process and be responsive to people, “But it is for sure a learning curve.”
The GVRHA is set to be decommissioned at the end of the year and the county will take on much of the organization’s work within its own Gunnison County Housing Authority (GCHA).
Upper Gunnison passes drought plan
The Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District (UGRWCD) finalized its drought contingency plan at their last meeting after a two-year process. “It’s worth digging into,” said commissioner Jonathan Houck, who sits on the committee on behalf of the county. “I think it overlaps quite a bit with some of the things that we’ve been working on, whether it’s STOR [the county’s Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation committee], conservation of ranchlands over time, our work on public lands.” A report on that will be forthcoming, he added. The plan addresses a range of issues from forest health and vegetation management to planning processes and land use code as well as drought and fire planning. “It puts us in the front of the line for some of that evaluation or preparation work,” said Houck.
Updating road and bridge standards
Commissioners heard a detailed summary over the past two weeks from Martin Schmidt, Gunnison County public works director, of the road and bridge standards which he and his staff have been updating for conciseness, clarity and to reduce redundancy in other guiding documents such as the Land Use Resolution.
“It’s a very technical discussion,” commented commissioner Smith after almost two hours of discussion of the proposed changes. Commissioners acknowledged the extensive work Schmidt had taken on to update the document and asked some questions along the way but overall had no requests for changes to the proposal.
The next step is to publish these changes with the newspaper and then schedule a public hearing to consider adoption.
Starview, Lower Verzuh work sessions on Thursday
The Gunnison County Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a work session on Thursday, September 4 to discuss the latest application for Starview, a subdivision proposed on 96 acres near CB South. The commission will also hold a work session to discuss the Lower Verzuh Ranch application, a subdivision proposal on 450 acres near Skyland. The meetings will begin at 8:45 a.m.
