Next meeting now November 11
A short but emotional meeting Tuesday evening, October 27, has put the Foothills annexation sketch plan more in limbo than ever. The Crested Butte Planning Commission members made it clear in no uncertain terms that the developer’s habit of springing unexpected documents on them at the last minute frustrated them. Read More »
Hardball? It’s sure not softball. Is it all about Moneyball?
So much for rushing to get the Foothills annexation sketch plan in by the end of October. In an “I’ve reached my patience limit” type of moment, the Crested Butte planning commission said enough is enough Tuesday evening.
In a nutshell, the Foothill proponents have gotten in a habit of sending some unexpected curveballs to the town hours, minutes or even during planning commission meetings. The commissioners, especially chairman Alan Bernholtz have time after time asked lead Foothills attorney Jim Starr to break that habit. Instead, the developers just keep winging hardballs at the plate. Some seem right down the middle for a solid strike like affordable housing or open space. But a lot seem like wild pitches from an increasingly frustrated lefty.
Hey, the neighbor is offering to sell their property to the town? Let’s throw out a curveball and offer to sell our property to the town during a meeting.
Ball 1. Outside.
The dump is starting to get problematic? Let’s throw a curveball sending a legalese letter stating the town has all the liability and we’ll go to the county for development approval and basically sue your ass to do the dirty work of a dump clean up if you don’t let us annex to the town.
Ball 2. Brush back pitch way inside.
This week, it’s hurry up and let’s all reach a conclusion over some of this stuff but we don’t work weekends so we’ll get you our responses (which significantly don’t agree with your proposal) 90 minutes before what we hope is a final sketch plan meeting.
Ball 3. In the dirt and heading to the backstop.
Who knows if there will be a ball 4 in this game? Like a World Series game played in the snow, this game just got weirder. The planning commissioners told the developers during the contest Tuesday to take a walk and get their act together. The series will resume in a couple of weeks.
Hey, a snow delay may be in order no matter what.
The old dump in this game is a black cloud hanging over the ballpark. Back in September a guy from the state came in and confirmed a problem but said certain things could be done to determine what was really in the dump. A “site characterization study” was in order and could have been done by about now. Information could have been expected by December. The study wasn’t started and there is no indication the proponent, the town or any combination is working on making one happen. That should disappoint anyone watching this dance. So it probably won’t be until at least next spring or summer when a site study finally gets started. FYI-the state guy says more accurate readings are done in the fall when the water table recedes.
A successful pitcher-catcher combination communicates. Shouldn’t the guy catching the ball have an idea of what’s coming before the pitch? Otherwise that curveball might hit the dirt and get away and lose the game with a run scoring on a passed ball. Guess what’s happening now?
So, as in every game, a timeout might be beneficial. Frankly, it might be too late for a timeout to stop the wild pitches. Who knows? This is a weird game we’re watching at the moment.
Bottom line; some pretty complicated ideas about deferring close to $2 million in town fees and imposing a couple of real estate transfer fees on the project and determining whether land values from 2004 should be used to calculate who owes what are all out there on the table. Just the concept of some of these ideas needs deeper discussion.
If the dump is truly a tremendous mess and the town eventually has significant liability, the commission should be giving all options serious thought. But serious thought takes some time…and more information rather than less should be part of a real thoughtful decision. No one likes having to resort to a dangerous suicide squeeze at the end of the game.
Maybe it was a good thing the latest curveball bounced in the dirt. This game clearly needed a timeout.
The Board of Zoning and Architectural Review has an opening for one Board member. The BOZAR meets once a month and members rotate serving on the Design Review Committee that meets twice a month. Applicants must have lived in Town for at least one year. Preference will be given to people who have knowledge in architecture, design, building, landscaping or historic preservation. Crested Butte is a growing and dynamic community. Be a part in shaping Crested Butte’s future. Pick up an application at the Town Offices’ building department located at 507 Maroon Avenue, or contact Molly Minneman by e-mail mollym@crestedbutte-co.gov or phone at 349-5338. See our web site at www.townofcrestedbutte.com.
