Get up, stand up

Editor:

It’s summer in the Gunnison Country. Whether you live here year-round or you come back every summer because this place is special, you know it’s worth protecting. The kids are out of school. The trails are open. The wildflowers are popping. And right now, while all of that is happening, a developer and his lawyers are moving fast to change Crested Butte permanently. They are counting on you being too tired or busy or having too much fun to show up. They are banking on July.

While you’re busy keeping this valley running, or here for the summer vacation you’ve been looking forward to all year, there is a major subdivision proposed on the working agricultural ranchland along Highway 135 that will change this place forever. They have asked for an expedited review. We need to speak up now and let it be known that we are a community, not a commodity.

You’ve seen what happened to Aspen and Vail. The people who built those places — who worked the lifts, poured the coffee, fixed the pipes, most can’t afford to live there anymore. And the families who came every summer for thirty years? They watched their beloved place turn into something unrecognizable, crowded, expensive, and hollow. It didn’t happen overnight. It happened one approval at a time, while everyone was busy, while the developers had the lawyers and everyone else had the jobs and the summer dreams that kept them from the meetings. You can feel it starting here.

Our community is currently working on a comprehensive corridor plan — a corridor plan that collects public comment and consults experts to help shape Gunnison County in a responsible way for future generations. A plan is what the future needs and deserves. This proposed development has bullied its way in front of our community’s plan.  It’s time to get up, stand up! Stand up for the Gunnison Country that brought you here, and the Gunnison Country that the next seven generations deserve.

Three things you have to do.

1. Sign the petition. Two minutes. Email Stoplowerverzuh@gmail.com for a link to the petition.
2. Before July 8, tell them who you are — whether you live here year-round, part-time, or come back every summer — and why this proposed major impact development should be denied now. Two or three sentences is enough. Planning commission: planning@gunnisoncounty.org and County commissioners: bocc@gunnisoncounty.org
3. Show up July 9 for the public hearing. July 9, 2026, 8:45 a.m., 200 E. Virgina Ave., Gunnison. Bring a neighbor. You don't have to speak — just being in that room matters, although this is the moment for you to be heard.

Tim Szurgot