Council approves agreement with Cypress Foothills developers

Hybrid plan to develop 44 acres north of town

by Mark Reaman

With some last-minute concessions by the developer, the Crested Butte Town Council voted 5-0 Tuesday evening to enter into an agreement with Cypress Foothills that will pave the way for a new hybrid development on the 44 acres just north of town.

Property east of the Slate River will go through the Gunnison County major impact review process for up to 24 home sites, while the town will eventually take possession of most of the 14 acres west of the Slate and use that land for affordable housing, parks and other public purposes. Six residential lots will be included on the west side as well. The 30 homes will tie into the town’s wastewater system.

The hybrid deal that requires both county and town approval did not come without some heartburn for the town council and some members of the public. The agreement was changed to address most of the concerns expressed at a January 25 meeting, including making sure a gate would not divide the two sides of the development, but there were some sticking points expressed by the council before they voted Tuesday.

After a brief presentation by the proponents and staff outlining changes to the “pre-annexation” document that is required when a developer wants to hook up to the town sewer system, Paul Casey, a site cleanup consultant for Cypress, gave a presentation on how his company would use the state VCUP (voluntary cleanup program) to clean up or cap some of the old town landfill located beneath the Cypress property. That is expected to cost up to $1.6 million with the town contributing $350,000. If it goes over budget, the town will help pick up some of the additional cost.

In a response to a question by councilman Jim Schmidt, Casey explained that dust would be diligently controlled during the cleanup of the old dump. More than 100 test pits had been dug and Casey was confident “there isn’t anything of concern out there and the groundwater has not been impacted.”

Schmidt said he wanted the town to own all or part of the river that runs through the property, but Cypress attorney Marcus Lock said the company wanted to retain that control. Lock said boaters would be offered access to the river “in perpetuity” as part of the agreement with the town.

Schmidt wanted more flexibility with what public uses could be implemented on certain west side parcels and didn’t, for example, want a parcel dedicated only for a preschool. “Things could change in the future and I don’t want the town’s hands tied,” he said.

“Being blunt, this is private property located in the county and the applicant is conveying significant property to the town for public use. During negotiations the applicants wanted to exert some degree of control over the west parcel and the town staff wanted more flexibility,” said Lock. “The end results are the defined uses in the agreement.”

With some of Schmidt’s other concerns about wording in the proposed agreement, Lock explained that Cypress wanted to “protect the county’s jurisdiction over the property and the review process.”

Schmidt said a provision in the agreement not allowing the town to object to the plan in the county review process bothered him more than anything. “You are asking us for our blessing when we don’t know specifically what it will look like.”

“To some degree you have to trust that the county will not approve something that isn’t appropriate for the community,” said Lock. “But the applicant welcomes your participation in the process. The agreement says the town won’t ask for additional restrictions on the east parcel.”

“We would be shooting ourselves in the foot to create an eyesore out there,” added Cypress vice president Cameron Aderhold.

When it came time for public comment, Glo Cunningham said the council should have the ability to do what they want with land once it is deeded to the public. “Maybe it will be more appropriate for a senior center than a fire hall in the future,” she noted. “And the wording allowing the possibility of more than six lots on the west side should be struck and limited to no more than six.”

Local attorney Jim Starr reiterated some concerns he had noted at the last meeting. He had also sent the council a detailed email with issues earlier that day. He said the council should be concerned about getting sued in the future if people get ill as a result of the landfill cleanup. “The town isn’t protected from lawsuits by individuals,” he said. “And I’m concerned the proposed cleanup could trigger a cleanup of the landfill on town property that will cost taxpayers millions.”

Starr listed several other major concerns and said, “This is a very one-sided agreement. You have more leverage here than you think. I think the agreement can eventually go forward but it needs more changes to benefit the public.”

Sue Navy agreed with Cunningham and Starr and added that the town should bring up the issue of wildlife corridors with the county. “I think this needs to be looked into further. I don’t see the urgency,” she said.

Crockett Farnell praised the public comments of his neighbors but said he supported the proposal. “We don’t get anything without an agreement,” he said. “There are benefits to having them tie into the sewer system. There are benefits to cleaning up a portion of the dump and getting land, affordable housing, river access and snow storage. There is tremendous benefit to be gained.”

Councilperson Erika Vohman was not at the meeting but texted her concerns to town manager Todd Crossett. She said Starr articulated many of her concerns in his email to the council.

Schmidt started to reiterate his concerns and said he agreed with a point by Starr that river access would eventually have to be negotiated with a homeowners association.

“That is simply not true,” responded Lock. “Many of Jim’s statements are just plain inaccurate. You have good staff reviewing these points. The agreement with the river access is between the town and Cypress and is in perpetuity. There will be no HOA involvement ever.”

Mayor Glenn Michel said he felt the deal was full of compromises that benefitted the town and the developer. “On specific points, Jim and I disagree, on the preschool parcel for example. I am an advocate to tie it up with the school. It is a nice amenity for the future.”

“There is no perfect solution and a big issue with this is trust,” commented councilman Chris Ladoulis. “It’s not perfect but I think it is something we can live with.”

After a short break, town attorney John Belkin restated that it was the town that pursued asking the developers to strike a deal in exchange for hooking up to the wastewater treatment system.

Aderhold then said his team was willing to “ease some of the heartburn of the council and public.” He said they would limit their west-side lots to six. They would allow more town flexibility on the parcel dedicated to a pre-school site. They would increase the threshold where the town would participate with overage costs of the landfill cleanup from 110 percent over budget to 125 percent. They would come back for town approval if the county changed and tightened its Land Use Regulation code and would add some legal language requested by Belkin about the cleanup.

“I trust our town attorney and appreciate the work town planner Michael Yerman did on this deal,” said Michel. “I think it is a good deal to the town and appreciate the amendments they just offered. That is an indication of trust.”

The council voted 5-0 to enter into the agreement with Cypress. Councilmembers Erika Vohman and Paul Merck were out of town and not at the meeting.