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J~F, k / -' -~.'~ III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 999 Crested Butte council eschews by Denis Hall After long discussion at its reg- ularmeeting last Monday night, the Crested Butte Town Council termi- nated weeks of discussion of a lease arrangement fnr removal of gravel from the Eccher Ranch gravel pit. The council decided not ro enter into an agreement with Cears to mine gravel._ The lease would have allowed Cears to continue mining gravel for one year, paying the Town a royalty of 41 per ron. The amount of approx- imately 420,000 would have accrued to Town coffers, money to be used for reclamation of the pit when the lease eicpired. There were no recla- mation or revegetation requirements in the original contract Cears had with the Etchers. Three issues were germane to the discussion: reclamation, dust control and a proposed bike path through the area. Councilwoman Cath Sherrer was adamantly op- posed to mining, even for one year. "What will be different next year?" she asked. "If 520,000 is good, 440,000 is better." Councilman Mark Reaman called the mining "a step forward" in receiving money to contribute ro reclamation of the existing pit. But Town Manager Bill Crank told the Council that the cost of reclaiming the pit would be much more expen- sive than 420,000. He added that work necessary to adequately re- claim the pit exceeds ~ what is required by the state Mined Land Reclamation Board. There is cur- rently no bond nor plan addressing the pit's reclamation. The issue of dust control was raised by Sandra Cormer. "It's hyp- ocritical that you will raise dust by working a grovel pit, yet pass A stove ordinance to reduce air pollution. f am disappointed that the Town is considering going into the gravel business." Regarding the issue of dust control, Crank said that gravel mining is a business of which one of the principle by-products is dust. Councilman YctorShepatd advised controlling dust generated by trucks with a dust retardant. The third problem with the lease agreement was the conflict of uses between gravel trucks and bi- cycles using a proposed bike path through the area. Shepard again came up with an idea ro mitigate the problem: Cears would be required ro place a barrierbetween the truck and bicycle routes. Citizen Susan Eskew advised setting up different times to be used by bikes and trucks. Mayor Jim Schmidt's priorities lay with the bike path. "The path should be there as an alternative ro the Highway 135 hill," he said. "This is a safety issue, and I'm going to vote against (the ]ease agreementJ." When the council voted on whether ro enter into the agreement with Cears, Mayor Schmidt, and council persons Scott Truex, Gloria Wojtalik, and Sherrer carried the vote against council persons Rea- man, Shepard and Larry Sego, who voted for the agreement. No dust, no gravel, just bikes. Red Ladywlobile Home Park The council completed setting specific guidelines for its general and building permit plans, required for BOZAR (Boarcl of Zoning and Archi- tectural Review) approval of the park's PUD (planned unit develop- ment) proposal, Specifics such as what kind of wood siding, maxi- mum occupancy and provision of electricity to storage sheds were dis- cussed. Landscaping and overal] maintenance were also discussed. At the June 20 council meeting, the board will conduct its final review of the plans for presentation to BOZAR on June 27. If BOZAR approves the PUD, the matter will come back to the council at a subsequent meeting for funding approval and final pub- liccomment. Mayor Schmidt characterized the project as approaching the goal of "making the nicest mobile home park possible. Many of the things we've discussed are accomplishing that " Tra'1~„lan Susan Eskew and Jan Runge presented the council with a mmpre• hensive trails plan for the upper East River valley. "We made provisions for acquiring inventories;' said Eskew. "We need to connect resi• deuces and towns, and interface with alremative transportation."The trails group talked to numerous trail users: runners, nordic skiers, moun- tain bikers, hikers and equestrians. Eskew and Runge explained that the trails overlays should~be given the same weigh! in county land use and development planning as other aspects of Crested Butte's Three Mile Plan. Developers, said Eskew, should be required to con- sider trail easements as part of their development mitigation. Runge added that the trails plan is "trying to be pro-active" in terms of what is required from developers. Eskew said that in order to get funding from state and federal agen- cies, the trails effort has to be grass-roots driven, generating its own political will. The effort, she said, would come to naught if it was generated at a governmental plan- Wing level. The council was asked to en- dorse the concept of the trails system, with the understanding that specific trail locations could be changed. Subsequent endorsement will be needed before the group can receive bridges, for example, from the Colorado Department of Trans- portation. Such~bridges, to span the Slate River between Riverbend and Skyland, for example, could be do- nated gratis. The council endorsed the con- cept of the trails plan.