Council adjusts sidewalk seating spaces

It provided hustle and bustle

Summer sidewalk seating will make a return to Elk Avenue this summer. The Crested Butte Town Council tweaked the program Monday to limit the space a restaurant can use to no more than a seven-foot encroachment onto the public sidewalk. Two restaurants that provided outdoor seating last year, Maxwell’s and the Teocalli Tamale, were encroaching closer to eight feet.

“Is this really a problem that the council has to constantly revisit?” asked citizen and sidewalk seating proponent David Leinsdorf. “It seems the program worked pretty well last year and generated what seemed to be more hustle and bustle downtown.”
Mayor Aaron Huckstep said the town had received comments from other businesses wanting to make sure those taking part in the program were paying their fair share. “This is just a normal review of the program,” Huckstep said.
Peter Maxwell of Maxwell’s said his business had made investments in patio furniture and metal barricades based on what was approved last year. “We think it worked well,” he said. “To take an extra foot away from us has an impact on us. My big issue is that I don’t think the town staff should be able to administratively change the parameters without discussion. I don’t think that’s the way it should work.”
“Some people on council felt that the eight-foot encroachment was too much last year,” responded town building official Bob Gillie.
Gillie explained that given the totality of the Elk Avenue streetscape, not every restaurant is in the same exact situation. Given the location of light poles, benches, trash cans, bike racks and the slope of the sidewalk, “the world isn’t equal out there.”
“I sat down and watched it a lot last summer,” said councilperson Roland Mason. “It was a busy summer. There were times when people pushing baby strollers had to go out in the street to get around people and bikes.”
“I saw that too at times but 99 percent of the time it was a feeling of hustle and bustle,” said councilperson Jim Schmidt.
“I don’t think it it’s fair to take away a foot from Maxwell’s if they made an investment. Can we grandfather him in?” asked councilperson David Owen.
“We weren’t on the council at the time but I think it was clear that it was a pilot program last year and some things could change,” countered councilperson Shaun Matusewicz.
“I can live with the one-foot reduction but not more,” said Maxwell. “I was under the impression that even more might be taken away. It will be tighter but we can make it work at seven feet.”
The council agreed to change the maximum encroachment to seven feet and leave the fee charged restaurant at $3 a square foot. Last year the town collected $1,220 from the fees.