Crested Butte has plenty of summer projects

Streets, housing, Big Mine, tennis courts, mine transition and overall stuff

by Mark Reaman

Summer is busy, not just with tourism but also with local improvements. The town of Crested Butte has a full roster slated for this summer.

Probably the biggest project will begin after the busiest part of the summer season, when construction will shut down Big Mine Park at the end of August and into September. The town will upgrade the utilities on the site and that means a lot of digging.

“We are in the initial stages of design and the exact location of the construction is yet to be determined,” explained Crested Butte Parks and Recreation director Janna Hansen. “There will be a lot of trenches dug and new pipe laid, but when it’s all said and done, Big Mine Park will look pretty much the same as it does now. This work is the first step in bringing recommendations from the Big Mine Park Master Plan into fruition. Utility upgrades are phase I of the plan with phase II including an expansion of the warming house and the construction of changing rooms and bathrooms for the ice arena.”

Other projects in the Parks and Recreation realm include constructing a bike jump park out by the gravel pit. That will take until July. There are plans to upgrade the bathroom facilities at Pitsker Field, resurface the tennis courts at the Four-way Stop, do some new landscaping around the Depot and the tennis courts, and build some new trail kiosks at the recreation path and bike park.

The first project you might notice around the tennis courts is construction of a retaining wall that started this week. Sidewalk construction by the courts will begin next week. The courts themselves will be resurfaced due to bubbling and delamination of the existing material. That is a two-week project that has to happen when the nights are warm. So expect it to happen in late June or early July.

Public Works director Rodney Due has a pretty full plate this summer as well. A paving project at the tennis court parking area is slated to be complete before June 17. “But of course that is weather-dependent, like almost everything,” Due said.

Town streets will be crack-sealed, patched and slurry-sealed throughout the summer. “We hope to finish up Butte Avenue and get Block 79 and 80 prepared for affordable housing projects by July 1,” said Due. “I am also hoping to get the new RV dump station on-line by mid-June.”

Town planner Michael Yerman is also deeply involved with the affordable housing blocks. Yerman said the town will offer home ownership classes in June. The lottery to choose the people who can purchase the open affordable lots will be held the second week in June. The Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority (GVRHA) is assisting with this process and qualifying applicants. Applicants must be pre-approved for construction loans for this year’s lottery.

Speaking of affordable housing, “Anthracite Place, the 30-unit building at the entrance of town is currently under construction and is slated to be completed by July 1,”^” said Yerman. “The town will need to invite elected officials at all levels, including federal, state, and local representatives [to the ribbon cutting]. The town should work with GVRHA to make sure it is well attended and the project full.

“And when it comes to short-term rentals, or RBOs [Rental by Owner], there is a working group to develop regulations and discuss issues surrounding RBOs,” Yerman continued. “The Planning Department has begun the initial investigation on the legal framework to provide funds for affordable housing. This discussion is ongoing at the regional level with the county and GVRHA. There have already been quite a few locals in my office who have lost their rentals. This will be a major issue again June 1 and the community will put pressure on the town to act. So we will have to be prepared for when the council decides to throw out ideas once they feel the pressure.”

As the economy picks up, so does the idea of development, so Yerman and the town are involved with that planning. A pre-annexation agreement has been executed with Cypress, the development group working toward a “hybrid” annexation and development just north of the town boundaries. Cypress is submitting a major impact application to the county. The planning department will continue to monitor and attend meetings on the application throughout the submittal.

Foxtrot, a four-lot subdivision north of Crested Butte, has a minor impact application under county review. Yerman said a wastewater connection agreement needs to be executed with the developer and town.

The Center for the Arts has submitted an expansion proposal in Town Park to the Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR). This will remain a town-owned building. The town will conduct park-planning meetings from July to September. A Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) grant is due in November.

A traffic study will be conducted this summer for a possible campground at Avalanche Park, south of town by the county shops. Designs will need to be refined and a budget will need to be prepared by this fall.

And of course there are the backcountry issues that pop up in the summer. The town has been engaged with Freeport-McMoRan, new owner of the mine site west of town on Mt. Emmons, on the mine and water plant. As the project has progressed, the Planning Department has become involved in the property acquisition associated with the deal.

Initial conversations have begun with the BLM and Crested Butte Land Trust on the planning for the Oh Be Joyful Campground parcel on the Slate River. The town has been requested to participate in a possible GOCO grant for the project. And the town is continuing to construct a trail up Baxter Gulch in July. This requires time to manage work crews in July.

So while summer is a time to get out and enjoy the perfect mountain weather and cultural activities, it is also a time to get stuff done and that’s what the town of Crested Butte is planning to do before the next big snow flies.