Decision opens the door for Daniels

[  By Mark Reaman  ]

The incumbent Gunnison County commissioner representing the North Valley has decided to not seek reelection. Roland Mason was elected in 2018 as a Democrat after serving eight years on the Crested Butte town council but he said this week that the time commitment given his personal circumstances led him to the decision not to run again.

“It was the culmination of a lot of things,” Mason explained Tuesday. “The biggest was the amount of time I’ve been putting in with the job while trying to keep my business afloat along with watching my three-year-old, eight-year-old and 10-year-old daughters grow up. Add in COVID and the daycare situation as my wife now has a full-time job at the Center for the Arts and all these things made me reevaluate my future on the board. I look at it as a chance to step back and do things like finish my house and take in my needs and the needs of my family.”

Mason said the decision might have been delayed a bit but Laura Puckett Daniels’ announcement earlier this month that she planned to seek his District 3 commissioner seat as a fellow Democrat made it more clear that taking the time to focus on a summer primary along with a general election in the fall would take up significant amounts of time.

“Laura’s announcement that she would run in the primary made me think of the time involved,” he said. “I know that having someone like Laura represent that seat would be good. She has some experience and would do a good job. That influenced me as well. I plan to stay involved and down the road could return at some level of county politics.”

Mason said time as county commissioner is very different than as a Crested Butte councilmember. He said the last three years have been filled with a variety of issues and the commitment is much more stringent at that level. 

“It’s been a long, strange road we’ve traveled and I still have another year left,” he said. “I think my leadership role has been good and I haven’t tried to push a personal agenda but rather listen to the community. The county is in a good, competitive place and came out of the pandemic in great shape, especially compared to other counties. We maintained our staff, our finances and our projects.”

Mason said he will not be missing meetings and plans to complete projects he has been intimately involved with like the overcrowding issue in Marble and the hopeful conclusion of buttoning up the Mount Emmons mining situation. “It is the closest we’ve ever been to accomplishing what we have wanted for decades with Red Lady so I hope that can be done soon,” he said.

Puckett Daniels said she has the utmost respect for Mason. “I am grateful to Roland for his service to this county over the last four years, especially through this pandemic,” she said. “I deeply respect Roland, and I hope to learn from his experience as a county commissioner. I look forward to working together in the coming months and years to best serve the people of Gunnison County. With this news, I’m excited to focus on the general election, getting out into the community to speak with everyone about the opportunities and obstacles ahead of us.”

Gunnison County Republican Party chairperson Stu Asay said he expects whoever emerges to run from the Democratic side to face a Republican challenger. “The county GOP caucus will be held March 5, and the county assembly will be that afternoon,” he said. “I believe we’ll have a candidate confirmed at that time. At this time, it’s only discussion.”

Gunnison County commission chair Jonathan Houck said when Mason finishes his terms he will be missed. “Roland is a thoughtful, pragmatic decision maker,” Houck said. “As commissioners, we too had to face the impacts of COVID at a personal level. I am sure the challenges of having young kids, the struggle with childcare and the demands on the building community which is his business all added up. I certainly respect his decision to focus on family. He has the skills and temperament to do this job so to see him analyze the situation and be at peace with a hard decision is something I respect. I will miss working with Roland when his term ends, but he has another year on the board and we still have a lot to do.”

Mason will finish his term that runs through November and he said he plans to finish strong with his commissioner duties.

[  By Dawne Belloise  ] 

Eric Davis was at one point determined to live his life as a surf bum. Instead, he found his way east, trading the California waves for the vertical frozen white stuff of Crested Butte and the surrounding mountains. E.D., as he’s locally known, spent the first few years of his childhood in Annapolis, Maryland, and with his father as a Navy pilot, the family moved around quite a bit. As a young boy, while the family was living in Memphis, his father brought him outside to witness a meteor shower and that event became one of his fondest childhood recollections. “I was 6 years old and there were fireballs and everything,” Eric smiles and also recalls the many airshows he attended with his family. 

The Navy family was eventually moved to San Diego. “Our backyard sloped off into an undeveloped canyon and we played there, where there were rabbits, lizards, the occasional rattlesnake and all those things that kids like. It was great growing up next to the canyon.” They loved California so after the aerospace program collapsed, they moved to Los Angeles. “It was a drag moving to L.A.,” he says, because they missed their canyon playground. But now he was only three miles from the Hermosa Beach so when he hit his teenage years and could drive, he’d head to the shore where hanging out at the beach and surfing became his passion. “I thought I was going to grow up to be a surf bum but instead I ended up being a ski bum,” he laughs. 

The market for engineers, along with the economy, wasn’t doing so well in the 1970s when Eric’s father took a job in construction in Aurora, Colorado, and Eric followed him there from LA. in 1971. Eric discovered that he really enjoyed the work. “It was no stress. I liked all the aspects of physical labor and being outside.” He had begun to explore the nearby mountains when a neighbor raved about this place called Crested Butte. “She continually went off about how cool it was. I had only skied once on a hill in Wisconsin. I didn’t know how to turn, I just jumped up in the air and tried to turn the skis sideways.” 

Every few months, Eric would travel back to L.A. from Aurora in his VW van, working so he could support a surf bum lifestyle. What he discovered was, “I started liking the mountains and being upstream from all that people pollution. I wasn’t liking L.A. anymore.” On his way back to Colorado in 1973, Eric decided to check out this Crested Butte place that his neighbor carried on about. His air-cooled VW classically sputtered along like a sewing machine over Kebler Pass as night fell. “I didn’t see CB until the next morning from the side of Highway 135,” where he had pulled over to sleep. When he emerged from his van and looked up at Paradise Divide, he was wowed. “My jaw dropped. Just seeing the shapes of Purple Mountain against Mineral Point and the flatness of the valley floor contrasting with Paradise Divide, it’s hard to describe but I thought, oh my god, maybe I want to live here.” He came back several times, hiking Conundrum to soak in the springs and exploring the area. “Back then you could drive a VW to Copper Lake.” 

Returning to Denver to work for a few more years so he could totally trick out another VW van for living in the varying mountain climates, Eric and his Irish setter named Freedom packed up and headed over the Divide to choose between either Telluride or Crested Butte in November of 1978. He had determined that skiing only 12 days a year on the Front Range wasn’t cutting it, “It just wasn’t enough.” 

On the road, he picked up a hitchhiker on Highway 285, who happened to be Peachtree Jim’s roommate, Jim Guther, who was living with a host of others in the old “Cathouse” in Gunnison. “He suggested I live in CB and get a job as a maid but that didn’t sit too well,” Eric mused, but Guther’s explanation of why Eric should take a job in housekeeping piqued his interest. “Think about it,” Eric recalled Guther’s reveal, “a new guy in a new town and most housekeepers are women and you get a ski pass. The light bulb went off,” Eric laughs. It was the day before Thanksgiving when Eric walked into Ptarmigan Property Management in the Emmons building, just above the deli that Jim “Deli” Schmidt, the now retired mayor of Crested Butte, got his name. Eric was hired as a housekeeper on the spot, and began cleaning at the Emmons, Axtel, Whetstone and Snowcrest condos.

Eric lived in his van, most often parked in Whetstone or Axtel lots after a full day of working and skiing. One brisk evening, he let his dog out to do his thing and then fell asleep. When he awoke, his pooch had bolted, “Here’s this long haired and bushy bearded guy in a VW van yelling, ‘Freedom! Freedom!’ at 11 p.m. and then I see lights going on in the condos,” he grinned. Eric hightailed it out of there as soon as his dog named Freedom returned, “Because I figured the people in the condos thought I was some long-haired freak on acid screaming freedom.” 

