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  • Locations: News Published

    Merriott, Byars spat turns ugly at trustees meeting

    At a meeting on March 9, what seemed to be ongoing enmity between two trustees — Frosty Merriott and Katrina Byars — erupted into a full-fledged argument that prompted Byars to leave the meeting early after indicating she may step down from her position on the Board of Trustees. Merriott, reacting to Byars’ remarks about the need for housing among the town’s poorer residents, suggested that Byars was thinking more of her own needs rather than those of the broader community, and Byars accused Merriott of inappropriately attacking her personally at this meeting and on previous occasions. The exchange boiled over at a point nearly three hours into the four-hour meeting, during a wide-ranging discussion about adopting the recently completed Unified Development Code’s (UDC) and its provisions concerning affordable housing. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Original Town Mothers weigh in on City Market proposal

    The Carbondale Board of Trustees was expected on Wednesday night (after the Sopris Sun’s news deadline for this edition) to give the final approval to the subdivision and other actions granting development rights for the Carbondale Marketplace project. While expected, the moment carries with it a certain amount of political drama, as it was the culmination of more than 16 years of debate, controversy and community turmoil concerning the development site — roughly 24 acres of ground formerly owned by Colorado Rocky Mountain School, to the north and west of the intersection of Main Street and Highway 133. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Carbondale trustee candidates make their pitches

    Last week, The Sopris Sun profiled three Carbondale Board of Trustees candidates: Doc Philip, Dan Richardson and Marty D. Silverstein. We wrap it up with week with Ben Bohmfalk, Michael Durant, Allyn Harvey, Wayne Horak and Patricia Warman. Voters will be filling three seats. The ballots will be mailed out on March 14 and must be returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day, April 5. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    What doesn’t the town have? A capital improvements fund

    Carbondale voters will be asked on Election Day, April 5, to approve a new property tax to pay for capital improvements around town. The proposed tax would assess an additional three mills to all real property within the town limits, which would amount to roughly $119 per year on a house valued at $500,000 by the Garfield County assessor. For commercial properties, the tax hike would amount to about $870 per year on a business valued at $1 million, according to calculations by town officials. According to town officials, the new tax would generate perhaps $425,000 a year or so, which could be used to leverage grants and other sources of income to multiply the ability of the tax to pay for costly improvements. The tax is needed, town officials have decided, in order to create a pool of money for capital improvements, which in the past have been paid for largely by using a combination of money from the town’s general fund and payments from the Federal Mineral Lease Fund (FMLD) maintained by Garfield County, with some other resources. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Mayor logs trips to D.C. on Thompson Divide issues

    Carbondale’s Mayor Stacey Bernot has, for the past couple of years, taken a little time at some meetings of the Board of Trustees to inform the others on the board that she had recently been in Washington, D.C. No, it wasn’t a move to make the trustees jealous of vacation time spent in the nation’s capitol. Instead, the reports were meant to let the trustees, any reporters on hand at the meeting and the viewing public (the meetings are televised) that she had once again gone east to lobby against controversial plans to drill for natural gas in the Thompson Divide area. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Climate Action Excise Tax questions, and answers

    The meat of the Climate Action Excise Tax ballot question that Carbondale residents are voting on starting March 14 is 36 words long and says the money will be used for the “ … purposes of funding programs to increase energy efficiency, to increase renewable energy use, to reduce emissions from motor vehicles, and to take other steps toward the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and address global warming … .” Carbondale residents are being asked to pay on average an extra $7-8 on their monthly natural gas and electricity bills, and about $15-$30 for businesses. Any new tax can be complicated to explain and understand, global warming is plenty complicated to explain and understand, combine them both and there are lots of questions to address. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Fire board election a no-go

    There will be no election contest for the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District on May 3, as only two candidates submitted nominating petitions for the two seats up for grabs, according to Fire Chief and “designated election official” Ron Leach. The seats that were to be up for election, held by long-time fire board members Bob Emerson and Lou Eller, will automatically be filled by Eller and Tom Adgate, the only two who submitted petitions by the deadline of Feb. 26. Emerson informed The Sopris Sun earlier this year that he did not intend to run for reelection. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    “Freud’s Last Session” full of stunning one liners

    Bob Moore is a treat to see in any role, but you definitely won’t want to miss him as the famous — and infamous — Dr. Sigmund Freud. Recently lauded for his portrayal of Tevya in the Defiance Community Players’ production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” he’s now starring alongside Associate Artistic Director Corey Simpson in Thunder River Theatre Company’s (TRTC’s) current production of “Freud’s Last Session.” The play runs for the next two weekends, through March 12. “Freud” is a furious, smartly funny, exploration of an extended afternoon conversation between Dr. Freud and the writer and scholar C. S. Lewis, himself best known (by parents at least) for his “Chronicles of Narnia” series of fantasy novels. “Freud” playwright Mark St. Germain was inspired by the bestselling book “The Question of God” to imagine what might have transpired had these two men ever met. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Some ingredients for good health: good food, exercise and more

    Yesterday a childhood friend took me to task for a Facebook post. The post relayed a conversation between my wife and me and our two kids, ages nine and 11, regarding health and wellness. We were discussing how healthy our kids have been to date, how few medical visits they’ve had (eight total) and how they’ve never needed antibiotics. I mentioned in the post they have yet to drink soda or see the inside of a McDonald’s. Of course they occasionally get sick, but they recover with minimal intervention. I went on to say that we realize we have been fortunate and that our hands-off strategies don’t guarantee a perfect outcome. However, we truly believe that when provided with the essential ingredients for health (whole food, exercise, emotional support, etc), good health generally ensues. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Sopris Lodge developers moving forward

    The developers behind a planned senior citizen housing and living center in Carbondale, known as Sopris Lodge, said this week that they are only weeks away from submitting a formal development application to the town. Abdi Pirzadeh, president of Aspen Built Homes, confirmed on Friday that he and another proponent, Terry Claassen of TCC Properties, have been working with town officials to hammer out some of the pre-application details for the project, which is proposed for construction on property in Carbondale owned by the Nieslanik family. TCC properties, based in California, has been involved in developing other projects in Colorado, including senior living centers in Montrose, Golden and Glenwood Springs, according to information about the firm available on the Internet. Most recently, according to Claassen, the company was engaged in the initial development-approval process for a project along the Roaring Fork River in Glenwood Springs. read more →