Crystal River Caucus
General Meeting Minutes
September 10, 2015
The meeting was called to order at 7: 09 pm with a quorum of more than 19 present and was adjourned
8: 58 pm.
Also in attendance were Tracy Trulove and Tim Holbrook from CDOT and George Newman, our County
Commissioner.
Delia Malone could not attend so Becky Trembley and Mark Hilberman ran the meeting.
Becky began by introducing our CDOT guests who discussed the recent re-paving of Hwy 133 and the
safety concerns expressed by Caucus members. Tim, a Marble resident is part of the highway
maintenance crew and was
involved in the
recent
resurfacing
and
discussed the budget limitations(—$4. 1
million) and the process involved in re-using the existing asphalt and then finishing with the chip and seal
topping. He acknowledged that there were no funds for widening the shoulders to improve them for
bicyclist safety. Tracy is the local communication director and a long time Carbondale resident who will
not bicycle on Hwy 133 as it is unsafe to do so.
The following issues were raised and the discussion moved between them:
Speed limits as Redstone Blvd is approached from Hwy 133 by north- or south-bound traffic
appears excessive to many residents. However, speed limits are set by highway folks out of
Denver,who,
come out
and drive the highways
and set
the limits for what—86%
ofdrivers
actually drive. Thus, a new traffic study could result in raising the speed limit on Hwy 133.
Can signage be improved or reduced limits be set in congested areas?
A pedestrian crosswalk with temporary flashing lights may actually increase risk as pedestrians
are prone to hit the button and just walk across the road without looking carefully.,
Lisa Wagner presented a detailed list of proposals to improve safety on Hwy 133 at the North and
South entrances to Redstone Blvd which had been agreed to by CDOT and Redstonians working
on
this issue back in 2007--
none of these have been implemented.
Tim and Tracy will bring the list of concerns and the gist of this discussion to their traffic engineers for
further consideration. The caucus then voted to establish a highway safety committee to work with
various
CDOT
personnel
on
these issues--
Stephanie Askew and Lisa Wagner will put that group
together.
At the end of the discussion Tim asserted that many of the visibility issues at the North and South exits
from Redstone Blvd, which also affect the increase in pedestrian traffic from Elk Park to the Coke Ovens
could be markedly improved in the very near future.
With a quorum present the minutes of the May meeting were approved without opposition.
After distributing the minutes from past July 2015 meeting, Becky motioned to approve the minutes and
John Emerick seconds then all approved.
No new business discussed.
Mark Hilberman presented the most recent versions of the the last 3 sections of the Master Plan Revision
for Caucus approval after redrafting by the drafting committee& the Board covering:.
V. Commercial/ Retail- Bill Argeros moved to approve as presented, Becky Trembley seconds,
19 approved.
VI. Recreation
and
Open Space
was
then discussed.
Bob Mc Cormick requested the removal of the word" shall" under as in" Planning shall use
existing
right
of ways." It was suggested the entire sentence be removed and as the discussion
proceeded it was agreed to modify this section and to represent it at the November meeting.
B. J. made two points:
She considered the elimination of the subsection from the original which stated that the
right of way for the Bike trail be adjacent to the highway an error. Mark apologized
pointing out that the subsectionon transportation had been moved mostly to
Infrastructure and that section had apparently been moved there. However, the
specification that the trail should be in the highway corridor was deleted after several
members of the bicycle using community had protested that was unsafe at the last
meeting. What is specified in this drafting is that trail design should consider as primary
criteria both human and wildlife safety.
She also felt that private property issues should be considered. Mark pointed out that the
trail would not go on private property. Moreover, it was very unlikely that eminent
domain would be used to acquire " by fore" private property for trail use. It was decided
to see whether it would be reasonable to draft something about this issue for presentation
in November.
VII. Social Services was then presented as a new section in draft form.
The section on development of a public transit bus/jitney service was discussed and felt to be
worthwhile as the population of the valley has grown and will continue to grow. Such a service
should be available to residents generally. However, it was suggested that the service for seniors
should be subsidized or free.
It was generally agreed that Mental Health Services were inadequate. However, the phrase was
in our valley" needed better defmition, perhaps " locally" or?? Mark will re- draft for input.
The
4t'
item
discussing lower
cost
housing
we
discussed moving to the
housing
section--
no
decision was made as it fits in here.
Both
sections
VI
and
VII( Recreation&
Open, Social Services) will be re- drafted and these revised
sections will be placed in the draft Master Plan Revision. These sections and the entire revision will
undergo review and ifpossible condensed without changing the meaning of the sections already presented
and approved by the Caucus. This complete version will be reviewed by the drafting committee/Caucus
Board for approval for presentation to the Caucus for discussion and if possible fmal approval at the
November meeting.
Mark stated that it is the goal he and Dee have set to complete both the condensing and the review by the
drafting committee during October so that the entire revised CRVMP can be sent to the members a week
or two before the November 12th meeting.
It is acknowledged that two more meetings could be required for completion. However, the goal would
be to finish so soon as a satisfactory draft is agreed to and move on to other issues.
Carl Smith, board member from.the Carbondale Rural Fire Dept. brought up the Nov 3 election voting for
the 2015 mill levy 1. 75 increase.
prepared by:
Mark Hilberman
and
Becky Trembley