Board Members Present: Al Smith, and new board members: Cathy Frank and Ty Minnick. Dave DiBerardino and Carlos Gonzalez-Brito were present through approval of the July Minutes. Absent: Peter Carey and Patrick Wallace. 

At 6:00 pm, Al Smith, President of the Board, called the meeting to order.

Staff Members Present:  Chris Behan.

Others Present: Alan and Nettie Gruber, Pat Del Tredici, Shawn Olson, Scott Truex, Jim Starr, and Ian and Kim Wrisley.

New and Existing Board Member Oath of Office:  Current and New Board members signed the Oath of Office.

Approval of Minutes: The July 8, 2009, Monthly Board Meeting Minutes were presented to the Board Members for review prior to the meeting.  Dave made a motion to approve the July 8, 2009 P.O.A. Board Monthly Meeting Minutes.  Carlos seconded the motion. Motion was approved by Al, Carlos and Dave. 

Possible New Board Member appointment to fulfill the remainder of Carlos’ term: Chris explained that unfortunately, Carlos is unable to remain on the Board.  According to the Bylaws for CB South, the existing Board may appoint someone, at their sole discretion, to fulfill the remainder of the term (Carlos’ seat is up for election in August of 2010).  Shawn Olson was the third candidate for the Board in the most recent election and is willing to serve on the Board.  Cathy moved to appoint Shawn Olson to the seat vacated by Carlos. Ty seconded the motion.  The motion was unanimously approved. Shawn signed the Oath of Office.  Carlos was thanked for his service on the Board.

Approval of 2009 Annual Meeting Minutes:  The August 9, 2009, Annual C.B. South Property Owners Association Meeting Minutes were presented to the Board Members for review prior to the meeting.  Cathy made a motion to approve the August 9, 2009 Annual C.B. South Property Owners Association Meeting Minutes.  Ty seconded the motion. Motion was unanimously approved. 

Approval of Financials:  The July 31, 2009 financial reports were presented to the Board including: Bank Reconciliation statements for the Money Market, Operating, Hockey Rink, and Performance Deposit Accounts for the month of July. Cathy recommended that the P.O.A. look into QuickBooks backup online for which is available for a small fee. Chris gave background and addressed questions. After reviewing and discussing the presented materials, Ty moved to approve the financial reports as presented for July.  Shawn seconded the motion.  Motion was unanimously approved.

Unscheduled Property Owner & Board Comment:  Alan & Nettie Gruber presented their concern that the Covenants regarding storage of RVs on CB South lots are being arbitrarily enforced. Referring to Covenant section 7.01 language “…No trailer capable of habitation or containing living quarters shall be parked on any lot or street governed hereby for more than one consecutive overnight period…” The Gruber’s suggested that this should cover pop-ups even when closed up, cargo/storage vehicles a.k.a. “toy haulers” and construction trailers.  Ty suggested that the Association should review and update the Covenants on a regular basis, such as every five years.  Chris explained that we are striving to gather e-mail addresses for all of our members (915 members) to gather owner input on Association issues & to bill on-line; currently we have e-mail addresses for about half of our members.  Al expressed his opinion that enforcement should be on all trailers or none.  Chris explained that the Colorado Common Ownership Interest Act (a.k.a. CCIOA) as modified by State Senate Bill 100, effective on January 1 of 2007, specifically the Governance Policy Requirements that  provide enforcement procedures with a required minimum enforcement timeline. The prior Board determined that a closed pop-up was not capable of habitation.  Cathy suggested that our enforcement was arbitrary and capricious. Cathy was of the opinion that a covered RV is also not capable of habitation.  Al suggested that this new Board could re-vote on the definition of “trailer capable of habitation”.  Chris explained that a change in the Covenants will require crafting of specific language to address concerns and be acceptable to a majority of the owners.  Chris presented the survey results on the question of RVs:

Al moved that there be a moratorium on enforcement of Covenant section 7.00 until the next meeting when the Board will make a determination of the definition of “trailer capable of habitation” and review possible changes to the covenant language for presentation to the membership.  Ty seconded the motion.  The motion was unanimously approved.

New Board Member Orientation: Written summary information was presented to the Board members before the meeting.
 