Published in the Crested Butte News. Issue of October 30, November 6 & 13, 2009. #103003
Published in the Crested Butte News. Issue of October 30, 2009. #103005
Published in the Crested Butte News. Issues of October 23, 30, and November 6, 2009. #102305
Published in the Crested Butte News. Issues of October 30 and November 6, 2009. #103001
Published in the Crested Butte News. Issue of October 30, 2009. #103004
(The above times are only tentative. Meeting may move more quickly or slowly than scheduled)
– Please Remember to Turn Off Your Cell Phone during the Council Meeting
–If you need special assistance to attend any of the Town’s public meetings, please notify the Town Clerk at 349-5338 at least 48 hours in advance.
www.TownofCrestedButte.com
Published in the Crested Butte News. Issue of October 30, 2009. #103007
If you require any special accommodations in order to attend this meeting, please call the Town Hall at 349-6632 at least 48 hours in advance. Public comment on these agenda items is encouraged.
This preliminary agenda is placed in the newspaper to notify the public of tentative agenda items for the meeting date noted above. The official posting place for the agenda is the bulletin board in the Mt. Crested Butte Town Hall entry. Please refer to that official agenda for actual agenda items for the meeting date noted above.
Published in the Crested Butte News Issue of October 30, 2009 #103006
County threatens to dip into $1.68 million security fund
Buckhorn Ranch developer Dr. Dick Landy has four weeks to complete eight remaining items on a Development Improvement Agreement (DIA) with Gunnison County or risk losing more than $1.68 million in security. Read More »
Mail your ballot before November 3
Seven of the nine people running for Crested Butte Town Council fielded almost two hours of questions from the public at the Crested Butte News Candidate’s Forum held Sunday evening.
Council Candidates
Guy Ciulla
In a short sentence what is the best asset Crested Butte has?
The best asset Crested Butte has to offer is the people that live here and the community.
A combo question from the public–Some argue expansion of the ski area onto Snodgrass is needed for Crested Butte while others say it will hurt the town. What do you think of the proposed expansion and more importantly, what is the proper relationship between the town and CBMR?
The town and CBMR have to work together as one. There is a direct correlation between how many visitors CBMR gets and how well the businesses do in town. More people mean more business and more sales tax for both Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte.
As far as Snodgrass goes, that is a really tough question. I have heard presentations from both Friends of Snodgrass and CBMR. Both have valid and conflicting data. If expanding Snodgrass brings more business to the mountain and town I am for it. Although, I am not sure if expansion guarantees more visitors.
“Let the county take it on”
There was no red light/green light discussion during the most recent debate on the Foothills annexation sketch plan, despite the hopes of both the town Planning Commission and the annexation proponents to reach a decision by the end of the meeting. Read More »
Action starts 14-day clock to fix what’s broken
Developer Dick Landy is running out of time. The Gunnison Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) voted on Tuesday, October 6 to send a notice of default to Landy to inform him that his million-dollar security bond being held by the county could be in jeopardy if necessary improvements aren’t made to the Buckhorn Ranch subdivision soon. Read More »
Time out.
We have a situation… again.
In fact, it is a bit of a mess.
The “situation” is the old town dump.
What is the real situation with the ten-acre dump? What’s there that’s dangerous besides lead? Who owned it 50 years ago? Who ran it? Who should pay to clean it up? Why was Poverty Gulch built next to it or even on it? Are there really ticking time bombs of 50-gallon oil drums deteriorating beneath the grass? Is there really an old county loader buried there? Are the Foothills developers really building up a foundation to sue the town to pay for clean-up if the annexation isn’t approved? What is the honest reality? Why didn’t the developers follow the simple equations supplied by the town in its Area Plan? Can there be a happy ending?
