Council cleaning up entrance to town

“It’s the little details that make Crested Butte unique”

Don’t try to sell your car at the entrance to town anymore. The Crested Butte council passed an ordinance on Monday, August 16 prohibiting people from displaying vehicles “For Sale,” prohibiting the selling of merchandise from vehicles, and prohibiting the solicitation of business from vehicles along Sixth Street and 100 feet on either side of that street. You can’t park a car with a For Sale sign in that area for more than four hours at a stretch.

“It gives us a tool to regulate the situation when vehicles start accumulating at the entrance to town,” said chief marshal Tom Martin of the intersection of Sixth Street and Belleview Avenue. “We’ve received some complaints about the situation and some feedback that it has been better this summer with fewer such vehicles being over there.”
“I like the spirit of this but maybe it covers too wide an area,” said councilperson John Wirsing about the original ordinance that prohibited such vehicles for a half block on either side of Sixth. “You could live at the Meadows condominiums and have a car for sale and not be able to park there. Maybe we need a narrower strip. Maybe we don’t allow it between Memorial Day and Labor Day but say it is okay during the off-season.
Councilperson Phoebe Wilson agreed with narrowing the parameters. “We are trying to eliminate an eyesore when you come into town,” she said.
The most vehement argument against the action came from councilperson Reed Betz. “I still don’t see this as an issue,” he said. “I haven’t heard any complaints and feel there are far bigger issues the staff should be dealing with.
“This kind of thing is one of the small details that make Crested Butte, Crested Butte,” he continued. “You don’t see this when you roll into Aspen or Telluride. It sounds crazy, but it is these little things that add up and I don’t think we need to be going there. It’s the little details that make Crested Butte unique.”
His argument apparently swayed fellow councilperson Wirsing as the two of them voted against the ordinance. It still passed 4-2.