Mark Reaman

Ten people, nine residents and one second homeowner, were appointed to Crested Butte’s new 2027 citizen’s budget advisory committee. Fifteen people had applied to serve on the board.

During the second work session on updating design standards with the Crested Butte town council and members of the Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) on September 8, the biggest debate was over how much to regulate design standards outside of the town’s historic districts.

Gunnison County has decided to not be the property manager for the Mineral Point housing project that is getting ready to open in Crested Butte across from the Gas Café. The 34-unit project is targeted at low-income workers in the area by using LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credit) financing and has had several setbacks and issues during its construction process. It received a Certificate of Occupancy from the Crested Butte building inspector on August 18 and the hope is now to start leasing the units to qualifying locals who make between 30% and 60% AMI (Area Median Income) before the end of the month. The 60% AMI threshold for a two-person household is $59,400 annually. A grand opening for the project was held Tuesday, September 22.

It is budget time in local government-land and Crested Butte held its first work session on the 2027 budget on September 21. Town finance and administrative services director Lauren Hawcroft provided the council a background memo on the Community Compass priorities outlined by the council, the fund balances and projections, and the five-year capital plan.

While admitting the technology is not yet in place to take drastic action, the Crested Butte town council asked staff to come back with a plan that would phase out and ultimately prohibit machines in town that use small gas-powered off-road engines such as lawn equipment like mowers and leaf blowers and even possibly snowblowers.

While local government budgeting is rarely fun, it is the place that indicates the direction of any entity. Crested Butte is in the throes of organizing its 2027 budget and while there are a few speed bumps along the way and department heads are “scrubbing” their individual numbers, things are looking solid, even with a slight downturn in summer sales tax revenues.

A new but limited study of eight homes owned by the town of Crested Butte has provided a baseline on how well the town’s energy regulations are working. The initial findings indicate homes using all electricity for power and heat are more efficient, use lower energy amounts and have lower emissions per square foot compared to homes that also use gas, but the cost is generally higher. Currently Crested Butte has an all-electric, above-code building policy.

The Mountain Express is facing a budgetary cash crunch for 2027 and ideas being discussed to fix that dilemma include making drastic cuts to regular bus service. The issue resulted in an hour and a half discussion at the October 6 Mt. Crested Butte town council meeting that did not result in any recommendations but sounded the alarm loud and clear.

A plan to keep pedestrians who are using the area near the new Whetstone Community Housing development safe that includes a temporary stoplight and reduced speed limits on Highway 135 will likely go into effect this January and carry through next summer. Gunnison County and Town of Crested Butte officials agreed to the proposal at the Monday, October 19 town council meeting. The county will apply to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) for a permit, but they have already given a thumbs up to the idea.

In the first of what will be a report to the Crested Butte town council every two years, the town sustainability department reported on October 5 that greenhouse gas emissions have decreased in town since the base year of 2022. Most of the credit goes to the Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) and its power wholesaler Tri-State Generation and Transmission that have both increased their reliance on renewable energy generated by things like solar and hydro power.