Wait…we have a change order—again. So it comes to light this week that the Foothills developers sent a letter to the town documenting their belief that Crested Butte is ultimately legally liable for the old dump. Based on their research, Foothills contends that the town is responsible for cleaning it up so developers can do what they do and develop the property. The lawyers for the Foothills swear they want to find a way to work in conjunction with the town. The ballpark estimate being used as a cost for clean-up: a mere $2 million… and there’s a real chance that’s a lowball figure.
A public hearing will be reopened this coming Tuesday with the chance of the Town Planning Commission voting on whether or not to approve its sketch plan phase. Seriously? With the latest information from the state about the need to test the site and determine a course of action, and this letter from the developers getting all legal on the town… we might need a small time-out. Maybe it’s a week, maybe it’s longer. Add in the developers’ request for the town to throw in a million bucks to help pay for a convoluted Kochevar’s open space deal and I just keep scratching my head.
The Foothills development team seems to keep bumbling and stumbling toward the end zone. Examples—Let’s start with the fact they bought a dump surrounded by wetlands and a cemetery for $15 million. They pulled the developer ploy of starting with 380 houses and after getting their arm twisted, came down to 158. Out of nowhere, they offered to sell the town half the property. At one point they planned to build the affordable housing. Now they send a letter pointing blame and total responsibility at the town—a letter that might tweak the people who ultimately vote on the annexation. But the fact is they are still headed to the end zone.
I get the feeling sometimes that the developers not only don’t want this Planning Commission voting on the sketch plan or even the one that will be seated in a month, but rather the council that will be elected in 2011.
In the latest change of plans, the developers are now proposing that they will front the potential $2,000,000 clean-up costs. Remember that 1 percent real estate transfer fee the developers promised to impose and give to the town for “sustainability?” Say goodbye. They suggest it now be used to pay back the upfront costs to them over several years with interest.
It is understandable if the first reaction to all of this is anger. It has the scent of “Give us our annexation and we’ll make it so you don’t have to come up with the clean-up money. Don’t give us the annexation and we’ll sue your ass. And if you lose, you get to clean it up and figure out a way to pay for it, while we sell lots.”
The fact is, nobody really knows yet who is “liable” and who will clean up the dump. The dump genie is out of the bottle and I don’t think it’s going back in. As the state’s Mark Rudolph suggested, the next serious step is a $40,000 “site characterization study” to really determine what is there. Would somebody make that move, please? Isn’t it time to prioritize?
That dump will likely have to be cleaned up by someone, somehow. Nobody wants those 50-gallon barrels of oil leaking into the water table and polluting the Slate River. That reality now has to be part of any equation.
Don’t even get started on the cojones it took to ask the town to spend its $1.2 million in open space funds to help pay for the proposed Kochevar open space package. But that’s another topic not fully detailed.
Why the Planning Commission hasn’t plainly discussed this stuff in public is a mystery. Why the planning commissioners’ heads haven’t exploded when confronted with some of this stuff is a bigger mystery.
Unfortunate bottom line: The dump situation isn’t going away. And the ultimate result is that the town might just feel pushed into the corner far enough to move ahead with annexation. Maybe the commissioners should send Foothills lead attorney Jim Starr a letter saying the developers have liability and responsibility. They bought the thing.
The town must ultimately decide if getting the benefits on the table—and perhaps turning the tables and forcing the proponents to agree to pay for the lion’s share of the clean-up—is worth some sort of development.
I’ve said there have been some interesting items that emerged as a result of this painful 15-month process. I’m not sure the Planning Commission feels it is there yet one way or the other… but doing it this way? It stinks. What should have been an arithmetic equation has unfortunately moved to algebra.
A short time-out might be in order to evaluate the true reality of the dump before it goes from algebra to calculus.
Red light, green light, goofy factor…
With the admission of frustration flying from every corner, the Crested Butte Planning Commission and proponents of the proposed Foothills annexation have agreed to try one more meeting to address every outstanding concern and to settle differences before the commissioners vote on the sketch plan proposal. That meeting will be held Tuesday, October 13 and is expected to last from 4 to 8 p.m. At least one commissioner, Billy Rankin will be absent from the meeting due to other commitments. Read More »
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