CB council perturbed by snow storage remnants

Committee formed to improve the situation

By Mark Reaman

A small committee comprised of two town councilmembers and town Public Works staff will look at how to lessen the impact of dirty snow storage on the wetlands located by the town gravel pit south of the Crested Butte Community School. Councilmembers Gabi Prochaska, Anna Fenerty and Beth Goldstone all brought up the concern of too much dirty trash and loose gravel incorporated into the stored snow that, in a big winter like 2022-23, gets pushed into the wetlands by the school.

“It seems we need a real big cleanup at the gravel pit,” said Goldstone at the June 5 council meeting. 

Crested Butte Public Works director Shea Earley said a dumpster was placed in the area and the contractors that used the space to store snow know they have to clean up their portion of the pit or risk not being able to store snow there next year. He said that there was still a fair amount of snow in the gravel pit area, so cleanup hasn’t kicked into full gear. But he admitted that the gravel that ended up in the snow and eventually in the wetland is harder to remove.

“I was out there today and was shocked by the amount of gravel out there,” said Prochaska. “It seems almost like we are filling in the wetlands.”

“The gravel pit is a place we provide contractors to store snow,” said Earley.

 “We all need a place to put it, especially in a winter like the last one. That’s when we end up pushing out into the wetland. We don’t charge contractors very much to use the gravel pit but if we didn’t provide that space the contractors would get creative in where they put the snow they take away. We need a place to put it. We are a winter resort town. As the town has grown, so has the expectation of what the roads should be like in the winter, so we haul out a lot more snow and we lay down a lot more gravel on the roads.”

Earley said the town probably laid out 80 to 100 cubic yards of gravel on the roads, which was more gravel than ever before. “People in the community want that now,” he said. “But maybe there are ways we can cut back on the amount of gravel.”

“How much acreage is used in the wetland and have we looked at what it would cost to buy property somewhere to replace that site,” asked mayor Ian Billick.

“We have not looked at such a place and we can figure out the acreage that is impacted,” said Earley. “I would love not having the contractors store snow out there but there’s not much else we can do now.”

“I want to do something about the gravel by the wetlands,” emphasized Prochaska. “I’d serve on a committee to analyze the alternatives. I feel that if you can’t build on a protected wetland, you shouldn’t be able to dump in a protected wetland. I understand the snow storage situation in the town, but we shouldn’t be doing what we’re doing out there.”

“I’d be on the committee too,” said Fenerty. “But I think we should look at snow storage as a general issue as well.”

The committee will meet to brainstorm better ways to handle the snow and resulting gravel and trash before reporting back to the council.