The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Sprinklers remain required for all shared wall units
By Mark Reaman
The town of Crested Butte has pulled back on another direction that was heading toward requiring energy assessments (EAs) for some homeowners doing business with town.
The town council earlier in September decided not to require energy assessments for people applying for short-term rental licenses and at the September 15 meeting the council decided to not require them of homeowners doing remodels. There was discussion at one point of requiring the assessments for various levels of remodels, but the council passed changes to the building code without any such requirement.
Town staff had shifted their original recommendation and at the recent meeting suggested not requiring EAs at all and instead urged a shift toward encouraging voluntary assessments and expanding related programs and incentives. Staff suggested including in the budget money for the town to pick up the cost of energy assessments for people who want to do one. Such EAs are estimated to cost about $550.
Councilmember Beth Goldstone has been an advocate for requiring the assessments to both help with climate mitigation awareness and for the town to gather climate data on residential buildings. “I still feel energy assessments are useful and I would like to find money in the 2026 budget to pay for them if possible,” she said.
The issue of requiring sprinklers in dwellings was discussed while reviewing the building codes. The Crested Butte Fire Protection District had recommended requiring them of all housing units including single family homes. Currently the town requires sprinklers for all units with shared walls such as duplexes and triplexes.
The cost of a fire suppression sprinkler system had raised a few council eyebrows, but the CBFPD said new systems can be tied into the domestic plumbing system cutting costs to approximately $15,000.
“I would still like to not require sprinkler systems for duplexes,” said councilmember John O’Neal, citing the expense of trying to build affordable units, both public and private.
“I feel the same, especially given the fact duplexes are where many community members can afford to live,” said councilmember Mallika Magner. Dropping that requirement makes them more affordable.”
Mayor Ian Billick said given the code currently required the sprinklers for duplexes, he was fine keeping it the way it is instead of pulling back the code. The council was split on the issue with the majority agreeing to keep the sprinkler requirement for duplexes. The council passed the new building code update 5-2 with O’Neal and Magner voting against it.
The town recently moved to updating the building codes every three years instead of six.
