“This is really all about building community, and it’s going to be the community that designs what’s on this site,” said Larisa LaLonde of Roaring Fork Leadership (RFL). LaLonde led a presentation during the Crystal River Caucus last Thursday regarding future plans for the Redstone General Store, including creating a community serving village center to further its impact. The team is still deciding whether the project would be operated as a nonprofit or as a co-op.
RFL is helping to create a strategic plan that the General Store can use as a roadmap for the project. The bulk of the presentation focused on what’s possible within the space — which includes the “Wild HeArts” building adjacent to the General Store. Ideas included a tool and book library, classes led by local artisans and teachers, childcare programming, a community garden, among many others — but few are “hard plans.”
Matt McGaugh of RFL spoke in more detail about the vision for the site, presenting a watercolor map of each building on the site along with a list of potential new uses for each one. “The program and the vision already fits in the existing structures,” he stated. “[We’re] not really building anything more, but taking the existing spaces and enhancing them and repurposing them.”
To address the perennial housing problem, the old condos behind the Wild HeArts building could be converted into employee housing — not only for the General Store’s staff, but for other businesses in Redstone as well.
Several weeks ago a tree came down on the General Store, but the team is hoping that repairing the damage will actually provide an opening to make improvements to the existing building. One such improvement might be to extend the kitchen and make it into a community space to host cooking classes and events for local groups. The Wild HeArts building next door would be the primary center for the community space, but the General Store building, with a new kitchen, could be used for such activities as well.
RFL emphasized that, at the moment, the team is in a conceptual “dreaming” phase. While there are countless possibilities for what could exist, it is up to the community what will come to be. A survey is open online through the summer, thematically focused on community needs and values as well as potential programming ideas. “The more input we can gather early on, the more it’ll be able to inform the direction of the project, because it can go different ways,” said LaLonde.
Once enough feedback is gathered and the Redstone community decides on what might be in its best interest, then a solid site plan will be created. Then the plan will be presented to potential investors, ranging from private partners to Pitkin County. In any case, the ultimate goal is for the village center to remain in the hands of the local community.
Visit redstonegeneralstore.com for a link to the community survey.
Other updates
Michael Gorman of Wilderness Workshop led a presentation on efforts to protect segments of Avalanche Creek, as well as the south and middle forks of Thompson Creek, through Colorado’s Outstanding Waters (OW) designation.
While OW prohibits new or increased point-source pollution (pollution from single sources like mining operations or sewage treatment), the designation legally cannot impact water rights or any existing water uses. Potential non-point-sources of pollution, such as ranching, would likewise remain unaffected.
After two public hearings and an ongoing public outreach phase, Gorman’s team is coming to the end of a three-year long process. An upcoming state hearing in June will decide whether these creeks will be awarded the OW designation. The caucus passed a motion to draft a letter voicing its support.
The last item of the night was a brief update on the Wild and Scenic designation of the Crystal River. After a private meeting, the Crystal River Collaborative Steering Committee reached a consensus to pursue three non-mutually exclusive protections: 1) an intergovernmental agreement to protect against dams and diversions, 2) peaking instream flow (meaning capturing unallocated runoff during heavy flow and using it to recharge floodplains) and 3) a Wild and Scenic designation with the flexibility necessary to address the specific needs of stakeholders.
