The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Looking to address incongruencies with POA regs
By Katherine Nettles
As the Gunnison County Library District prepares to begin active construction on a new library in Crested Butte South this spring, concerns about design and site plan details have been raised about the project’s compliance with local height, right-of-way and safety regulations. Some representatives of the Crested Butte South Property Owner’s Association (POA) and others in the community have asked for more overall transparency and consideration of stakeholder input. These complaints were aired during the library district’s monthly board of trustees meeting on March 19.
The library district purchased property in the commercial district in CB South in 2024. After a ballot question failed in 2024 asking voters for 1.1 mills to help fund the new building and other expanded library services, the district shifted its strategic planning to fund it internally and through grants. The nearly 10,000-square-foot building designs were completed in January 2026, and a special district is not required to go through the POA’s design review process.
It is required to go through an Extents and Review meeting with the county’s planning commission, and that meeting was scheduled for March 5.
Referral agencies including the POA and the county’s public works department submitted comments on the site plan and design for the new library and accompanying affordable housing units. Both buildings will be constructed separately on the same parcel in the commercial area of the CB South community, at 100 Glacier Drive.
Gunnison County’s community development department determined the project application was complete on February 11, 2026, and its permitting database included the POA comments requesting reduction in the residential unit height, an increase in number of planned parking spaces for both the library and housing units, adding snow storage and adjusting landscaping plans in the public right of way and along a corner with low traffic visibility.
“While the CBS POA welcomes the idea of a library in the community, to plan and build without regard for the rules and regulations put in place to support the safety and optimal functioning of the community, is not acceptable,” wrote the POA in its comments.
The CB South covenants allow a maximum residential building height of 32 feet above grade and 35 feet for commercial buildings; both residential and commercial buildings are limited to two stories above finished grade.
The POA comments state, “There is no ambiguity of this, it is clearly in violation of the CBS POA Covenants.”
The POA also took issue with 20 parking spaces proposed for the library and housing combined, although the count meets the minimum requirements for the site. “This places an undue burden upon the adjoining neighbors to absorb parking associated with the library- which could include the affordable housing component of the project,” wrote the board.
Gunnison County Public Works suggested changes to the flow of traffic through the parking lot and potential need for further review regarding spacing, health and safety.
A missed meeting…
Gunnison County had to cancel the Extents and Review meeting because it failed to publicly notice it. The library district declined to reschedule it, as special district applications are automatically approved after 30 days based on state and local statutes.
Gunnison County communications director Patty Dowd Schmitz provided the following statement: “the county regrets that our planning staff missed the public notice deadline during the Location and Extent review process for the proposed CB South Library project. Because of that error, and because the library district chose not to hold a hearing after the deadline had passed, the county did not conduct a public hearing on the proposal because the project is deemed approved automatically after 30 days, under both the LUR and relevant state statutes.”
Without the public meeting, it is unclear if the referral agency comments were ever considered.
“The Gunnison County Library District is an independent governmental entity, separate from Gunnison County,” reviewed Dowd Schmitz. “Under Colorado law governing Location and Extent reviews, counties may provide comments or recommendations on projects by other public entities, but the final decision ultimately rests with that entity’s governing board. In this case, even if the county had held a hearing and taken action on the proposal, the library district board would have had the authority to proceed with the project.
“While the missed notice is unfortunate, it is unlikely that the absence of a county hearing would have changed the outcome of the review process. Under the applicable timeline, the project is now considered approved through the Location and Extent review, and the county’s remaining role is limited to ensuring compliance with building codes and other public health and safety requirements,” concluded Dowd Schmitz.
County commissioners did not discuss any of the referral agency comments, public comment they may have received about the cancelled meeting or other complications with the library district when they met with its executive director Drew Brookhart for a March 10 work session. When asked for comment afterward, commissioner Laura Puckett Daniels declined, directing the CB News back to Dowd Schmitz’ statement.
Brookhart and library board president Sally Hays later shared a joint statement to the CB News: “Gunnison County’s community development department did not convene a meeting of the Gunnison County Planning Commission within the statutorily defined 30 day review period. The Library District did not take action to provide additional time for the Location and Extent review. With spring arriving early this year, the district is eager to conclude the project’s approval process and begin construction of a new public library for the community.”
