The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We have to value the way it is now”
by Kendra Walker
As they did with the town of Crested Butte (see story on page 1), Gunnison County representatives and consultants working on the Gunnison Valley Corridor Plan met with the Mt. Crested Butte town council last week for a listening session. The intention of the discussion was to identify shared values and goals for the Corridor Plan and learn what Mt. CB hopes to get out of the plan. The council’s overall sentiment focused on building trust and balanced outcomes for all involved entities.
The town of Mt. CB, along with the town of Crested Butte and the Crested Butte South POA, is pushing for a formal, binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the county pertaining to the Corridor Plan to protect local interests and staff workloads.
Councilmember Roman Kolodziej asked whether the county had reviewed Mt. Crested Butte’s proposed MOU.
“That’s something that has to be looked at and discussed,” said assistant county manager for community and economic development April Kroner. “That direction is really going to come from the county commissioners. You’ll be hearing from that entity in the near future. They haven’t had an opportunity to engage in that discussion.”
“It seems like an easy way to build trust out of the gate,” noted councilmember Steve Morris.
“We hear you loud and clear and want this process to continue forward,” said Kroner.
Town clerk Tiffany O’Connell said the county commissioners are scheduled to meet with the council on October 5.
Morris stressed the importance of protecting wildlife habitat and agricultural lands. He also asked if this process would identify financial paths. “A lot of this stuff is going to need money,” he said, noting for example that everyone supports affordable housing but it’s a different story when the time comes to produce funding for it.
“This should be aspirational,” said HDR consultant Miles Graham. “Not just budgeting for the next five to 10 years, but thinking about long-term funding strategies. There is a long-term vision component to this. Funding is the biggest limiting factor we have on a lot of our shared priorities.”
Councilmember Bobbie Sferra noted water resources. “Are we looking at the natural resources available for growth or not available? I would hate to see we’re making all these plans and there’s not the resources.”
She also mentioned transportation infrastructure. “How do we deal with transportation? We already have major issues on weekends.”
Graham agreed. “How do we have a corridor that works for commuters and visitors and locals…how do we decide how to allocate our right of ways?”
County representatives explained that the county is in the process of gathering data for the project that will be the basis for analysis and future projections, and the council expressed concern over where the data is coming from.
“We’re using all existing and the most recent, available data. We’re in that process right now, collecting all that data in shared database and making sure we all feel good about what we have,” said HDR consultant Yelena Onnen.
“How do you determine trusted sources?” asked Morris. “That is my fear that you rely on local data. We see totally inaccurate projections.”
Mayor Nicholas Kempin also pointed out the low water year. “This is going to set the high line and low line. We’re setting new markers this year. I’d hate to rely on old data. I would like to see what’s happening right now incorporated into things,” he said. “There’s a possibility there might not be enough water in the East River this fall for snowmaking, which would be wildly significant. We’re in emergency water restrictions yet contemplating new development. We need to include this crazy weird year.”
“We’ll be flagging this for our resource folks,” said Onnen.
“Water is a critically important factor for all of us,” agreed Graham.
Kolodziej stressed the significance of pedestrian connectivity and transit. “We need to take a serious look at the way Mountain Express and RTA run now, and the realities of people moving up from Gunnison. Mountain Express doesn’t have a large reach. In theory, people will be moving to Whetstone. Is there going to be a realistic look to perhaps shift some of that RTA money to Mountain Express to help with moving some of those people that last mile?”
“I’d also like to see more consistency from the county in how they conduct themselves,” he continued, noting that no turn lane was included with the construction of the new Crested Butte Fire Protection District (CBFPD) station. “(CBFPD CEO) Sean Caffrey said ‘the county didn’t make us put it in there.’”
“Safety will be key,” said Graham.
When asked what the council values most, Morris said open space, councilmember Bruce Nation liked the separation of neighborhoods, councilmember Valeda Scribner said ease of travel and Kolodziej said having the town staff’s background and experience valued. “That will allow us to have our voice heard throughout the process,” he said.
Mayor Kempin added, “What we have now is part of the product. That beautiful drive up is one of the reasons people like it here and want to come here,” he said. “I know there’s financial competition and development brings money and a lot of stuff. But I would like to keep in mind the way it looks right now is part of the experience and part of the product and we have to value the way it is now rather than what the county or what our municipalities might gain.”
“And that comes down to the final question here, is what trade-offs are we willing to make and protect the things we value?” agreed Graham. “That rural, wild feel and the ease of movement throughout the corridor. That wouldn’t be something we valued if it didn’t have value and we weren’t willing to pay for it, so thinking about what our long-term vision is and the tradeoff of economic development and rural preservation.”
As with the Crested Butte council, the Mt. CB council didn’t have any immediate response to the question of trade-offs.
