County and town start new communications effort… whew

Anyone have some sage to smudge the room?

by Mark Reaman

Well, that went well…

In the first of what Gunnison County commission chair Laura Puckett Daniels hopes will be a regular and quarterly confab between representatives of Gunnison County and the various North Valley government entities starting with the town of Crested Butte at the June 15 council meeting, there was some appreciation for the effort and some tension on the discussion points.

Commissioners Puckett Daniels and Jonathan Houck along with county manager Matthew Birnie and community and economic development director April Kroner, attended the council meeting in person. Commissioner Liz Smith and many county department heads were on Zoom.

The overall topic according to Puckett Daniels was titled, “Connecting Council and Commissioners: Reestablishing and reaffirming on communications.”

“We want to start a cadence of regular meetings together,” she said, indicating quarterly meetings would be ideal.

Touching on two primary topics, the just started North Valley Corridor Plan and the Whetstone Village Community Housing Project, the representatives pledged to attempt a constructive communication process.

Puckett Daniels said ultimately, the corridor plan would ideally be used for updating county plans and regulations and as high-level policy guidance. She laid out how a communications framework could be utilized. “We are still open to the idea of a Memorandum of Understanding to detail the framework,” she said. “That is still up for discussion We are still evaluating how it all takes shape. Phase 1 of the corridor plan communications is building trust, finding common ground and establishing a framework for compromise.”

Councilmember Kent Cowherd expressed some concern that the process was expected to take 16+ months to complete. “I just emphasize the need to get something done before that, and at the end of the process I hope something gets adopted. The county never adopted the Three-Mile Plan.”

“That’s our goal too,” assured Puckett Daniels.

Mayor Ian Billick said he appreciated the communication effort but made clear the town didn’t feel there had been a good base from which to start. “My concern is there is no clear process and a lack of communication,” he said.

In what seemed to be a surprise to the county representatives, he then read a lengthy list of recent decisions made by the county “from the town’s perspective” that was interpreted as being confusing messaging at best and poor partnership collaboration at worst.

“I believe the big challenge is managing expectations,” Billick said. “I feel like we have been chasing this for three years. We supported Whetstone with the caveat we would have a clear long-term plan for the corridor worked out between the county and North Valley. I wanted to be clear with you what this process looks like at the moment from the town perspective. It’s been confusing and I still don’t know what the process looks like. The more we front-load the process, the more productive the process will be. I wanted to get that out there.”

A bit of silence settled on the council chambers.

“I appreciate that summary and the county appears to be taking concrete steps to correct that,” said councilmember Mallika Magner.

“We are here to be all ears,” said Puckett Daniels. “We can talk about other topics too.”

Billick shifted to Whetstone Village and asked if the county knew when it could provide what AMIs (Area Median Incomes) would be utilizing the Whetstone units, in order to help with the town’s five-year housing plan.

Birnie said he explained that explicitly in a recent letter sent to Billick and council. “Mayor, with all due respect, we will find out what the market is as we go to market. There are 14 different unit types, and we are trying to serve AMIs from 70% to unlimited. The target is to have an average of 100% AMI. Our proforma could let us go to 90%.”

“It’s a moving target,” said Puckett Daniels. “Concrete numbers will come when we can start leasing up at the end of 2026. They will be year-long leases at first so there is some flexibility. The point of Whetstone is to be responsive to who walks in the door. We can’t provide concrete numbers yet.”

Billick said he wasn’t expecting concrete numbers but from a town planning perspective, was hoping to know when those numbers would be able to be provided.

“We can say what we think they will be but if we come back in a year and it misses the mark, everyone will be disappointed,” said Houck. “When we share information, it is where we are at the moment. It’s the dynamic nature of big projects.”

Billick again said he understood that, but was just asking for an idea of timing.

Birnie aggressively reiterated for the third time he had answered that question in his recent letter. “We expect 100% lease up by the end of 2027 and we are shooting for an average of 100% AMI. Again, it was in the letter you received.”

“Well, somehow I missed it,” snipped back Billick.

That would have been a good time for someone to light some sage and smudge the room. But no one did.

“With the corridor plan, I agree with Kent we should put the pedal to the metal,” said councilmember Kate Guibert. “We can hopefully work together to make that happen.”

“We want enough process to have people feel included but not too much to make it feel weighed down,” said Puckett Daniels.

“I appreciate you guys being here today,” said councilmember John O’Neal. “It’s about relationship and trust. Being here tonight is a great step.”

“It’s been productive to hear your concerns,” said Smith.

The council and county will be part of a regular dinner meeting held between elected officials on June 29 in Crested Butte. Communication could be even more interesting with cocktails. Sage appetizer anyone?