Town Clerk Pam Kraft reported that “beer sales were over the top” this summer. “We did really well.” Just how well? Beer contributed over $9,500 to the $30,000 total the town took in, including sponsorships, fundraisers and T-shirt sales. Expenses came to just over $23,000, so the town made a profit of nearly $7,000. This was especially gratifying as the music series lost about $17,000 in its first season last year.
Pickin’ Productions’ Rob Miller was “thrilled to hear we came out ahead.” He asked council if they would be interested in going back to four Thursday-night concerts again next summer. (The 2010 series had just three.) And he had some suggestions for “spicing up” the series in the future, things he said have worked for the sister events in Paonia. Things like brochures to promote upcoming bands, and the awarding of children’s music scholarships. The Paonia events have given out $2,000 so far, funded by Rotary International and the Joe Cocker Foundation.
Mayor Pat Willits said he looked forward to deciding how to allocate the $7,000. “I said we weren’t in the business of music festivals,” he quipped, “but maybe we ought to be.”
WHITE HORSE SALOON MOVE SPARKS DEBATE
Shannon McCarthy, who has operated the Sherbino Theater on Clinton Street for years, is moving on, and Lori Howard wants to move her White Horse Saloon into the space.
But at its Aug. 11 meeting, Ridgway Town Council heard from a citizen and a neighbor who are not in favor of the change. The White Horse has lost the lease at its location on Palomino Trail, Howard said, and she is applying to transfer her tavern liquor license to the old Sherbino.
Claire Martinez wrote to the town saying that she believes “the area is already saturated with alcohol-related businesses.”
Abby Dix, who owns the building next door, which houses her Palladin furniture and design business, was present to voice her concerns. Since Howard said she planned to offer live music, Dix asked how the sound might be insulated or mitigated. She asked about hours of operation, about smoking outside the building and about drinking on the sidewalk. Every time the Sherbino had live music, she said, the next morning her planters were filled with cigarette butts and beer cans. She also asked council how her block of Clinton Street fit into the mixed-use nature of the town’s streetscape plan.
“I’m trying to be a good neighbor,” Dix said. “But with music coming through the wall on one side and Janet Smith and her goats and a flock of geese on the other side, my husband says I’m a moron.”
Howard said she planned to have similar hours to those at her place in Trail Town: 3-11 p.m. on weeknights (closed Tuesdays), noon to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
In support of the application, McCarthy said she felt “a real synchronicity, a flow” about the change. “The transition feels really graceful to me,” she said.
Town Attorney John Kappa suggested council adjourn to executive session “so we can discuss legal issues here.” After the recess, Mayor Willits allowed that “this is the first time in a long time we’ve had a contested liquor license application.” And he proposed a continuation to a special hearing on Monday, Aug. 23.
Kappa recommended both sides “need to take a look at the (state) statute and research the evidence in support of their opinions.”
TOWN IS LOSING THE WEED WAR
Ridgway Councilmembers on Wednesday heard from Joanne Fagan, town public works director, and from Ouray County Weed Manager Ron Mabry on efforts to treat the town’s weed problems without resorting to poisonous herbicides.
“We’re losing ground pretty steadily the last number of years,” Fagan said.
“I think it’s out of control,” Mabry said of the invasive spotted knapweed. “Literally, the whole town’s infested. For a half mile downriver, it’s solid. Mowing just spreads the seed around. I would suggest that is the primary culprit.”
Mayor Willits asked, “What should we do besides mow?”
“Spray,” came the answer from Mabry. “That’s the only way you’re going to get it under control.” And, he added, referring to the town’s considerable volunteer hand-pulling effort, “there are not enough volunteers and not enough time.”
What to spray? “Milestone,” Mabry said. “I think it’s the best herbicide on the market right now. Grass is not affected. Only certain broad-leaf plants. I’ve used it all over the county. Owl Creek Pass, that whole thing has been sprayed. It looks really nice. I wish the company would pay me to advertise this stuff.”
Willits said, “Data shows Milestone may be the most benign. Except if it gets in compost.”
Other councilmembers expressed similar reluctance. Councilmember Paul Hebert said, “We did decide to try this other way, with vinegar applications and pulling. But, we’re falling father behind. We might be looking, unfortunately, at years of poison.”
Councilmember Ellen Hunt was also reluctantly resigned. “We’ve been trying to do the right thing. Stay as organic as we can. But this has been going on too long.”
Mabry urged the town to consider spraying in the fall. “Fall is good for application,” he said. “But we’re already too late for the seeds. They’re viable for 5-7 years.”
The room groaned, and Mayor Willits proposed putting the topic on the agenda for the Sept. 8 regular meeting.
ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS BUMPED TO 800 SQUARE FEET
Citing the need for more affordable housing and wanting to encourage density in the core of Ridgway, council on Wednesday passed on first reading an ordinance to increase the allowable square footage for accessory dwelling units from 600 square feet of living area to 800 square feet.
These are units which may be served off the water and sewer taps for the principal residence, and so will not be subject to additional tap fees.
CDOT HIGHWAY PLANS MAY SCUTTLE TOWN’S VISION
Public Works Director Fagan and Interim Town Manager Jen Coates reported Wednesday on recent meetings they’d had with engineers from the Colorado Department of Transportation on the future of Hwy. 62 (Sherman Street) through Ridgway.
Coates said that the state would likely be replacing the highway bridge over the river in the next five years. And that their plan at that point is to three-lane everything from Hwy. 550 to Amelia Street on the west side of town.
CDOT’s plan proposes a 14-foot wide center turn lane, two 12-foot driving lanes, two four-foot bike lanes, gutters, curbs and seven-foot wide sidewalks with planter boxes instead of landscape strips. The profile for Sherman Street recommended in the Town’s 2006 Streetscape Plan calls for narrower traffic lanes, no bike lanes, and broad landscaping between the street and the sidewalks. In both plans, parking along Hwy. 62 goes away.
“I’m wrestling with what the town’s position ought to be here,” said Willits. “Three lanes from Amelia to Highway 550 would really change the character of Sherman Street and our downtown. To me, this is saying, ‘This is the way through.’ People would be tempted to speed. Even more than they do.”
Councilmember Hebert said, “We’ve always been at cross purposes with CDOT. We want to slow people down; they want to move traffic.”
Councilmember Hunt asked, “Can’t we have turn lanes with center dividers and beautiful planters like they do in Delta?”
Fagan answered, “Delta has a 200-foot right-of-way.”
Hebert: “We always knew that CDOT would be a wild card in the whole deal.”
Coates said that the CDOT people were open to hearing Ridgway’s ideas, and that she would be meeting with them again, to walk the highway, soon.
BARNES AND BARTASHIUS HONORED FOR LONG SERVICE
At the beginning of the Aug. 11 Ridgway Town Council meeting, Mayor Willits called up Ridgway’s two-man Water and Sewer Maintenance Department, Randy Barnes and Dan Bartashius. Each received a plaque and a gift certificate, Barnes for 30 years of service to the town, Bartashius for 22 years.
Barnes had been seen outside before the meeting scraping mud from his boots. Neither man said a word but silently accepted the council’s gratitude and the public’s applause.
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