More deep dives into planning continue in Crested Butte

Historic preservation review underway this week

By Mark Reaman

The town of Crested Butte is in the midst of a comprehensive strategic planning process that could change the look and feel of town over the next several years. Town staff and council are gathering data and reviewing alternatives for a transportation and mobility plan; an historic preservation plan; an update of the current climate action plan; and a strategic infill plan that will consider possible changes to land use regulations in town like zoning, permitted densities and building height restrictions in town.

While cognizant that juggling four major initiatives that could move Crested Butte to a new level of future direction might be overwhelming to the general public and result in “outreach fatigue,” the town council gave a thumbs up to keep plowing along with the dense process during a Monday, December 4 work session.

“Each of these efforts build on the foundation of the Community Compass and will ultimately lead toward a comprehensive update of the town’s zoning code, the town’s building codes, the town’s design standards and guidelines and create frameworks for the town’s new housing and community resilience strategies,” a memo from community developer Troy Russ to the council makes clear. “These plans are intricately intertwined and need to intentionally inform and be informed by one another to be successful and have broad community support.”

Russ emphasized that the Compass was a planning tool that created the nexus between public needs and due process. He said it provided the decision-making framework that deals with the trade-offs needed to move the town forward.

Individual councilmembers along with members of the Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) were recruited to sit on the various advisory panels for each plan. Councilmember Anna Fenerty and BOZAR member Ed Schmidt will be on the transportation mobility plan committee; councilperson Beth Goldstone and BOZAR member Danny Davol will work on the climate action update; councilmember Kent Cowherd and BOZAR member Roxana Alvarez will be part of the strategic infill plan panel.

Councilmembers Gabi Prochaska and Mallika Magner along with BOZAR member Erik Nauman will be part of the Historic Preservation Plan advisory committee.

Mayor Ian Billick will participate in the quarterly Compass Plans Integration Committee that will recommend how each individual initiative can identify opportunities and tradeoffs to ensure each initiative is well informed to help “create cohesive, and community supported, town-wide strategies that reflect the values of Crested Butte.”

The Monday work session also officially kicked off the Historic Preservation Plan which, according to the staff memo, will “aim to look at ways to protect Crested Butte historic buildings that reflect different periods of the town’s history, while allowing more architectural creativity for new construction in appropriate areas.”

Councilmembers and BOZAR members at the work session delved deep into what “architectural creativity” might mean, especially for areas of town not part of the historic core of Crested Butte. Crested Butte senior planner Jessie Earley said the town was officially designated a National Historic District in 1974. The Town designated the entire town a “local” historic district in 1972 and BOZAR was established in 1974. She said the Historic Preservation plan could help protect buildings constructed during other periods of the town’s history other than just the mining era, for example those built at the start of the skiing and tourism period post 1952. 

Fenerty said the discussion about creativity in architecture should also help to facilitate and not prohibit affordable units. Magner expressed that creativity might be used to incorporate technology used for climate mitigation into new construction. Schmidt warned that too much creativity could be a “slippery slope. I recommend cautious use of that phrase,” he said. “We all want to be more creative, but we all know mountain towns that let that out of the bag and never got it (historical preservation) back.”

Billick expressed that he was comfortable if there were a variety of building looks in town. “We have a bunch of buildings forced to look the same,’ he noted. “I look to London as an example of how modern architecture works with its historic structures.”

“Creativity is good in the right ways,” said Nauman. “But we can’t think that being ‘creative’ will solve all of our problems. And keep in mind that our history is that of a poor coal mining town.”

“Everyone will attach different meanings to the word ‘creativity,’” added Alavarez. “But there is room to play.”

Councilmember Gabi Prochaska said she was open to having areas of town where more modern styles of architecture could be allowed. “When someone is walking around Crested Butte 50 years from now, hopefully they see some architecture they can point to that was built in this current time frame,” she said.

Fenerty concluded the work session wondering what the lines are in that regard that can’t be crossed. That will all be discussed as just one part of the new planning initiative taking place in Crested Butte.