Eric moved to 417 Whiterock for a few years and then moved to First Street before buying the house next door in 1987, now known as the Air Conditioned house. “When I was living on Whiterock, a roomie moved out and left a bunch of stuff and this old air condition sign was part of that. We actually had it on 417 for awhile, and that’s how my house got its name. We figured it was a joke because nobody ever needed air conditioning here.” In fact, he tells of those days when Crested Butte’s houses or systems weren’t so energy efficient or insulated. “There’d be a really cold morning and you’d wake up and the pipes would be frozen so you’d go to the Forest Queen for breakfast, head to the bathroom, and sit at the community table with your friends and nod, ‘Oh your plumbing froze too.’ I think business doubled at the Forest Queen when the pipes froze around town.” 

From 1984 to 2000, Eric was on the CBMR ski patrol. “I wanted to be on ski patrol because we got paid to ski, throw bombs and help people, I mean how good can it get? It sure was a good time with the camaraderie, early mornings out there on control work, being out on the mountain when it was so quiet. Some of my favorite memories was what we called taking super sweep. You’d be up at the top at ski patrol headquarters waiting for all the sweeps to get down and call in clear,” he says of the nightly task of ski patrol scouring every run to ensure no skier is left on the mountain. ”And then you’d ski down by yourself with this beautiful view of the whole range and the whole mountain to yourself. Most often I’d like to come down International because of the view. At that time of day, it’s sunset and it’s magnificent.”

After ski patrol, Eric shoveled many a roof, did various construction jobs and says happily, “I even did a little bit of housekeeping again.” He met Audrey Anderson at a camp out at Lost Lake where he led a group of friends for a hike up East Beckwith. “We’d go dog walking,” he says of their budding romance, “I had another Irish setter named Seamus.” In a town where dog birthdays are an event, he and Seamus were invited to a party for Audrey’s dog. “It was her golden retriever Estee’s second birthday party, January 12, 2008, and we’ve been together ever since,” he says. The couple recently tied the knot on 4/20 at 4:20 p.m. on skis in a Woods Walk ceremony with just the two of them and their pooches as witnesses during the height of the COVID lockdown. 

Throughout his decades here, Eric has many exceptional memories of winter crossings to Aspen via Conundrum, winter snow caves at Copper and Green Lakes, Save the Red Lady tours over Pearl Pass to Aspen, and extraordinary summers which brought even more camping and mountain biking. “We didn’t even call it mountain biking back then, they were just klunkers with brakes and gears. My first mountain bike weighed like 40 pounds back in 1981 and we rode those over Pearl Pass.”

Eric and Audrey don’t think they’d find another home that feels as unique as Crested Butte. “I just still love it here, and all the memories. All my friends are here. There’s a sense of security here, being around town, hiking or camping, and then running into someone, an old friend who says, ‘Hi Eric.’ Besides,” he grins, “it would be too late to start over somewhere else and if we went someplace else it would have to be a place that had more snow than here. Even though it’s changed and become gentrified, and we’ve thought about moving, I feel it would be the biggest mistake I ever made.”

Collaboration a key for valley

[ by Mark Reaman ]

Matt McCombs has been the district ranger for the Gunnison National Forest for more than four years but will start a new job January 3 as Colorado’s state forester. He brought a passion for public lands and collaboration and we wanted to have a chat about his perspectives before he left his home in CB South for the Front Range.

MR: Let’s start with what your new job is and what you’ll be doing? What is it and where will you be located?
MM: The title of my new role is state forester and director of the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS). The CSFS is housed within the Warner School of Natural Resources at Colorado State University and my new office is located at the Foothills Campus in Fort Collins near Horsetooth Reservoir. The State Forester leads the CSFS while also providing staffing to the Division of Forestry within the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. The mission of the CSFS is “to achieve stewardship of Colorado’s diverse forest environments for the benefit of present and future generations.” The agency provides outreach and technical services to private landowners, partner organizations and state and federal agencies ensuring Colorado’s forests are managed effectively while advancing adaptive strategies across all ownerships to respond to a changing climate and the challenges associated with a rapidly growing state and country.

MR: How will that differ from your district ranger position with the Gunnison Forest?
MM: As the state forester my role will serve at the state level much the way the chief of the USDA Forest Service functions at the national level. I’ll be leading the agency as opposed to functioning as a field level manager implementing the agency’s mission thus shifting my focus from field operations to championing CSFS employees, advising state legislators and the Governor on policy and deepening relationships with a variety of communities and interests across the state and country in support of Colorado’s forests.

MR: With the new position, will you have any involvement with issues in this region?
MM: Absolutely, much of Gunnison County and the Western Slope are blanketed with forested landscapes.  My concentration here will remain stewarding Colorado’s forests for clean water, air and soil, abundant habitats for people and wildlife and responding to the challenges associated with a warming climate and rapidly growing populations.  I’ll just be doing so vicariously through the capable CSFS staff based here in the basin.

MR: You’ve been in the valley for four-and-a-half years. What did you expect when you came here?
MM: The Gunnison Ranger District is one of the largest in the country and has a reputation for some of the grandest landscapes one can manage in the USFS. There is a reason that the job has only opened up three times in roughly 30 years. I came having a good sense of the ground and many of the players from my time with Senator Salazar’s office and as a frequent visitor to the basin growing up on the Front Range and as a recurrent Western Slope resident. I expected it to be a great place to stretch my wings in the fields of collaboration and recreation management.

MR: Was it what you expected?
MM: It was more than I expected. The month I started was the month the STOR committee met for the first time. This fortuitous juncture has underwritten much of the district’s success while I’ve been here, helping us take on successfully some of the most pressing challenges facing the forest around recreation. On the vegetation management side our partnership with Western’s Center for Public Lands facilitated creation of the Taylor Park Adaptive Management Group which aided transparent, stakeholder-driven timber and fuels planning in the Taylor Basin setting up the program for the next decade. Add in a supportive, innovative and dedicated staff and this assignment has been a highpoint in my land management career, exceeding my expectations and completely changed my perspective on what’s possible when you dig in and do the hard work of building something together you couldn’t have built on your own.

MR: It feels to me that you jumped in quickly and brought a new energy and direction to the job that was centered on collaboration. Is that fair?
MM: I get a sense generally the community is pleased with the direction we’ve taken the district together. The pace of change and our collective response in facing down the shifts we’re seeing in visitation, technology as well as the impacts from a changing climate has been marked by thoughtful and innovative action and folks are happy we’ve moved out as we have. From my vantage we’ve built up a stronger foundation in relationships and expectations that will serve the community well boosting our ability to raise funds, plan together and continue to grow our impact. We’ve proven we can act big and move swiftly when we’re in alignment and communicating our concerns and ambitions in real time as opposed to responding to crisis as it happens.

MR: What sort of accomplishments came from that collaboration?
MM: There’s a litany of cool stuff to celebrate however, I’ll offer three things that stand out. First is the work we did together in the north valley to address the unreasonable impacts from rapidly growing visitation. The designated camping project was accomplished leveraging every tool we had in the toolbox: collaboration; partnering; and innovative financing. This project showed us the power of students in Western’s Masters in Environmental Management program and introduced the Gunnison Country to our friends at the National Forest Foundation who’ve now taken up permanent residence.  It will serve as an example for addressing similar challenges across the district and the country.

