The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Center ready to break ground this spring
By Mark Reaman
Representatives of the Crested Butte Town Council and Crested Butte Center for the Arts have agreed in principle to a financial arrangement that will keep construction of the expanded arts facility moving once it begins this year.
The Center board was worried about a gap in funding in the summer of 2018 due to some pledge timing issues. The town has agreed to extend a line of credit to the project in order to keep construction of the new town-owned facility on pace.
The council agreed to the so-called “direct arrangement” that could reach up to about $750,000 in the summer of 2018. Center board president Ed Schmidt told the council at the February 21 meeting that the board hopes not to have to tap into the town’s line of credit, and if it does, to pay it back within a year or sooner.
Crested Butte town manager Dara McDonald said that since the town owns the property and will own the new building, and the money will be used initially to improve “a town asset,” there would not be any TABOR (Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) issues under Colorado statute. “This arrangement is the town investing in its own asset and then charging the tenant. So it is not to be considered a loan.”
“There is fundamentally no risk to the town,” said Ed Schmidt. “While we believe the gap could be real we believe it will be short-lived. Of all the options we looked at, this option aligns the solution with the problem of the potential funding gap during construction.”
Mayor Glenn Michel, a huge advocate of the project, endorsed the plan. “The Center will be a great asset to the community,” he said. “It will provide economic assistance to the town. It will provide a great entrance to our community. It is about our community and who we are. So thank you. It is a great investment for the town, so let’s break ground.”
McDonald said that by extending $750,000 in a line of credit for even a short time in 2018, the town’s capital budget would take a hit until it is repaid. The council will have to consider the ramifications during next year’s budget cycle.
“If you break ground this spring, there should be more enthusiasm and more donors excited to help and cover the costs,” suggested councilman Jim Schmidt.
“We raised about $3 million in pledges last summer and we hope to do that again this summer,” said Center executive director Jenny Birnie. “We really do not want to use that line of credit money. But we don’t want to lose any momentum we have and we don’t want to have to slow down construction and lose the park for longer than necessary. We think this is a good fallback solution.”
“So this will happen soon. It is awesome for our town,” concluded Michel.
“There is always a little risk but I think this is very little,” said Jim Schmidt. “When you put a spade in the ground in a few months it will generate enthusiasm.”
The council held a closed-door executive session at the end of the February 21 meeting to discuss some negotiating details of how to proceed with the specifics of the arrangement with the Center.
The Center board of directors hopes to break ground this spring with Phase 1 of the new Center for the Arts expansion.
That phase is essentially the construction of the new facility and is anticipated to take 16 months, so it would be completed in the summer of 2018.
Phase 2 is the renovation of the existing building. Schmidt said that would not begin until the total completion of Phase 1 and the when the money for the second phase is pledged. The timeline calls for that to be completed in the summer of 2019. The third and final phase of the expansion would deal with the new Alpenglow stage; that is expected to be completed by the spring of 2020.
The initial spade is expected to be put in the ground once the snow is gone from the site this spring.
