The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Participants must take mass transportation to Gothic
By Kristy Acuff
In a unanimous decision, the Gunnison County Planning Commission approved Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory’s (RMBL) proposal to host non-research and other education-related conferences/workshops at its Gothic facilities from August 15 through November 1. The approval grants permission for RMBL to host up to ten weddings and ten additional events not directly related to the organization’s traditional mission of research science. Group size at any of the events at the billy barr community center is capped at 200 participants, the approved capacity for the building.
“We are very pleased that we have been able to clear up the relationship between our historic practices and our operating permit with Gunnison County,” writes RMBL director Ian Billick.
As part of its approval, the Planning Commission stipulated that for any event involving more than 20 people, RMBL must require the organizing party to provide mass transportation for those attending and RMBL shall not provide parking at the Gothic site except under extenuating circumstances.
In addition to hosting events, the commission also granted RMBL permission to improve recently acquired properties in the North Pole Basin and Schofield areas. RMBL may build up to 3,000 square feet of improvements across no more than six structures to be used for field research in the North Pole Basin.
In addition, RMBL may construct up to 2,500 square feet of improvements across no more than two structures at the Schofield site. These structures would provide lodging, power, tele-communications, meeting space and workspace for scientists, according to Planning Commission documents. Billick says RMBL has no immediate plans to construct anything, but this does give them permission to do so in the future.
So far, RMBL has three weddings planned for this season.
