Crested Butte finalizes traffic and parking management

Shifting some flower boxes, monitoring some parking, looking at some construction trucks

By Mark Reaman

Crested Butte’s traffic calming and parking management plan will see some small changes this coming summer. There will be some adjustments in placement of traffic calming flower boxes throughout the town, but the Crested Butte town council could not come to a consensus to change the parking time limits in the lots west of the Four-Way Stop by the Alpineer and Mountain Spirits Liquor. Discussion was held during the annual traffic and parking plan review at the April 6 council meeting.

Data indicates traffic on the 15 mile-per-hour streets in town for the most part meets that speed. Some areas (western Red Lady Avenue and eastern Elk Avenue) see the fastest speeds at about 18 mph. The speed on Whiterock Avenue comes in at about 14 mph which according to a report to the council from community development director Mel Yemma and chief marshal Sean Besecker, is “an indication that the traffic calming has been working…this proposed plan includes 36 flower boxes that are planned to be planted with flowers.”

Traffic calming boxes will be added on Elk Avenue between Seventh and Ninth Streets, and on the 500 block of Sopris Avenue.

Boxes will be taken away from Red Lady Avenue near the school; on Seventh Street between Red Lady and Belleview and between Elk and Maroon; on the 500 blocks of Butte and Teocalli Avenues; on the second block in on western Red Lady Avenue from Sixth Street; and on Second Street between Teocalli and Butte.

“I’m a little surprised there aren’t plans for boxes in the northeast part of town by the recreation path,” said councilmember Kent Cowherd. “There is a lot of activity there in the summer.”

Mayor Ian Billick said he’s had feedback from residents that they are not pleased when trailers and construction vehicles park on neighborhood streets for days at a time. “It’s not just the parking but many times they will start their diesel engines at 7 a.m.,” he said. “I hear a lot about storage of vehicles on the streets. I’d like to start thinking about the appropriateness of storing commercial vehicles in residential neighborhoods.”

“I hear that a lot too,” said councilmember Gabi Prochaska.

Town manager Dara MacDonald said town code prohibits vehicles to park on a street for more than seven days without being moved. “Enforcing that is complaint driven,” she said.

“We have the same problem from visitors who are using lodging up in Mt. Crested Butte but don’t have a place to park or don’t want to pay for garage parking. They come down here and park,” said councilmember Beth Goldstone. “There are only a few big parking lots in the North Valley.”

“Lodging staff apparently send them to park on Crested Butte streets,” agreed Billick. “To what extent do we want to continue absorbing this in town?”

Billick said he doesn’t want to make any major changes this summer, but it could be time to take small steps. “Twenty years ago, the valley was a lot smaller. Mt. CB and CB South don’t allow parking on their streets. The scale is very different now. Are there any simple steps we can take?”

Yemma said the town could better enforce the seven-day parking limit or even lower that threshold. “The extreme would be a permit program,” she said.

Besecker said that if his officers are aware of a problem area, they are fine going and talking to the workers about parking issues. “We often see compliance after talking to people and providing education,” he said.

“I could see restricting construction vehicles and trailers,” said councilmember John O’Neal.

“Is there a location council is comfortable allowing it where we could point people?” asked MacDonald.

“If parking problems are not being caused in neighborhoods, I’m okay with it,” said Billick.

Staff will further evaluate the situation.

No addition to two-hour parking

As for implementing two-hour parking on the west lots at the Four-Way, staff said businesses were split on the idea. While the Alpineer, Community Banks and Mountain Spirits Liquor liked the idea, others like the pilates studio and Freestyle Architects didn’t want to go there.

The council too was split on the idea and while no one was passionate to implement the two-hour parking, most seemed to wonder what problem they were trying to solve with the move. They did however voice bewilderment at why a business would not want to have open parking spaces for their customers near their businesses while allowing employees to fill valuable parking spots outside their door.

“The north lot on that side of the street is emptier than the south lot but it seems silly to have two-hour parking limits there to be honest,” said Karen Barney of Freestyle Architects. “Maybe in five years it will be warranted.”

Jim Barney said the town has pushed professional businesses off Elk Avenue to certain business areas like the Four-Way. “There will be more pressure over time, but it’s not needed now,” he said.

The council was split on whether to leave the current unlimited parking regulations in place, mandate a two-hour maximum for that entire area or split it to have a combination of both. Without a four-person majority, the council agreed to leave it in the current state but have staff actively monitor the parking situation this summer.

“I’m sure we’ll talk it about it in a year during the annual parking evaluation,” said Billick.

Post roundabout movement

According to the staff memo, “a key near-term mobility improvement will occur following the completion of the roundabout (winter 2028), which will allow Mountain Express to expand winter service to the east side of town. As part of this, the town is working to formalize use of the school parking lot for skier parking on weekends and holidays. In parallel, discussions continue around a regional park-and-ride at Brush Creek, and the upcoming corridor plan will further evaluate regional mobility strategies.”