Two, the rapid response initiated to address the mountain pine beetle epidemic in Taylor Canyon has become THE model for shared stewardship nationally. The district took on that challenge at scale, working across boundaries through shared priority setting bringing together federal, state, non-profit and private interests. It really is a story of everything working and a concept I’ll be taking to scale in my new role.

The last project, which I’ll not get to see through to fruition, is the work we’re doing to settle now and forever the future of Mt. Emmons. I was well aware of the complicated history surrounding Red Lady before I arrived. I’ll be back for the party when this amazing alliance of federal, state, community and corporate interests comes together to ink what I think will be a groundbreaking model for land exchanges for the agency. Beyond that, I get excited for the future of beavers in this valley, for more restored wet meadows, for the potential of fenceless grazing management, for well-built and well-managed trails and a growing integration of forest stewards that draws together corps crews, volunteers, students and local governments to love on the backyard.
 
MR: Why has it worked here?
MM: I’ve commented many times, this place just seems hardwired to work together. Be it preserving a species, a way of life or charting the course for a new future, the people of the Gunnison Country seem to dig doing it together even if it gets a little spicy along the way. This is not a ubiquitous quality present in every community. It’s a special one and sets us apart and needs to be actively conserved as the challenges, the change and the opportunities keep rolling in.

MR: What were some of the most fun things you’ve done here, both professionally and personally?
MM: Monday staff meetings with donuts and coffee, camping under the stars after a long day of canoeing, fishing and paddle boarding on Spring Creek Reservoir, happy hour at Pita’s, Father’s Day dinners at Garlic Mike’s, yucking it up at STOR meetings, cruising 401 for the first time, hiking to the top of Cochetopa Dome, WESA tourneys in Junction and Durango, driving the district and talking to folks on fire patrol, bombing International, taking the dogs up Cement and Halloween parties at our place at CB South, which we’re keeping by the way. All these things involved new friends who we’ll not let go no matter where life takes us.

MR: What do you see in terms of the community involvement with public lands in this county in the short-term and long-term?
MM: This is the hallmark of our success. One of my maxims is “broadly supported equals implementable.” I hope that the collaborative spirit that has guided our achievements during my time endure and that the community understands collaborating should not be optional for their District Rangers, it’s the secret sauce that allows us to plan, act and monitor together proactively, quick-wittedly and democratically.

MR: What sort of insight did you glean from your time here that you can take to the new job?
MM: The lasting impression of my time here is a foot stomp affirmation that America’s public lands are truly the brightest and most beautiful demonstration of democracy the world has ever seen. The idea that we put aside not just any lands but the best lands to the benefit of the many as opposed to the few is a truly remarkable thing to be a part of. Our forests unite people in ways no other power can, they sustain what’s best in us as a society, they renew body and mind, house our wild neighbors and ensure the water keeps flowing.
As Colorado’s next state forester my focus will be singular to ensuring the health and productivity of Colorado’s forests regardless of ownership. My mission will be to ensure the benefits of well-managed forests persist deep into the future and to leave things better than we find them.

MR: Any advice for this community as you move to the Front Range?
MM: I landed into your community as a fellow Coloradan deeply absorbed by the landscapes that define who we are. I’ve been haunting the Western Slope in phases my entire life. What I’ve learned from this role is working together doesn’t just feel good, it is the good. It shouldn’t be discretionary. The USDA Forest Service has a job to do, has a jurisdictional responsibility to manage these lands on your behalf. However, I believe there is an equal charge for agency leaders and staff to draw people in, to connect them, to share in this weighty charge.

None of this is in the Constitution, it’s just really good ideas translated into a national ambition and safeguarded to date by the law of the land. Laws can change, thus the people not just their agents need to feel coupled to the land and its management so in return they support and defend it from the trials and tribulations of an unknowable future. Bottom line, whoever comes in behind, tell ‘em “collaboration is how we do it here, and we do it well.”

In the update discussion over the Red Lady mining issue Monday night, Gunnison Forest district ranger Matt McCombs said the process to get to the place where mining will be prohibited on Mt. Emmons would entail “radical transparency.” Given there is a public-private land exchange involved, that is a really good thing. McCombs promised “wall-to-wall” opportunity for public participation. Right on. Engaging the public on this and actually every other major issue is important to maintaining the unique systems this valley has put in place to get things done.

To me the foundation of the system is that if you want to be successful in any project, you start with an open process and then work toward robust collaboration. Any new idea will inevitably draw criticism but through the sometimes-contentious debate, a better result usually emerges and people can take their punches and still buy one another a drink after speaking their truth. That’s not normal in the world at the moment but it usually is here.

Based on Monday’s Red Lady presentation by the way, it appears that every stakeholder from a mining company to the Forest Service to local environmental watchdogs and government entities are on board with the direction and process emerging for Red Lady. For an issue that has seen more than its share of fighting — that in itself is a little weird…welcome, but weird.

And then there’s what seems to be the emerging opposite…
I’m scratching my head as Mt. Crested Butte seems to have forgotten how things work in the bigger picture of the North Valley and beyond. Several recent incidents have me concerned about the town on the hill. There seems little to no neighborly discussion on how to work collaboratively with ideas and projects. Instead, it appears there is a big shift to a parochial “our way or the highway” attitude. That too is “radical” but not in a good way.

The whole Mt. CB Rec Path and bridge discussion is odd. Can you just decide to make someone else take over the responsibilities of something you obviously built and is yours? I would think not. Even if you could, is it the right thing to do?

I mean if it’s really possible, well then, what a deal! It’d be like having a kid and when it’s time to pay for college you just say ‘no way’ – someone else has to foot the tuition bill. Problem solved! To claim as a town you suddenly have no responsibility for the things that you built, that for years you took pride in, where you have a plaque placed in concrete for goodness sakes — is weird and a really good way to break longtime bonds with neighbors. It is not a good direction. The town is literally burning bridges and I don’t understand to what communal purpose.

That provincial attitude seems a developing pattern for Mt. CB. The literal blockade of the former Snodgrass parking areas by the town is another example. The town took away something that worked really well, before apparently telling anyone. As one user noted, they came up with a solution to a problem that didn’t exist.

The North Village property owners had allowed public parking on their property for years and it provided opportunity for people using not just Snodgrass but the Gothic Valley drainage. The owners said they would have continued to allow that amenity but found out in the newspaper that the town was taking it away. As a user of that area, common sense indicates to me it will obviously be less muddy in the spring until you leave the asphalt— but also less safe for people and dogs as they will have to gear up on the road and some will have to cross that road on a curve instead of having head-in parking right at the trailhead. The new configuration also appears to have about half the spaces as last year.

Historically, a lot of people use Snodgrass and the Gothic Valley, oftentimes for overnight trips, and they appreciated the parking opportunity. The town move not to allow overnight parking caught a lot of people by surprise and based on conversations I’ve had this week, demonstrates how to lose the trust of a community used to collaboration and engagement.

Despite claims by town administration that there was a great communication process over the plan, everyone else involved contradicts that. That should be a big red flag.