Possible Variance Policy Revision – Amendment to Crested Butte South Residential Design Guidelines and Special Area Regulations (SAR) for Crested Butte South, as both contain CB South Variance Policy Language  Chris recommended that the Board add the following qualifying sentence to our Variance language/guidelines: “In no instance shall a variance request be considered in cases where the work has already been performed without prior written approval from the P.O.A.” The purpose of this change is to eliminate time consuming conversations/hearings dealing with Owners that have been “caught” doing work without P.O.A. approval, who then just ask for “forgiveness” and a variance rather than comply with our Design Guidelines.  Cathy recommended that Chris be more proactive in bringing to the membership’s attention any changes in the Design Guidelines.  Moved by Cathy to revise the variance policy language and SAR as follows: “In no instance shall a variance request be considered in cases where the exterior improvement or modification has already commenced, without prior written approval from the P.O.A.”  Shawn seconded the motion.  The motion was unanimously approved.

CB South Storage Survey Results and Possible Discussion:   Postponed to future meeting.

RTA Discussion – That may include:  Request by RTA Board for signed letter of support for lowering of the Speed limit on 135, Review Letter from Homeowner, and Bus to CB South Possibilities, etc. Chris introduced County Commissioner, Jim Starr, and Scott Truex the Executive Director of RTA.  Chris presented the letter below which was signed by Al, and supported by Cathy, and Ty – Pat wanted to make it clear that the ultimate goal is to get foot traffic off of Highway 135. 

Scott Truex, Executive Director
P.O. Box 39, Crested Butte, CO 81224
Phone: 970.275.0111
FAX: 970.349.6626
Email: struex@wic.net
July 23, 2009

Ron Alexander, Resident Engineer
Montrose Residency, Region 3, Colorado Department of Transportation
2424 North Townsend Ave.
Montrose, Colorado  81401

Dear Mr. Alexander:

On behalf of the residents and guests of Gunnison County, we are writing to request your help in solving an important safety issue at the intersection of Colorado State Highway 135 and Cement Creek Road (Gunnison County Road 740).  This intersection serves as the entrance to the highway for the 1500+ residents of Crested Butte South and has seen a substantial increase in traffic over the past few years. 

The RTA runs the bus service between Gunnison and Mt. Crested Butte and has bus pullouts on both sides of the highway at the intersection.  CDOT helped us to widen the shoulder on the east side of the highway during the last summer’s paving project (due to the acceleration lane from Cement Creek Rd. northbound) and determined that the pavement was wide enough on the west side for the bus stop to be created with signage alone.

The bus stops have been working well from the RTA’s perspective and we thank your department for help in creating the new and successful bus service.

However, a consequence of the bus pullouts has been several close calls where pedestrians have narrowly missed being hit by vehicles travelling on the highway after getting off of RTA vehicles.  The highway currently has a speed limit of 55 at the intersection and there is neither a crosswalk, nor good lighting for vehicle operators to see pedestrians at night.  The safety concerns of this situation are compounded during the busy winter season when the sun sets prior to the evening commute.  We believe that the use of CDOT safety funds to accomplish these measures would be appropriate and would greatly increase public safety at the intersection.

We would like to work with you to make this intersection safer.  One idea that has been floated is combination of solutions including lowering the speed limit to 45 for a short distance in both directions from the intersection, adding a defined crosswalk, adding lighting (primarily on the west side of the highway) and adding flashing pedestrian signs that could be activated by people crossing the highway.  We believe these measures could greatly increase public safety at the intersection.

The four local governments (Gunnison County and the municipalities of Gunnison, Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte) and the Property Owners Association of Crested Butte South have all been consulted and agree that these solutions should be explored. 

We would like to invite you to a site visit in the near future to discuss these potential solutions and any others you might have to enhance safety at this intersection.   If you think this would be helpful, please contact Scott Truex, Executive Director of the RTA at 970-275-0111 to set up a meeting. 

Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.

Sincerely,

Jim Starr
Board Chair, Gunnison Valley RTA

Stu Ferguson
Mayor, City of Gunnison

William Buck
Mayor, Town of Mt. Crested Butte

Alan Bernholtz
Mayor, Town of Crested Butte

Paula Swenson,
Chairperson, Board of County Commissioners, Gunnison County

Al Smith,
President, Crested Butte South Property Owners Association

Jim Starr gave background about the RTA.  A transportation study commissioned by the RTA recommended a park and ride out at Highway 135 and Cement Creek Road. The County is aware that in addition to the danger of being out on Highway 135 waiting for the bus, there is the problem of walking or bicycling on Cement Creek Road from the subdivision out to the highway. 

