The July 10 meeting of the Town of Marble’s Board of Trustees began well enough, but soon turned fractious. Noting a welcome change in the weather, Mayor Ryan Vinciguerra declared, “Bring on the rain!” in welcoming the dozen or so attending residents.
Presenting the Treasurer’s
Report, Amy Rusby cheerfully proclaimed that the Town’s reserves stood at $585,000, up a vertiginous 24% from the same point in 2025. There followed a short public hearing, after which a variance was granted to Dylan and Stella Craaybeek to construct a new garage on their property on West Park Street. The Mayor took the opportunity to serve up a reminder that “The town does not grant variances casually.”
Next on the agenda was a discussion about the East Marble Freight Farm and the building adjacent to it owned and operated by Jyoti’s Seeds for Change, a nonprofit managed by Karen Good, also the owner of the nearby Beaver Lake Lodge and Cabins. The farm grows top-quality produce to sell to the community, and is incorporated within a larger structure intended to be an educational space for students of the Marble Charter School and a venue for agricultural tourism. This space is still under construction, and has yet to be granted a certificate of occupancy (COO).
Good argued that the farm (which has been operating as a commercial entity for three weeks without a certificate) be treated as a stand-alone unit, adding that she “could find nowhere in the [Town’s] code that says you can’t walk through a construction site that has no COO.”
Trustee Dustin Wilkey noted that “If it was just by itself, [there would be] no issue [as a] stand-alone agricultural unit.” Acknowledging the farm’s unquestionable value to the community, Mayor Vinciguerra told Good that nonetheless she had “jumped the gun a little.”
The trustees agreed to provide Good with a letter to share with the board of the nonprofit, explaining why the farm has to cease business until a COO has been issued.
Trustee Amber McMahill read out a letter of complaint from Good’s neighbor, Kelsy Been, who criticized the shortcomings of the Town’s zoning code. In response, Town Administrator Ron Leach said he considered the container and venue space a single structure, and proceeded to describe the increasing tension he experiences between the need to stick to the zoning code and that of helping residents work together.
“We do the best we can in good faith,” he said, adding that “zoning codes can be tough to interpret and enforce.”
The Mayor concluded that until the local building department issued a COO for the entire building, the Freight Farm would not be allowed to operate as a commercial entity.
Next, liquor licenses were renewed for the Slow Groovin’ restaurant and Raspberry Ridge Café (both owned by Mayor Vinciguerra), leading Mayor Pro Tem Larry Good to quip, “That was so quick and easy. Are you sure you’re not getting special treatment?”
Representing her 7-year-old daughter MJ, Town employee Karly Anderson submitted a business license application for Critter’s Lemonade and Snacks, an occasional refreshment stand. Under Colorado law, children are not obliged to have a business license for such an operation, but the mayor praised Anderson and her young daughter for their enthusiasm to adhere to the rules.
Councilman Wilkey, however, questioned the threat that the child’s lemonade stand might pose to Brian Souter’s nearby pop stand, nine years in the making and still not open for business. Wilkey’s comments were met with an audible sigh of dismay but the license was unanimously granted.
When the issue of pay raises for the Town’s three employees arose, McMahill suggested an increase of 7%, which was countered by Wilkey at 5%. Good remarked, “This really isn’t a good time to be a grinch,” and the matter was settled at 7% by four votes to one, Wilkey dissenting.
The Town and the privately owned Marble Water Company (MWC) are due to discuss a potential resolution, which Leach described as “the most important issue facing the town.” MWC leases the Town’s water rights in a contract that expires in August 2028. The two parties have been at loggerheads for months and Leach proposed he act as mediator in an effort to break the impasse. An executive session was set to discuss the topic at 5pm on August 6, ahead of the regular monthly meeting at 6pm.