One backcountry user sent two letters to the town in November asking for clarification and the response was…nothing. There was no response. RMBL officials say they found out about the plan in the paper. So did the North Village representatives. The county and Forest Service didn’t know of the plan until it was implemented. People with backcountry houses were surprised and some others will be when they try to park there for the first time. Look, not everything needs to be a handshake deal but the intentional rejection of even starting with a handshake results in a new way of doing business – and it doesn’t reflect the values we have always touted as being unique and successful to this place. It is sad to see.

And let’s not forget the slow walking of providing virtual access to Mt. Crested Butte public meetings. The lack of opportunity for citizens to attend council and planning commission meetings online when every other government entity has figured it out continues to bug the crap out of me. I would have Zoomed in Tuesday while I worked in the office – but couldn’t — even though I did just that a year ago. Maybe just turn the switch back on?

This wayward direction is ultimately the responsibility of the town council. The buck stops with them when it comes to policy and big picture direction. And right now the direction is heading toward a cliff.

When a Red Lady mine deal brewing between a behemoth federal agency, an international mining company, environmental watchdogs, small local non-profits and several local government entities is more “radically transparent” and successfully cooperative than changes to an already efficient parking situation at a popular trailhead in Mt. Crested Butte, that’s something that’s not just really weird…it’s crazy. And that’s a little concerning.

—Mark Reaman

When land exchange process begins, public process expected to be extensive

[ By Mark Reaman ]

Work continues on officially making Mt. Emmons a place where no active mining is allowed. That outcome will likely include a public-private land transfer and officials involved promised that a robust public process will take place.

In an update to the Crested Butte town council on Monday, December 7, Mt. Emmons Mining Company (MEMC) Remediation Projects manager Dave Gosen and U.S. Forest Service Gunnison district ranger Matt McCombs indicated it appeared the stars are aligning to improve water protection measures for Coal Creek, eliminate commercial extractive mining activities and development from Red Lady/Keystone Mine and establish perpetual recreation access to the upper portions of Red Lady for the local community. Residential development would also be prohibited. Those goals could be achieved but to get there, the plan calls for a land exchange between MEMC and the Forest Service. The hope is that exchange could be accomplished in an expedited process by 2023.

“We expect wall-to-wall public processes,” promised McCombs. “We want radical transparency. The benefits to the public and to the company need to be clear. We will have as much public participation as we possibly can, but the idea is to move forward given the unique alignment of the stakeholders.”

McCombs indicated that the mining company, the Forest Service, Gunnison County, the town of Crested Butte and environmental groups like High Country Conservation Advocates (HCCA) all seemed to be on the same page with accomplishing the stated goals. Given that, he said the idea is to not go through the extensive NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process of an Environmental Impact Statement or Environmental Assessment but use a so-called “categorical exclusion.” That is a much less detailed and shorter review process.

Gosen said the company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Freeport McMoran, is on board with the direction of the planning. He said MEMC would benefit from the land exchange that would basically give the company about 550 acres where the water treatment facility and nearby operations are located and the Forest Service would get the Three Peaks Ranch located up Ohio Creek. That, he said, would give the company “operational flexibility” to do things like upgrade the water treatment plant without having to jump through federal hoops because so much of the area is on Forest Service property.

Gosen said while the company couldn’t advocate for a legislative withdrawal of mining on the mountain, “the company would support it.”

MEMC has been looking at ways to make sure the treatment plant remains operational, especially given that the plant was meant to operate for 25 years but is now more than 30 years old. “We are looking at other technologies that can be used to treat the water and also contemplating the construction of a new plant,” Gosen explained, citing a five to seven-year timeline before a new plant would possibly be built.

Gosen showed photos of the results from reclamation work in the area and said MEMC is continuing to make general improvements.

As for the ultimate outcome that includes the land exchange, McCombs more than once emphasized that the public would have a lot of opportunity to weigh in on the proposal. “Basically we feel really good about this,” he said. “With help from MEMC, the Forest Service has the bandwidth to move forward. There are still some things we are wrestling with on the proposal but I have high confidence that people will be pleased with the amount of public process it goes through. I’d stake my reputation on it.”

In response to a question from Gay Austin, Gosen said the company was willing to let unpatented mining claims that contained a unique Iron Fen on the mountain expire.

Gosen said MEMC plans increased public outreach starting in early 2022. People are welcome to direct questions or concerns about public access and the conservation easement to Dara MacDonald at the CB Town Hall as she is in ongoing dialogue with the USFS, MEMC and Gunnison County.

Lord knows change is constant, but I sort of like the autumns where things don’t change until the last minute and the flip switches from biking to skiing in a couple of days. In the past, those have been some of the deepest ski seasons. We are hopefully setting up for that kind of winter.

On the political and psychological level, change is coming fast and furious so we threw out some quick questions on some hot topics to see what was up. We’re still not sure but we might have a little better idea of what’s on the horizon…

As I wrote to a Vail Resorts communications person on Tuesday afternoon, I received a couple of texts from Mt. CB businesspeople saying they had heard CBMR was postponing its opening until December 3. Normally I wouldn’t even follow up on that but since the lifts are supposed to start in less than a week and it’s about 50 degrees in CB and heading toward 60 in Gunnison, I thought I’d ask the quick question. “We’re currently still scheduled to open on the 24th,” was the response. “Currently” being the operative word. Looking at the phone forecast I assume the opening day ribbon of snow will be interesting.

USFS Gunnison District Ranger Matt McCombs will be moving on from the valley professionally after having a big impact during his time here. He seemed to not only get this place but embrace it. This week he was offered the job as Colorado’s next State Forester and Director of the Colorado State Forest Service. He will be transitioning to the new job in early January.

I asked him if in the vibe of Hotel California he was ready to check out but understand he can never really leave this place. “The Gunnison Country quietly seeps into one’s bones,” he admitted. “Though this next step is a zenith in my land management career for which I am deeply honored and excited for, I’m already preparing myself for the stark yearning I know I’ll feel dreaming of sunsets over Whetstone, Axtell and Emmons.”

Given some of the rancor taking place over school district issues and the number of letters we received at the paper this week asking the plaintiffs to drop a lawsuit against the Gunnison Watershed School District over its mask mandate, I thought I’d ask the quick question if they had any inclination to drop the court action. David Justice did not respond but Tomas Gomez said, “Not at this time.”

There seems a divide on whether to continue the reconfiguration of Elk Avenue that makes it one-way in the summer to provide restaurant seating in the street. Kent Cowherd had suggested reducing the size of the street seating areas to 8 feet instead of 12 feet. I asked Crested Butte’s community development director Troy Russ if that would work. “There would be room for traffic,” he said. “That configuration would be the same as the program I developed in Louisville, CO. That said, the design would likely require patios, as the curb and the stepdown of a parklet would consume usable space and render the areas likely too small. But with patios that level with the curb it could be a viable alternative.”

On that topic, local entrepreneur Kyleena Falzone is obviously passionate about keeping the street seating. Given her Secret Stash and Bonez success with the reconfiguration, she mentioned at Monday’s council meeting that she is getting some flack about the issue being all about her. So, I asked if it was all about her. “No. It’s about providing an interesting, vibrant Main Street during the 13 weeks of the summer tourist season. We all need that income to get through the off season.”

The new school board representative, Mandy Roberts, has taken some flack and been accused of being a puppet for national right-wing groups with a questionable agenda. We asked her if she was. “My representation is to God, family, church and now the school board,” she said. “I will listen to all perspectives brought to me for consideration.”