Scott Truex explained that funding for the RTA buses is from sales tax and the FTA funds a portion of the air travel.  Each year the RTA puts out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Ground transportation service providers.  This year they have asked bidders to include a separate line-item bid for bringing buses into CB South.  Because of the economy and drop in sales tax revenue, the RTA does not have the funds to expand bus service this year.  The RTA route was set up for Gunnison service, not a CB South service.  During heavy usage times, the buses are full and could not pick up riders in CB South, even if they did come into the subdivision.  Scott explained why the park-and-ride is most advantageous for the existing bus service along 135.   The RTA incurs very little additional cost with a park-and-ride stop, and extra buses could be sent down to pick up riders when the Gunnison bus is full.  Secondly, in the future when parking becomes a premium up valley, the park-and-ride will become even more useful as a collector area.  Additionally, the layout of our subdivision does not lend itself to a full-service bus route. 

Al suggested that RTA could refund to CB South our share of the sales tax raised from CB South residents.  It was estimated that would amount to about $20,000.  This would allow RTA to eliminate the stop on Hwy 135, and we would arrange for our own shuttle, either self-run, or by making arrangements with one of the local transportation services.  Based on rough estimates, it would cost CB South approximately $45,000 to operate a 10 person van for the ski season, running 3 van loops in the morning and 3 in the late afternoon.  The issue is how to fund this gap with grants, matching funds, possible dues increase, pay-to-ride and/or co-operation with Riverbend & Skyland.  A used bus or van might be purchased inexpensively.

Chris presented two (2) Letters to the Editor which were published in the CB News regarding the 135 RTA Bus and CB South from Deborah Tutnauer and from Vicki Church.

Pedestrian Trail to Town Discussion (consideration of possible new Associate Members to the CB South Property Owners Association) Chris introduced Brian Dale who has essentially been the “point-man” and also doing most of the leg-work in acquiring easements and promoting the idea of a pedestrian trail that would eventually connect CB South to Town.  Various alternatives have fallen through and he is now working with the CB Land Trust and the Hidden Rivers Ranches H.O.A. President.  One idea to help make this a reality would be to offer the owners in the Highlands, Hidden River Ranches, and East River Ranches Associate Membership into the CB South P.O.A. (which would basically mean they could x-country ski and use our other amenities for free), in exchange for a 10-foot wide trail easement that we would then turned over (along with the obligation of insurance and maintenance) to the CB Land Trust, for this future pedestrian trail to Town. If we could get these groups on board, we could then go to the County Commissioners requesting that they pursue easements through properties further up valley when Subdivision Requests are submitted to the County.  Additionally we should seek to have the County designate these properties as an “Area of Interest” for future trails. Chris pointed out that if CB South were to incorporate; we could add the nearby areas to “our town” and have control over the land use in the entire area.  Brian presented maps of the area showing the planned pedestrian trail and where easements already exist.  Possible routes were discussed.  Brian requested that we make a list of CB South amenities that we could send to the owners along the route so that we could offer them free CB South P.O.A. Associate Membership in exchange for trail easements. Moved by Cathy that Chris should compile a list of CB South amenities for presentation to Lower Highlands, Hidden River Ranches and East River Ranches which would be included in a free CB South P.O.A. Associate Membership in exchange for a 10-foot wide trail easement that we would then be turned over (along with the obligation of insurance and maintenance) to the CB Land Trust, for a future pedestrian trail to Town. Ty seconded the motion.  The motion was unanimously approved.

CB South Covenant Enforcement Hearing Procedures: Chris explained that at the next meeting we will be having at least two (2) hearings dealing with alleged Covenant violations.  He requested that the Board Members become familiar with the Notice and Hearing and Enforcement Policy and Procedures before the next meeting.  Chris explained that requiring consistent compliance with of our Guidelines is important for enforcement.

Manager’s Report

With no further matters for discussion, Al Smith adjourned the Regular Board Meeting at 10:08 PM.