The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Looks like the court gets to decide…
by Mark Reaman
The scheduled meeting for the Gunnison County Library District to have its proposed Crested Butte South library facility reviewed by the Property Owner’s Association (POA) Design Review Committee (DRC) did not take place this week. While there was a DRC meeting on Tuesday, July 28 and the library review was on the agenda, the two entities continue to be at loggerheads so most of the action is taking place through the courts. The CB South POA claims a completed application was never submitted. The library district claims all the information for a completed application was given to them in early June and the POA never informed them about a potential July 28 DRC meeting.
What this week’s missed meeting means for the timing of construction has yet to be determined, as both entities have asked the Gunnison County District Court to support their positions, but no decision has been made.
“While there was a DRC committee meeting this week, the library was not on it because in our view they had not submitted a complete application,” said CB South POA manager Derek Harwell. “We have been communicating that in writing and in person for the last six weeks, but we have not received any response at all. Our board president Kevin Dietz and I went to the library board meeting twice to try and get movement on this and Kevin offered to meet anytime with them and help them navigate the process. But we heard nothing back.”
Library District executive director Drew Brookhart said the district supplied all the information in June needed to fulfill the requirements for a complete application to the DRC. “The POA staff has repeatedly asked for information that has been in its possession since June 8 and we have heard nothing directly from the DRC,” he said by email this week. “When asked for specific information, the library district has provided guides to the information already on record with the POA. Under the POA covenants, it states that ‘within 31 days of complete plan and specification submittal to the DRC, the DRC shall in writing state to the Owner the plans are approved, or the reason for disapproval or denial of the final plans and grant to the applicant Owner an opportunity to resubmit the plans with the revisions and corrections that would bring the final plans into conformity with the Design Guidelines and these Amended and Restated Covenants… If the Design Review Committee fails to act within 31 days after said plans and specifications have been submitted to it, such approval will not be required and compliance with the Design Guidelines and this Article 5 shall be considered met.’”
Harwell disagrees with that interpretation of review timing noting it calls for a “complete” plan submittal and that is determined by the Design Review Committee manager.
“The library district seems to want to control the CB South covenant process and that’s not how it works,” said Harwell. “What we are asking from them for is nothing different than what we ask of any other property owner. For example, all the plans they submitted included the future apartment buildings and that’s not part of the current proposal. That impacts things like snow storage, landscaping plans, parking and other elements of the design to be reviewed.”
The Library District submitted to the court that CB South representatives asked for a simpler set of design plans for DRC review, but Brookhart said that is impossible because “the project is a large, complex, multi-million-dollar commercial building project.”
Brookhart made clear that any delay is preventing the Library District from establishing a stable construction schedule and budget without incurring substantial penalties for delay that will be exacerbated as winter weather arrives. That could explode the $9,327,638 budget.
He emphasized the goal is to build the library facility this summer and the project is moving from a focus on earthwork to the next step. “The Library District is committed to doing everything it can to deliver this public project on schedule and on budget,” he said. “After the 31-day review period expired on July 19 the Library District’s status quo moved from preliminary construction to full construction. On July 21 the Library District also filed a Motion for Summary Judgement to end the lawsuit on the grounds that with a submission to the DRC and approved plans there is no remaining controversy.”
And so, the legal situation sits in limbo until a judge decides how to proceed.