I saw that an old roadbed that goes from the Paradise Park subdivision by the Rec Path bridge out to the McCormick Ranch bridge had a sign that people could use it. So I hopped on my townie Monday and took a little ride to check it out. It was a tad muddy but definitely a roadbed that was a short but scenic way to get from bridge to bridge. I asked the owners of the property why it was open to the public. The Martens have voiced support to close the road leading from Elk Avenue to that McCormick Ranch bridge given wildlife concerns and have suggested people use that roadbed instead. “Ryan and I continue to believe that we need to and can balance use on our property,” responded Wynn. “Shifting access around is part of our proposal.” I’d guess that alternative might be brought up in the coming spring when people start looking for ways to get to Tony’s Trail.

CB mayor Jim Schmidt showed up at his last meeting Monday with a big bruise that got bigger the longer he presided over the meeting. What happened? “Ruth was being attacked by a bear that I had to fight off.” Really? “No. I tripped and did a face plant on the rocks going to the car before the council meeting.” Ouch.

COVID numbers in the county are pretty low with an average of 31 positive cases reported in the last two weeks. Our friends over the hill in Pitkin County adopted a winter mitigation COVID-19 plan last week. We asked our local health officials if such an official “plan” was being deliberated for here. “Gunnison County is not currently working on additional winter mitigation strategies,” said county public information officer Loren Ahonen. “However, we do support all efforts to remind folks that continuing to seek vaccination is crucial to minimizing the threat and spread of COVID-19. Largely our higher rates of vaccination and a willingness of much of the community to be mindful of basic mitigation measures certainly help the cause.”

Public Health director Joni Reynolds agreed. “We have seen the numbers fluctuate in the past several weeks, but we have not gone down to historical lowest levels. I do think the continued messaging and reporting has helped keep the community informed. I also really appreciate all of the work done by community members, businesses and entities to reduce COVID-19 risks in the County.”

So we’re in decent shape, but have to stay aware!

The Paintbrush affordable housing project in Gunnison has people moving into the new apartments but the waiting list went from hundreds to dozens when real money came into play. I asked project developer Gary Gates if he had any worries about filling the 77 new units. “We have no worries about filling the spots. It’s a little slower because of the documentation it takes due to the deed restrictions,” he said. “Once filled, then it shouldn’t be a problem and we do 3-4 showings a day.”

While the guy who first started the new wave of buying up Elk Avenue commercial property hasn’t sat down for a coffee with me to chat about his connection and plan for the place (which is his option, but I like putting Mark Walter out there lightheartedly almost as much as giving Mt. Crested Butte a hard time for not putting their public meetings on Zoom), the second guy to catch the Elk Avenue wave did. Jeff Hermanson has been here a really long time and knows the old Crested Butte but doesn’t really want to go back there. “Change is part of life and there’s a lot of change going on here right now. But we can still impact the outcome.” True that.

The CBCS Titans soccer team won its third state title last weekend. Congrats. Is it a 2A soccer dynasty in the making? I asked head coach Than Acuff is he’s already planning for #4. “Let’s go one title at time,” he said. Good advice on almost every issue…Focus on one thing at a time.

Quick answers to quick questions certainly indicate there will be change…but I agree we can still impact the outcome as long as we stay mindful, engaged and focused. Except for maybe the ski resort thing…having enough snow, natural or manmade, is sort of up to the Universe and right now it looks like opening day will be “interesting.”

—Mark Reaman

How do we activate the base area

[ By Kendra Walker ]

The town of Mt. Crested Butte is in the thick of drafting its Master Plan, which will provide guidance on decision-making for the town’s future planning and direction. In its first phase, the town has conducted a series of community engagement events this year to gather input from residents, visitors and the greater community, including a recent public open house. Now headed into phase two which includes design, strategy and planning, the Master Plan team discussed the feedback and drafted plans with the town council and planning commission in a joint work session on October 19.

“What are we really envisioning for our community, how would we like to see that happen and how do we get there?” explained Elena Scott of Norris Design, the group working with the town to develop the Master Plan.

Stakeholders involved in the Master Plan process have identified five priorities for Mt. Crested Butte: invest in the base area; increase community housing options, take an active role in responsible growth, maintain Gothic Road scale and character; and create a transportation network supporting increased transit, bike and walkability.

Scott noted that when talking with the community throughout this summer and fall, the top two items were housing and improving the base area. The majority of the October 19 discussion focused around the base area.

“How the base area functions as a primary community hub for us is really critical into how the rest of the community functions,” said Scott. “We want to start with activating the base area and having more vibrancy there.”

She continued, “We want to try to create a sense of arrival. When do you know you’re here?” said Scott, referencing Elk Avenue as an example for the town of Crested Butte. “People had a hard time pinpointing that here. How can we grow some of that community potential, restaurant potential and create better east/west connections.”

The general feedback of the current base area is that it’s difficult to find your way around. “There’s no natural lead through the space or visual view of where you’re trying to get to,” said Tori Aidala of Norris Design. “We’ve put a fortress around our town center.”

“There lacks east/west connectivity to get through the base area,” said Scott. “We have some great structures, and some that are aging, and some that are in the wrong spot.” She also noted that the Master Plan conversations with the community and stakeholders have brought up issues with circulation, delivery drop-offs and operations.

One idea presented in the draft was to create an arrival plaza where the Emmons building and Treasury Center are currently located, extending all the way from Gothic Road to the ski lifts. The plaza could have a delivery loading and drop-off on a lower level at Gothic Road, with stairs or escalators leading up to an upper plaza level for people making their way to the base.

“This would engage both Gothic and lead people into the core,” said Scott. “Currently, when you’re coming down or up Gothic everything is pushed right up on the road. There’s no easing in and up into the mountain and into the space.”
Town council member Dwayne Lehnertz noted that a similar key point of arrival and plaza area could be accomplished off of Snowmass Road where the Axtel and Whetstone buildings and parking are located.

Lauren Koelliker expressed concern that this plaza concept wasn’t connected to the current transit center or parking areas, and would only capture people coming up the Rec Path. “Very few people would be going there. Most people are getting off the bus or coming from the parking lots. We need to really be thinking about where people are coming from.”

“How will people’s patterns change with change we create?” noted Scott.

Many existing buildings were missing from the Master Plan example rendering, including the Emmons building, the Treasury Center and the property that has included the Brown Lab, CB Burger Co, Action Adventures and the Club at Crested Butte. Town Manager Isa Reeb noted that base area and property owners have been included in the Master Plan conversations.

“We want to think about relocating, not displacing,” said Reeb. “Any time you see a building gone, we can put a better building in its place. And replace them in a way that’s more conducive to place-making and sense of arrival.”

“What was the initial reaction to these land and real estate owners in these meetings when you say, ‘We’ve got a vision for the base area and it includes your buildings not existing,’” said council member Roman Kolodziej. “What incentive exists for somebody to give up their building or sell it to someone?”

“None of them were surprised when I’ve talked to them individually,” said Reeb.

“They weren’t shocked but they were really intrigued,” said Aidala.

“It’s all about not looking at property boundaries,” said Reeb. “There’s lots of different ways I think it can happen. There’s also a potential that someone says I don’t want this property…it will be cheaper for me to donate it and take the tax write-off than to demo it and put something new on it.”

“You’re playing with other people’s investments with these ideas,” said planning commission member Sara Morgan.
“They’re at the table talking to us,” said Reeb.

