Briefs Crested Butte

Some residents think Eighth Street is too wide
Crested Butte Public Works Director Rodney Due said the first stages of the Eighth Street paving project are starting. Town crews are staking out the town’s rights-of-way, and it is coming as a shock to some homeowners who suddenly see a stake in the front lawn.

Due said he is explaining that the town plans to pave the street and grade the shoulders for parking. “We are using 48 feet out of the 60-foot-wide street,” he explained. “The street was platted in 1880 and people have known the plan was to eventually pave, but we are trying to work with the residents. Actual paving will start near Rainbow Park.”
Because the cost of the paving project came in under budget, the town plans to also pave the Big Mine Park parking lot this summer. “It’s sort of a two-for-one deal,” said Mayor Leah Williams.
“This is one of the last places in town to pave,” said Due.
“Our little town is growing up,” observed councilperson Reed Betz.
A request for bids will be announced immediately.

Town gets letter from the mine
The town received a letter from U.S. Energy President Mark Larsen asking for a meeting. U.S. Energy is a partner in the proposed molybdenum mine. Town manager Susan Parker had written a letter reminding them they needed a watershed permit to conduct any work in the area. The mine is planning to conduct preliminary test studies and hadn’t filed for the permit.
“Rather than proceed at this time with the pre-application meeting suggested in your letter, we would like to meet with you and other Town officials to discuss the activities under way at the project,” Larsen wrote. “We look forward to the opportunity to meet with you and other Town officials to engage in a constructive dialogue as the Project moves forward.”
There is no immediate plan for the town and U.S. Energy to get together.

Tommy V doubleheader to break in new field
Tommy V baseball field will be officially dedicated on June 12. Trees will be planted in the morning at the site for Arbor Day and there will be a Babe Ruth baseball doubleheader later that day.

Sales tax continues slide
The Crested Butte financial picture is looking down. March sales tax revenue is expected to come in about 5 percent less than last year. That will mean about a 10 percent decrease for the first three months of the year. “We aren’t real excited where our revenues stand,” admitted Crested Butte Finance Director Lois Rozman. “The department heads are doing a great job holding down their budgets. But sales tax is not a pretty picture. Looking at other resorts, Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte are now leading the pack in the wrong direction. Our ski season sales tax numbers are not good and other resorts seems to be turning the corner a bit more than us.”

Size and mass… again, sort of
In another discussion concerning size and mass of business properties in town—and I’m not talking about the 62,500-square-foot Sixth Street Station proposal—the council will look at allowing vending carts to be a total of 15 square feet. The issue was brought to the council by ice cream cart hopeful Evan Kezsbom. He had proposed a cart six feet long but the town ordinance restricts such carts to five feet. Town Building And Zoning Director Bob Gillie suggested changing the ordinance to a square footage calculation. The council agreed with that idea and an ordinance will be brought forward to the council.

CBMR gets an earful, apparently
Mayor Leah Williams reported that a meeting with CBMR executives, Mt. Crested Butte Mayor William Buck, Gunnison Mayor Stu Ferguson and RTA Chairman Jonathan Houke was held earlier this month. “It was an honest, hard talk about how the community perceives the ski area,” she said. “They heard some negative comments and hopefully this is the start of some dialogue and we’ll get somewhere with that. We’ll meet again with them in a few weeks.”

Regulating out-of-town taps
The council is working on how best to accommodate people living outside of town limits who want to hook up to town utilities, particularly water and sewer. A general agreement was signed by local government agencies in the 1990s on how to divvy up such requests. Called the 201 Facilities Plan, the entities that provide water and sewer agreed on a general plan on how to let homeowners tap into their systems, to avoid an abundance of septic systems in the area.
Basically, the council instructed the staff to draw up an ordinance that would charge a premium for those receiving services outside of town boundaries. If owners wanted to have a second structure tap into the system, say an accessory dwelling, they could get a break if it becomes deed-restricted affordable housing, or they could pay a second tap fee and avoid the deed restriction.
Attorney David Leinsdorf was representing the homeowners on the nearby McCormick Ranch. “If the idea was to protect the environment, then take out the social policies,” he said. “The staff has recommended essentially not allowing guest houses by making them deed-restricted and long-term rental.”
Town Building and Zoning Director Bob Gillie said that if people want an amenity from the town, they should be willing to give something back. “I think this proposal leans toward the light side,” he said. “Requiring annexation, for example, has a much higher standard. If we extend these services, should the town get something in return?”
The staff will work on a proposal and bring it back to the council. In the meantime the council extended a moratorium on the extension of such services outside the town boundaries until October.

Kochevar open space moving forward
Several public hearings to deal with the acquisition of the Kochevar Open Space property north of town were set for June 7. Details are being worked out with the Crested Butte Land Trust, the Trust for Public Lands and the Great Outdoors Colorado program. A public hearing was also set to approve some changes with the conservation easement on the Niccoli property near Crested Butte South.