Crested Butte massaging zoning code update suggestions

Higher parking in lieu fees, no four-story buildings, robotaxis instead of parking…

By Mark Reaman 

As the Crested Butte town council, Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) and town staff continue their journey with major planning initiatives as part of the Community Compass, the zoning code update discussion is evolving. A two-hour work session on the topic was held Monday, March 2 and issues included raising parking in lieu fees, pondering whether parking will be needed in a decade given technological advances in the world, and how to protect residences near Second Street south of Elk Avenue while honoring that corridor as part of Crested Butte’s historical business past.

The town appears to be backing off some of the original zoning changes such as allowing four-story buildings on Belleview and allowing three additional feet in height for buildings along Sixth Street. They are now leaning on trying to incentivize developers to include deed restricted commercial spaces in those two areas along with Elk Avenue but have yet to detail what that means or what would qualify. The general hope is to obtain community serving commercial spaces that could act as incubation opportunities and provide benefits beyond what the private market may naturally deliver.

The current parking in lieu (PIL) fee which currently stands at $13,000 hasn’t been adjusted since 2009 and will likely be raised this summer to around $40,000. It will then be raised annually based on an inflation index. Staff estimates the actual cost of constructing a parking space with current land values these days is closer to $80,000.

The council and BOZAR are intrigued with the idea of reducing parking requirements even more after hearing from local architect Gary Hartman that his anticipation based on projects in larger cities is that the age of autonomous self-driving robotaxis is just five or 10 years away. He predicts people will be using robotaxis for local transit instead of individually owned cars to get around.

The council and BOZAR members tweaked some suggestions to keep proposed small retail projects in a public review pipeline in so-called mixed-use zones; don’t want conditional uses granted by town to be in perpetuity and instead to be limited to three to five years; include some personal services businesses like yoga or Pilates studios in the formula business categories which limits where they can be in town; and not allow business entrances in alleys along the Second Street business/mixed use corridor. Given it was a work session, no decisions were finalized.

Community development director Mel Yemma emphasized that any changes to commercial zoning would likely be incremental since in the last 10 years the town has averaged about one project per year. She said the goal was to keep Belleview as the traditional commercial zone so restaurants and bars will not be allowed and parking requirements will be reduced about 20% from current requirements.

Mayor Ian Billick advocated that in all the business zones, incentives be focused on deed restricted commercial spaces and not housing. He said given the hundreds of deed restricted housing units in the pipeline for the North Valley, the incentives should go toward commercial. He also suggested that town could be flexible enough so a developer could perhaps not have to include deed restricted units on the same site as an approved development but place them in another area.

“Anywhere we can create opportunities for locals to have a business is good,” agreed councilmember Kate Guibert.

Town manager Dara MacDonald said staff can investigate the idea of off-site provisions to satisfy requirements.

“I like the idea of deed restricted commercial,” said councilmember John O’Neal. “That’s where careers can be started and upward mobility can be provided. I think it’s worth focusing on deed restricted commercial.”

“I like the concept and appreciate what John is saying, but we still don’t know what that means. How will it work in the real world?” asked BOZAR chair Erik Nauman.

“There is a lot of work to be done on that,” admitted MacDonald. “It hasn’t really been done in other places. Like deed restricted housing, there would likely be tiers based on the community investment. Given the pace of change we can start slow, and work through it to see what does and doesn’t work. And then fix what needs fixed.”

Yemma said the staff would come back at the April 20 council meeting with more specific ideas.

Town representatives want Elk Avenue to continue to be the main sales tax generator so will continue to discourage office use on the first floors of buildings. They don’t want formula businesses along Elk and if a restaurant is using a mobile food truck for help, as the The Hideout is currently, they want to limit the time of use. “It is important to support local businesses and encourage creativity but I’m on board with not allowing it to be a permanent entitlement,” said Billick. The council felt comfortable allowing such things to be approved for a limited time between three and five years before requiring it to be renewed.

“I like the three-year limit since people will get used to anything after five years,” suggested councilmember Beth Goldstone.

Staff will explore various options for that issue.

As for what to charge developments for payment in lieu of parking, everyone agreed the current $13,000 charge per space was out of touch. Yemma said it hadn’t been raised for almost 17 years and financially, it was easier for developers to pay the fee instead of paying for their own parking. Town attorney Karl Hanlon said several places tie parking fees to an inflationary index to keep some pace with costs.

“Whatever we do we don’t want to raise to so much that it prohibits everything,” said councilmember Kent Cowherd.

“Keep in mind they can always provide the parking that’s required instead of paying the fee,” said Hanlon.

“The projects that come through us just pay the fee,” said BOZAR member Donny Davol.

Goldstone suggested charging $40,000 per space since that would be about half the actual cost of a space.

Gary Hartman of Sunlit Architecture said town was focusing too much on parking given the future of autonomous cars that will likely be a main transportation avenue for people. He said it’s not far off when people will rely on self-driving vehicles (robotaxis) to get around instead of personal cars that need to be parked. He said that could allow for a better use of space on a development site that could be utilized for business instead of parking.

“Eventually, auto-taxis will reduce parking demand so the idea would be to use the space for its highest and best use,” Hartman said arguing for more Floor Area Ratio opportunities. The council and BOZAR members were amenable to his idea of thinking about reducing parking requirements even more.

“It seems the town code should be forward looking,” said O’Neal. “It should work for what’s coming in the future.”

“I’d love to explore more of Gary’s ideas on parking,” said Billick.

“I’m hesitant to go there right now because this minute we do have cars we must deal with,” said councilmember Gabi Prochaska.

“I hope our zoning code can be a living document that adjusts to future circumstances,” said Cowherd.

In other discussions, making sure safety was a priority, the council and BOZAR were okay allowing small childcare operations throughout town including all residential zones. They did want small retail operations in the mixed-use zone to go through a conditional use process to give neighbors a chance to comment. And eventually the town wants to eliminate head-in parking in front of businesses along Belleview.

The next zoning code discussion is slated for April 6 where PUDs (Planned Unit Developments) will be the main topic.