“We have buildings that are 40 years old,” said planning commission member Lisa Lenander. “We have to consider those are going to start being taken down.“

“What happens if this plan is accepted and one of these key players doesn’t want to play ball and the Emmons building ends up staying there and you have all this open space and no view corridor? How do you navigate those different hurdles and adapt?” asked Kolodziej.

“We can create some guidance in what we’re trying to achieve,” explained Scott. “Could a different proposal come in, but it meets all those goals?” she said. “Can we achieve the same types of goals with a different plan? Possibly.”

“I 100-percent guarantee that the footprints that you see today will not be built,” said Reeb. “Never in the history of master planning has that happened.”

“I don’t know where this hypotheses is coming from where people don’t know where the mountain is,” said Morgan. “I think by the time you hit CB South you know where the mountain is…I’m questioning this whole need to open up this big visual space.”

“Our wayfinding public outreach was extremely consistent that no one knew how to find the lifts,” said Reeb. The town is currently working on a wayfinding initiative to put in more cohesive signage around town. The wayfinding and Master Plan contractors are also collaborating and comparing community feedback. “For outsiders it’s really confusing for people and knowing where to park, where to walk after you park, getting to the lifts…There’s definitely a challenge from the outside perspective,” said Reeb.

“It goes back to the fact that we’re trying to create an active, vibrant space and creating space for it to be success,” said Scott. “We don’t have that in the current space for restaurants and retail to be successful.”

Lehnertz advocated for a grand lodge, or some space similar to the old Rafters restaurant. “Some place where everybody is going to show up and put on their ski boots. The central, anchor hub where everything flows to and from that area. That’s what’s missing. Nobody knows where to go because there’s no place to go.”

Planning commission member Nancy Grindlay liked the idea of a plaza opening up the base area. “I am concerned about the feasibility in how that’s going to evolve especially since we haven’t had any input from Vail about what they want to do about the Cinnamon building. A grand lodge would be really wonderful for a cafeteria and lockers and a place to hang out.”

The Master Plan team is taking the council and planning commission feedback into consideration, and the next joint work session is tentatively scheduled for some time January. The goal is to have a final Master Plan ready by the end of February.

To place a moratorium or not?

[ By Kendra Walker ]

While it’s still unclear whether or not the Mt. Crested Butte town council will place a moratorium on new short-term rentals (STRs), it’s clear they are concerned about the unanswered questions and community impacts of STRs and are making an effort to hear from all sides of the community.

During a special town council meeting on Monday, July 26, the council provided the public an opportunity to voice their concerns about STRs and the valley-wide housing crisis, discussed regulatory changes to the STR license program, and weighed the pros and cons of issuing a moratorium on new STR licenses.

However, no decisions were made. “All of us need time to process what we hear and learn this evening,” said mayor Janet Farmer. She also noted the importance of finding a balance between full-time, part-time, and tourist needs.

As of June, there are 613 STR licenses in Mt. Crested Butte and since January 1 the town has received 36 requests for new licenses. A staff memo to the council reads, “Currently we have 28 pending applications, however a few recent applications were submitted just in case a moratorium went into place.”

The majority of the 70-80 attendees on Monday were in favor of issuing a moratorium on STRs. The town also received more than 50 emails prior to the meeting, mostly voicing against a moratorium or any changes to STRs in general.

In favor
Speaking as a Pitchfork resident, not as community development director for the town of Crested Butte, Troy Russ strongly encouraged the town to put a moratorium on STRs to study the economic and neighborhood stability effects. “STRs have a profound impact on our neighborhood community, our neighborhood quality of life…STRs is not a property right, it’s a license…I believe we have too many STRs in town and we need to understand its impact because I think Mt. Crested Butte should be focused on creating community…”
Later, speaking on behalf of the town of Crested Butte, Russ explained that the CB council approved a moratorium on STRs earlier this month so the town could do a detailed housing study. He also reiterated his appreciation for the two towns’ continued collaboration, “We want to continue our pledge to work together.”

Patrick Church, Crested Butte planner, agreed. “Our houses are not being used for housing, so if we can make our houses available for housing we can take steps toward [solving] the housing crisis. But we can’t do that if they’re being used as hotels.”

Cooper McNealus said he is going to be homeless in about a week. “It’s really tough right now looking for a place to live and I want a fair shot just like everybody else…Right now I have to go through applications with 40 other people kind of listing our qualities so they can pick the best one and the free market is not in favor of anybody who’s lost their housing right now.”

Bob Colvey, who is on the HOA for Overlook, said the first question he gets from most interested homebuyers in that neighborhood is, “’Can I short-term rent it?’ Not, ‘can I become part of the community?’” He urged the council, “Pump the brakes, call a timeout, enact a moratorium.”

“I am not here to argue that one segment of our population is bad. I think all of these segments of our population are valuable,” said Laura Puckett-Daniels. “Visitors are valuable, part-time residents are valuable, full-time residents are valuable, newcomers and old-timers alike are valuable. What I’m asking is for us to consider all of these things. A community without the sugar borrowing, without kids on bikes and families barbequing, without waves to your neighbors and helping each other is not a community I want to be a part of. I’m not sure it’s a community any of us want to be a part of…If STRs continue to grow unchecked in Mt. CB then we may end up with one of those alternatives and for me and for most of us that is not why we’re here. It’s not why we move here, it’s not why we bought property here, it’s not why we visit here…we need a balance of these sectors in our community and we need time to plan proactively so all sectors can thrive. If we hit pause we can take a deep breath, talk to our neighbors and friends and plan for a community that, as best as possible, serves everyone.”

Korrie Armstrong told the council, “It has turned into a business, something they’re making a profit off of… It would take me 90 [STR] days to cover my mortgage. To say you need it year-round is a lie…I have to lock my doors every night because I don’t know who my neighbors are. I would like our community to be a community, not a bunch of hotels.”

Shaun Matusewicz agreed. “They’re operating as a business, they need to be paying the same operating fees and taxes that hotels do.”
“Changing the taxing on STRs from residential to business has to be done at the state assembly level,” Farmer explained later on. “We don’t have control over that. That’s not going to happen any time soon.”

“We need to protect people’s first investment before their second, third or fourth investment,” said Jennifer Kennedy, who noted the difficulty of living here paycheck to paycheck in the education field. “We chose to move here. I didn’t choose to go somewhere else and make a lot of money and then move to my dream community.”

Cass Rea asked the council to find a balance. “Consider what it means to live in a resort town with a plastic population. Currently it’s the Wild West and we have no cap and ability to deal with this stuff.”

“At the end of the day it’s very plain and apparent that all our businesses are struggling from lack of housing,” said Eliot Tilton, who shared his decision to halt Airbnbing his place to house a local long-term. “This is something very easy I can do, change my lifestyle a little bit, be more frugal with my money and help someone who needs a spot…Remember that just because you have one bad experience with a renter doesn’t mean that everybody is…There are a lot of people here in this community that have multiple Airbnbs, multiple short-term rental properties. Do you really need all of them?”

Amber van Strien explained how she continues to witness her neighbors and friends become displaced from her building, Chateaux, where seven bedrooms have been converted to STRs just this past year. “Owners are literally splitting up their condos to maximize the number of individual units they can list for maximum profit…Random strangers are opening the door to our home because they are looking for their hotel room.”

