May 2014

Carbondale’s popular Summer of Music concert series in Sopris Park is being significantly scaled back this year, leaving just a couple of main events in the park and shifting some public concerts to another location in town.
The Carbondale Council on Arts and Humanities (CCAH) will continue to be involved in putting on concerts during the summer months, explained CCAH Executive Director Amy Kimberly at a meeting of the town board of trustees on Tuesday.
But, she told The Sopris Sun in a telephone interview earlier on Tuesday, she and her staff hope to no longer be the main organizers of the concerts.

1941-2014
Friends and family of Brad Hendricks were mightily saddened last week with the sudden passing of the long-time Carbondale resident, who died May 22, 2014, from an apparent heart attack. The former town councilman and well-known raconteur was 72.
Born on Dec. 16, 1941, in Los Angeles, California, Mr. Hendricks was the middle child of George and Louise Hendricks and attended public schools in Glendale, California. He later graduated from Arizona State University in Tempe with a degree in mechanical engineering.
After college, his first (and last) steady job was with the energy technology giant Schlumberger, for whom he worked as a production logger and trouble shooter in the oil and gas fields of eastern Utah and northwest Colorado. It was during his time with Schlumberger in the early 1960s that he met and later married, Jane Jochems, who was teaching Classical Languages at Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale.

Beginning with a walking tour with participating artists on June 5 at 5:30 p.m., the Carbondale Public Arts Commission presents the 2014 Art aRound Town sculpture exhibition.
Featuring works by 13 artists from five states, Art aRound Town is a rotating, year-long public art exhibition showcasing sculptures throughout the town of Carbondale, according to a press release.
This year, 60 artists from16 states submitted sculpture-based works for consideration. The sculptures within the exhibition include both representational and abstract works chosen by a jury made up of volunteer CPAC board members and town officials.
The Art aRound Town exhibition’s artists are: Fedrico Aguirre (North Las Vegas, Nevada), James Burnes (Santa Fe, New Mexico), Steven Carmer (Fort Collins, Colorado), Mark Cesark (Carbondale, Colorado), Chris Erickson (Glenwood Springs, Colorado), Michael Golins (Missoula, Montana), Siri Hollander (Santa Fe, New Mexico), Jack Kreutzer (Loveland, Colorado), Pavia Justinian (Fruita, Colorado), Gary Mitchell (St Louis, Missouri), Mike Rand (Carbondale, Colorado), Kevin W. Shaffer (Evergreen, Colorado) and Ryan Shea (Denver, Colorado).

At the May 29 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, the public gets its first, and possibly last, look at a unified development code outline that among other things:
• Says the town should consider eliminating eight of its 28 current zone districts;
• Recommends the new code to “create residential uses that allow a wider range of housing types;”
• Consider the increasing the number of districts where ADUs (accessory dwelling units) are allowed;
• Allow for detached ADUs in residential zone districts;
• Allow for modular construction “where appropriate;”
• Allow accessory structures related to local food production like “hoop houses, green houses or coops” in residential districts as a use-by-right if clear standards are met.
• Write the UDC not only to accommodate, but also to encourage, innovative and creative projects that respond to the Comprehensive Plan, rather than restricting or prohibiting such projects.
• Update the development standards to clearly articulate the expected quality of development rather than negotiating over quality issues with each PUD application.

The Carbondale Fire Board pretty much issued a collective “no comment” to allegations of election mistakes during its monthly meeting on May 14.
The allegations were brought by newly elected board member Carl Smith in what he told the five member board was an “after action review,” which he explained is a process the district itself uses following an incident its staff or volunteers have responded to.
As of May 21, Smith had not been sworn in as a Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District board member. At the May 14 meeting, he said the actions of Designated Election Official Jenny Cutright on election night raised questions in his mind as well as others. “There was a perception from a number of people of ‘what’s going on?’” said Smith.

Why is there a petition to name a park after Crystal River Elementary School teacher, Bonnie Fischer? “Because it’s Bonnie!” is the response The Sopris Sun got from Elizabeth Cammack, who is leading the effort to re-name the parcel of land behind Third Street Center as Bonnie Fischer Park.
Anyone who has had a child walk through the doors of Carbondale Elementary School or Crystal River Elementary School, viewed a Potato Day parade or advocated for educational advances in our public schools in the last 44 years has been infectiously touched by Fischer’s enthusiasm for children, community and education.

Carbondale’s busiest intersection will move one block to the north when Highway 133 construction begins and CDOT installs a temporary traffic light at Colorado Avenue to replace the Main Street traffic signal.
Construction on the 1.9 mile, $9.4 million project is scheduled to start on May 27 and conclude in November, according to CDOT officials, and will bring the following improvements:
• A round-about at the intersection of Highway 133 and Main Street;
• A wider highway and reconfigured lanes, beginning at the Highway 82 intersection;
• Additional sidewalks and trails;
• Extensive landscaping up and down the entire stretch, including the roundabout itself.
“When finished, the plan … will allow traffic to flow more efficiently, increase pedestrian and motorist safety, and enhance the aesthetics on this … highway,” said a CDOT press release.

Local businessman Federico Peña, who has forged the beginnings of a small commercial empire in Carbondale, set his sights on becoming an aircraft pilot early in his life.
But once he’d accomplished that goal, he said in a recent interview with The Sopris Sun, he realized he had other ambitions in life that had nothing to do with ferrying bankers around in private jets, which was what he was doing for several years after earning his wings.

Town staff and members of the Carbondale Board of Trustees will have to be a little more careful about their use of Facebook and other social media to connect with constituents, and town employees will have to shut their vehicle engines off more diligently than they may be used to, under two new policies adopted by the trustees at a meeting on Tuesday.
The board on Tuesday adopted specific policies this week on the idling of town-owned vehicles, and the use of social media by town officials and employees to get the word out to the citizenry, at their regular meeting.

This Sunday the entire country will be focusing on moms as we celebrate Mother’s Day and show them our gratitude and appreciation.
For Carbondale mom Janine Cuthbertson, every day is a Mother’s Day of sorts as the focus of her work involves making every mother’s day a little easier.
Being a mom herself to daughters Aria and Tahlia, 7 and 5-years-old respectively, Janine understands the daily routines, challenges and joys common to all mothers. She also understands the need for moms to connect with other moms.