March 2017

The contractor in charge of Carbondale’s $493,000 renovation and rearranging of South Third Street went to work on Tuesday, following a one-day delay caused by late delivery of traffic control equipment, according to Public Works Director Kevin Schorzman. The work is expected to continue into late May, Schorzman told The Sopris Sun, according to a schedule set by the contractor, Johnson Construction of Rifle.

The Lady Rams soccer squad shut out Rifle 5-0 in their season opener on March 14, while the boy’s baseball team went down 14-4 in Hotchkiss. On the soccer front, junior Camilla Wikcum lead the Rams with three goals; freshman Emily Broadhurst and sophomore Lux Andrade also scored. Goalie Odalis Corcuora notched a save about mid-way through the first half, deflecting a corner kick by Rifle’s Jessica Bracamontes.
Roaring Fork got on top of the Bears early in the game and stayed there through most of the first half, boxing in Rifle at their end of the field and taking a 2-0 lead to the locker room.

Call it small-town serendipity, Carbondale style.
Rebecca Wilson moved from Lexington, Virginia to Carbondale last October to be closer to her children and grandchildren. After settling into Carbondale she decided it was “time to find some work.” Wilson mentioned this to her chiropractor, Dr. Lauren Whitaker at LUX Wellness.

March 17, 1977: More than 70 people turned out at the Redstone Inn for a public meeting about Mid-Continent coal mining operations west of town. Unlike more rancorous such meetings in the past, this time both sides expressed their opinions and observations in a fairly civilized manner. One main issue: whether off-and-on pollution of the Crystal River via Coal Creek was due to coal mining, or the “erodibility” of Coal Basin.

It’s not exactly a play, or a dance recital or even a variety show.
“It’s one of a kind,” Renee Prince, artistic director for budding nonprofit VOICES, said of Basalt High School’s “Panic!” performance. Technically, it probably falls under the umbrella of “devised theatre” – a mix of formats with some “connective tissue” on common themes. In this case, it’s about fear and it’s impact on us, told without a script, just once at 7:30 p.m. March 16 at Basalt High School.

A controversial plan for limiting and controlling uses along the Rio Grand Trail, a 34-mile ribbon of asphalt used by bicyclists, hikers and other non-motorized travelers between Glenwood Springs and Woody Creek, is headed for a vote of the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority’s board of directors in about a month.
In the interim, area governments that are members of RFTA are expected to study the draft ACP and make any additional comments, beyond previous comments that were made over the past couple of years, on the proposed Access Control Plan (ACP).

Two years after the Community Partnership Development was finally deemed economically infeasible, a smaller RFSD housing complex is in the works along South Third Street. In contrast with the pre-recession plan, which would have filled most of the field between Bridges High School and the Third Street Center, the design calls for 20 apartments totaling 33,000 square feet on a 1.37 acre plot.

Carbondale’s elected leaders on Tuesday agreed that a map of safe routes through town — produced recently by the advisory Bike, Pedestrian and Trails Commission — should be posted to the town’s web sites as a way of letting people know what streets are considered the safest for nighttime travel.
The Board of Trustees also agreed to a number of “next steps” in making the streets as safe as possible at night, including adding lights to the east-side pedestrian trail along Highway 133 at the north side of town; and installing a sidewalk along Village Road at Gianinetti Park, where people currently must walk either in the road or through the dark park.

Carbondale’s dedicated lodging tax hit $100,000 for the first time in 2016, fueled in part by an increase in the number of vacation rental properties, the town-owned Gateway RV Park and a wide-ranging tourism promotion campaign.
“The ($100,000) amount represents a 17 percent increase over 2015, and is 109 percent higher than 2011,” said a Carbondale Chamber of Commerce press release this week.