Brandon Johanns said the house he rents just sold and that he and his four roommates have yet to find a new place to live. We all work in town…We’re all at this time of year pretty stressed out…On top of that we’re pretty stressed out that we won’t have a place to live. I think we need to be protecting the mental health of our valley and the mental health of our community… If we do value the mental health of our community, that’s something we need to consider…I think we need to value the mental health of our community over investment of visitors.”

Lindsey Freeburn reminded the council that a moratorium would not impact current STR owners, it would just pause the issuance of any new licenses. “The entire country is watching us right now. You have this opportunity to make some really important decisions to protect the people who live here. You can get creative with this moratorium.”

Against
Dan Denbow, president of the San Moritz HOA, said he was somewhat disturbed that STRs have become such a divisive issue. “I think we bring a critical aspect to the economy so I don’t know why we’re under attack for this…We’re able to employ six full-time people and another three or four part-time persons on the housekeeping staff. If we were to only do long-term rental we would lose that benefit.”
“I’m angry,” said Karen Redden, who currently lives in the Emmons building because of the pandemic. “It’s not designed for long-term renting…it’s our long-term renters that are the problem in the community, not the short-term. Because of different lifestyles,” she said. There’s a core area here in Mt. Crested Butte that was never designed for long-term housing. We’ve created the problem by mixing the two. Look at zoning. There are areas that should not have a moratorium and some that should.”

Ted Gundrum explained that he long-term rented his unit at the Timberline Condos for four years. “I have to kind of painfully say that was probably the worst four years of damage done to our unit. It wasn’t that people were intentionally damaging our unit, it was just that they didn’t take care of it. There were a lot of repairs that we had to do that we wouldn’t have had to do if we had short-term rented it…now we’re to the point where I don’t think we’re going to rent it…I don’t want our investment to be damaged and have our renovation destroyed.”

Todd Barnes expressed his opposition to the moratorium. “I think you guys can do better than that. You have land and you have a revenue stream…A moratorium doesn’t magically solve the problem of long-term rentals nor does it create a conscience for the owner of the property, new or old, to put long-term rentals in there. You have revenue, I don’t think you’ve even scratched the surface, and you have land – put the two together and put in the horizontal infrastructure.”

Adam Moore reached out to the council by email prior to the meeting. “My family is 18-24 months out from being able to complete construction on a home, but we have to make commitments now to move forward. It is impossible to do that when we don’t know if we’ll be able to get an STR license a year or two from now.”

In another email, Ben Smith said, “We use our home periodically during the year and often come up on a whim (or sometimes last minute) or when our schedules allow us to plan and do so… we are not about to lock our home up in a long-term type rental that would preclude our flexibility or ability to use our home…our #1 priority is not to make it an income producing property (nor is it now). Our home alone contributes (an extra) $15,000+ plus per (non-covid) year to the local economy by way of the STRs…I fully understand that there is a local housing crisis… but it is NOT going to be solved by looking at or limiting private property second homeowners that did not purchase their property with the mindset of becoming long-term landlords…”

Kelli Jennings wrote, “Full-time residents who use their homes as occasional STRs do not impact the issue of dark homes in the community or the housing crisis since their homes would not be available for long-term rental anyway. Since this was a financial consideration for some of us who’ve made Mt. CB our home, I believe the primary residences should be considered separately from second homes.”

Council discussion
Council members each took turns voicing their thoughts, focusing on two main discussion topics: how to better regulate and enforce STRs in general (enacting a license fee increase to cover administrative costs and issuing a new penalty/fine structure) and whether or not to place a moratorium on granting new STR licenses.

“To me the town needs to probably create its own department, expand with one full-time or part-time individual who would oversee the licensing process,” said Steve Morris. “I’d like to see town have enforcement that actually goes out. A system where there’s some transparency for the community to act on the complaints and concerns they have. It’s a huge component to the quality of life conversation.”

Michael Bacani agreed. “The quickest and probably the most effective thing we could do is update the ordinance for fines, penalties and possible revocation of that STR license.”

Roman Kolodziej also agreed that the town needs to help affected neighbors better: providing addresses of STRs adjacent to their property, contact info, the parking plan, etc. “There should be a stronger penalty fee schedule and better tools for neighbors to advocate for themselves.”

Dwayne Lehnertz advocated for the town composing a standardized letter or form of communication to anybody who is renting a short-term rental. “Let them know there are certain courteous ways to behave in our community. If you’re expecting to come and party like it’s 1999 and if you’re in a condo unit that shares a wall with someone, well that’s not very courteous. Encourage people to embrace a Leave No Trace mentality.”

Farmer also wanted to prioritize regulatory issues, like increasing fees in order to hire someone to deal with STRs, parking enforcement and issuing a town noise ordinance.

Regarding the potential moratorium, Morris was open to a moratorium in a limited capacity that would have some leniency toward full-time locals. “I don’t think those types of people should be chastised or limited in their ability to do that.”

Bacani suggested looking at a moratorium from a zoning point of view, possibly outside of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA).

“I’m for a moratorium,” said Kolodziej. “I like the idea of outside the DDA. It needs to be made clear it’s not eliminating someone’s right to rent. It’s a pause. It won’t change the rules but what it would do would maybe hit the pause button.” He noted there should be exceptions, such as homebuyers who have already entered into a contract, and property owners or new construction projects that have submitted a complete application that has yet to be processed. “It’s not fair to basically pull the rug out from under somebody because they entered into a contract with a certain understanding of what they could do.”

“I don’t see the benefit that would be derived from a moratorium, maybe I’m missing something,” said Lehnertz.

Lauren Koelliker voiced her favor of a moratorium. “A moratorium does not mean no more short-term rentals and so I think there are a lot of details to work out here. I do support not issuing additional STRs for a limited amount of time. We need to be reasonable about who that applies to.” She agreed that looking outside of the DDA makes sense. “I’m not proposing we ban all short-term rentals but I’m not proposing that we should allow as many short-term rentals as people want.”

Nicholas Kempin wondered whether a moratorium on STRs would really help, as homes may just sit empty rather than be rented out long-term. “Their wealth is such that they don’t need STRs. They don’t need the STR income to make it pencil out.” Regarding people in the middle, “Some people use STRs to pay taxes or mortgage, for some it’s a retirement plan, for some people it’s a backup plan.”
“One of the problems to do a moratorium right now, we don’t have the staff in place to enforce a moratorium,” said Farmer. “Putting in a moratorium right now to me doesn’t make any sense because we can’t enforce it.” She noted she would consider it in certain areas or neighborhoods.

What about CBMR?
Johanns asked the council how CBMR was playing a role into all of this, explaining how shocked he was when he first moved here and got a job as a lift operator only to find CBMR doesn’t have any employee housing. “I was curious if there’s any sort of responsibility that CBMR has to find housing for their employees like the rest of Vail’s resorts in Summit County. I’ve always been so shocked that they don’t have that up here.”

“I promise you that all of us are very aware,” said Farmer. “They have made it clear they are not going to take part in that responsibility.”

Kolodziej explained that the council’s understanding is that CBMR would sign a master lease but they won’t build.

Regarding “CBMR’s complete absenteeism on all things community related,” Morris encouraged everyone to reach out to the new general manager Tara Schoedinger, who has voiced the importance of community and partner collaboration. “Send emails, call Tara, show up at her office…Get super, super loud with CBMR right now. Equally with the North Village. This is the biggest opportunity we’re going to get to get a huge lump of deed-restricted houses in the inventory.”