The issues came to a head at a monthly library district board of trustees meeting on March 19. First, a representative from Studiotrope Design updated board members and Brookhart on some minor interior and exterior adjustments to the library building design, and on interior finishes planned for the workforce housing units.
During public comment, CB South POA president Kevin Dietz, POA manager Derek Harwell and Friends of the Library president Amy Savin each shared concerns with the board. The comments generally followed those expressed in the written comments from the project application process.
Dietz spoke to the POA’s issues with the three-story building, “inadequate parking” and public safety issues. “The parking lot entrance and exit are on a blind curve on an unpaved road which has no county maintenance,” he said. “The addition of trees and shrubs in the public right of way raises these safety issues.” He also addressed “an unclear delineation of snow storage space, and finally, the design shows sidewalks on the right of way versus on the library’s lot.” He said the county requires sidewalks to be located on the library’s lot.
“Each of these issues would have been identified and addressed as part of the CB South design review process, but the library district chose not to bring the plans before the design review committee,” said Dietz.
“To date, the only responses to these documented issues…are an acknowledgement from the library board that they received our letter and they gave us an invitation to this meeting. There has been no constructive conversation and no attempt at partnership,” he concluded.
Dietz said the lack of engagement and outreach to the community did not align with the library district strategic plan or stated priorities, and expressed hope that the library district would begin working with CB South to resolve the issues.
Harwell also expressed disappointment at the district’s decision not to reschedule the Extents and Review meeting timeline “so that the only review and true public engagement in the process could occur.
“We’ve only ever asked to work in partnership to build out your property,” he said. “We respectfully attempted to engage with the board of directors, the legal counsel and with Drew.”
Harwell reiterated that the POA believes the issues they have brought forward “represent real hazards for health and safety in our community,” and called it unbecoming of a tax collecting district to “refuse engagement in any form of productive dialogue which all seems to indicate that the library district does not care that you are creating unresolvable problems for the community of Crested Butte South to absorb and manage in perpetuity.”
He too asked the district “to engage the community as a thoughtful and respectful partner…rather than pushing through a plan which comes with some aspects which will be at the expense of the community you are tasked to serve.”
Last, Savin asked if the district has the funding and the staffing to operate three libraries once the CB South building is finished, expressing concern for the Old Rock Library’s longevity. She wondered if the previous week’s CB News coverage was accurate in stating the library district intends to keep the CB location in operation.
Board members did not respond to public comments.
The library district’s public outreach regarding its plans has been relatively quiet in the past year as the board of trustees and Brookhart worked with Studiotrope Design firm to complete conceptual, schematic and final design plans for the project. Monthly board meetings are open to the public; however they appear to lack public attendance or comment, and no additional information about the design plans for the new library has been published or shared in public forums since pre-design workshops held in 2024.
Brookhart and Hays said they have solicited and applied public input in the design of a new public library and affordable housing. “The quality and quantity of public input on the design of a new public library in Crested Butte South resulted in a great public library design. We are grateful to everyone who contributed directly to the success of the project’s design,” they wrote. “After an initial design phase, which included multiple forms of outreach and several design workshops, the design team incorporated the public’s input directly into the library’s design. The Library Board reviewed the progression of the resultant design in public meetings, at each design phase, where public comment continued to be welcome, influential and encouraged,”they wrote.
Regarding the issues raised by POA representatives, they commented, “The district has received written comments from the [POA] board and staff. The [POA] board president and manager also delivered public comment at the March 19th meeting of the Library Board. The comments are being taken seriously. If wholly implemented in the design, the revisions would likely prevent the Library District from building any affordable housing for Library District employees and other local workers alongside the public library in Crested Butte South.”
Brookhart said that the board will consider potential adjustments. “At a meeting planned for April 9, the Library Board may, upon motion made and 2/3 approval, enter into executive session for the sole purpose of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions as allowed by C.R.S. Section 24-6-402(4)(b) and(e) regarding approvals that may be necessary for the planning and construction of the CB South project; and, attorney-client privileged advice concerning threatened litigation.”
While the district allows public comment at its monthly board meetings, the meeting minutes available from the past two years show a chronic lack of public participation, citing no public comment at any of the meetings from March 2024 through December 2025; no minutes were yet available for 2026 as of press time.