The council encouraged the public to come to the Mt. CB Town Picnic this Friday and the next council meeting on August 3, in which they plan to discuss the STR and housing topics further.

The momentum is positive but patience still needed

[ By Mark Reaman ]

Three members of the Crested Butte town council met in a joint work session July 21 with two of the three Gunnison County commissioners and a representative of the Mount Emmons Mining Company (MEMC) to review the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the three entities. The general consensus was that while not a binding contract, the MOU reinforced that all three were on the same page and on a clear path to eliminate the possibility of mining on Red Lady.

While there are still many hurdles to jump, the fact that everyone involved “is speaking the same language” and moving in the same direction was considered a substantial step.

“This new MOU sets forth a path to reach a final conclusion,” said Gunnison County attorney Matt Hoyt. “All the parties are on the same page to walk down the same pathway. This is a very significant step and lays out the process to get there.”

“I agree and feel the mining company is committed to this pathway forward,” said Crested Butte town manager Dara MacDonald. “I am cautiously optimistic. The mine is following through in good faith with what we’re saying. This is a huge step forward but there is a lot of work to be done. We are heading in the right direction.”

“We are accepting of the MOU language and our vice president has signed the document,” added MEMC manager Dave Gosen.

Basically, the MOU outlines several steps that will result in mining being eliminated as a possibility on Mt. Emmons, which is located just west of Crested Butte. The MEMC is asking the Forest Service to exchange some land around the mine’s headquarters for a ranch surrounded by public lands up Carbon Creek. That exchange would consolidate their property near Crested Butte and give them ownership of the land where the water treatment plant is located, allowing them to more easily make improvements to the facility without going through federal review. A conservation easement would be placed on land that would extinguish the ability to mine the molybdenum ore body within Mt. Emmons. With the support of the town, the county and MEMC, US Senator Michael Bennet’s staff is working on language and maps for an amendment to the CORE Act (Colorado Outdoor Recreation Economy) that is currently making its way through the U.S. Congress. The amendment would facilitate a federal legislative mineral withdrawal by an Act of Congress to prohibit any mining on federal mining claims surrounding Red Lady to prevent access to the ore through nearby mining claims that others besides MEMC own. Some recreational activity like backcountry skiing would continue to be allowed and the town of Crested Butte would pay MEMC $2 million to obtain MEMC’s Red Lady mining claims and prevent their use, or alternatively MEMC would allow its Red Lady mining claims to expire when everything is completed. The process is expected to take about three years, but could take longer given all of the moving parts.

“This MOU will provide the basis, the foundation, that we can all refer back to,” said commissioner Roland Mason.

“The CORE Act is making its way through the Congressional pipeline,” said commissioner Jonathan Houck. “How long it takes to get through is anyone’s guess, but the political situation in Congress is currently favorable.”

“The next step is the land exchange which the mine has initiated with the Forest Service,” said Hoyt. “The Forest Service will start processing the exchange and it is currently evaluating it. The focus of the next several months is the land exchange. Then there is the CORE Act amendment that we are all working on with the congressional delegation to include the land for a mineral withdrawal on the mining claims around the Mt. Emmons property.”

MacDonald said John Whitney of Senator Michael Bennet’s office is working with people on the necessary senate committees to explain the requested amendment. “The conversation in D.C. would be very different if the mining company was not on board, but they are,” noted MacDonald.

The town and the county are also continuing to cooperatively participate in the mine’s pending water rights adjudication in state court, which might affect the amount and sources of water available for mining reclamation activities.

“It is pretty amazing really,” said Crested Butte mayor Jim Schmidt. “It has been a long time coming and the town has put a lot of resources over the years into this issue. It’s been a long, hard road but there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

“This will all still require patience,” concluded Houck. “There is still work to do. There is more to the process and we need to manage our expectations. But this momentum is a good sign for the community.”

Clear path to eliminate mining potential from Red Lady

[ By Mark Reaman ]

A final agreement that would permanently ensure that mining activity is not conducted in the area surrounding Mt. Emmons is closer than ever. The town of Crested Butte, Gunnison County and the Mount Emmons Mining Company (MEMC) are all on the same page with a Memorandum of Understanding agreed to this week that effectively details the path forward to end the possibility of mining Red Lady while still allowing some recreational possibilities like hiking the mountain to ski in winter.

“It is pretty amazing actually,” Crested Butte town manager Dara MacDonald told the council at the July 19 council meeting. “We have a willing partner in the mine owner and they are taking significant steps to stop the ability to mine on that mountain.”

The Red Lady fight has been going on since the 1970s when a significant molybdenum deposit was discovered. The town has fought the idea of a mine since then, but the current owner of the mining claims is a subsidiary of worldwide mining giant Freeport McMoRan that has shown not only lack of desire to develop the mine but a significant willingness to give up the claims while continuing to control the water treatment plant on the site.

In a memo to council, town manager Dara MacDonald explained that the MEMC had notified the US Forest Service of its intent to pursue a land exchange to acquire approximately 450 acres of Forest Service land adjoining the 365 acres already owned by the company. The 450 acres includes property where the water treatment plant is located and MEMC wants control of the property to more easily make changes to the plant without going through the Forest Service review process. The land exchange proposal includes placing a conservation easement on portions of the property restricting future mining and milling activities and allowing for certain public recreation. MacDonald’s memo said, “the conservation easement would extinguish the ability to mine the ore body.” The town has also committed to pay MEMC $2 million when a mineral withdrawal is completed.

Approximately 9,000 acres of land on and around the mountain would also be withdrawn from future mineral exploration. That will be done through a federal legislative withdrawal through an Act of Congress. That is expected to be completed by expanding on the withdrawal areas already included in the CORE (Colorado Outdoor Recreation Economy) Act. By adding the area encompassing the claims on and around Mt. Emmons to the adjacent Greater Thompson Divide area, the claims now held by MEMC could be included in a permanent legislative withdrawal from future mining claims. The process would be finally completed by the mine abandoning the 1,365 unpatented mining and mill site claims after the CORE Act becomes law and the land exchange is completed.

“This all will take an actual Act of Congress but the CORE Act is poised to do this,” MacDonald explained. “Effectively no one else could come in and file mining claims there. It would be a permanent withdrawal. This is a huge step if we can get these claims in the CORE Act and it sends a strong message to Washington if the town, the county and the mining company are all in agreement.”

She said representatives of the entities have been in active contact with Senator Michael Bennet’s office to make the necessary changes.
“The High Country Conservation Advocates (HCCA) supports the general concept of this MOU,” HCCA executive director Brett Henderson told the council. “We are excited to see this path forward laid out in writing. We commend the town and especially Dara for the efforts to protect Red Lady.”

Gunnison County commissioner Roland Mason agreed. “What’s happened here is significant,” he said. “Working in parallel with the mining company, the county and the town, it overall looks good.”

The county commissioners on Tuesday agreed to sign the MOU as well.

“Thanks everyone for the effort,” said Sue Navy who has been actively involved in the Red Lady fight since the very beginning. “This is a most amazing step and while there is still a ways to go, I hope it all proceeds from here without a hitch.”

In MacDonald’s memo she estimated the time for total completion would be about three years. “As contemplated in the MOU, this transaction would take place upon the successful completion of the land exchange, recording of the conservation easement and disposition of the unpatented mining claims. A land exchange like this is expected to take about three years, so payment (of the $2 million) would likely not take place until 2023 at the earliest.” The town has already earmarked that money from its reserve funds.