Morrison raises parking fees
The price to park in downtown Morrison has increased.
While the first 30 minutes continue to be free, the second 30 minutes will cost $2. The second hour will cost $2, the third hour $3, the fourth hour $4 and additional hours, $5. Parking fees are enforced from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.
Morrison Trustee Katie Gill at the May 2 recent board meeting said the new fee structure moves away from an extreme progression in parking fees.
“We need to strike a balance between turnover and turning people away,” Gill said, noting that the town instituted parking fees because people parked in downtown Morrison, spending the day biking in the area and not necessarily frequenting shops and restaurants.
The Morrison Town Board started a paid-parking program through Interstate Parking in June 2020 in response to businesses’ concerns about the lack of parking in downtown Morrison.
Board member Adam Way wondered whether the town could suspend parking fees during winter months when there were fewer visitors to the town, though other trustees said it would be difficult to reteach visitors to start paying parking fees after there haven’t been any for several months.
The new fee structure went into effect on May 15.
CDOT performs emergency repair on U.S. 285
Emergency work is underway to stabilize a slope that washed out on May 12 from the recent heavy rains next to a section of northbound U.S. 285 north of Parmalee Gulch.
Colorado Department of Transportation maintenance crews responded to the wash out with temporary measures to prevent further damage, including a closure of the shoulder and right lane on northbound U.S. 285 from Parmalee Gulch to Highway 8.
CDOT has hired
GeoStabilization International to create a temporary repair to stabilize the ground below the roadway. That work that started May 18 requires a contractor that can use equipment that sits at the roadway level and reaches down into the damaged area to install reinforcing bars into the slope below the roadway.
CDOT expects the temporary repair will be completed Friday, May 26. The agency is starting the design process for a permanent repair that will take place later in the summer. Specific timeframes and details are not determined yet.
No Rhubarb Festival
The annual Rhubarb Festival in Pine Grove will not take place this year.
The Pine-Elk Creek Improvement Association, which has sponsored the event since 1988, is taking a break as it looks for more volunteers to spearhead the event, according to the PECIA website.
“For the last several years, the PECIA board has asked for new volunteers including a main coordinator,” the website said. “The board has reached out through community meetings, newsletters and talking with individuals in town. The board has been unable to find a new coordinator and enough new volunteers who are willing” to put on the festival.
The Rhubarb Festival, which traditionally is the second Saturday in June, includes a pancake breakfast with rhubarb syrup, a rhubarb recipe contest and a parade and duck race. Festival funds have been used to offer a dumpster program to members, maintain a town garage, provide some road maintenance, refurbish and maintain the 1898 Community Center for public use, contribute to the enrichment of the North Fork National Historic District and create a small public park.
PECIA’s board is looking for other fundraising ideas plus hoping to plan a new and smaller event for 2024.
More time for marijuana shop in Morrison
LivWell, one of the largest cannabis operations in the nation, will have until June 19 to complete its due diligence to determine if it wants to build and operate a marijuana shop in Morrison.
The Morrison trustees on May 2 extended the deadline for another 46 days. This is the second time the board has extended the period after the original 90-day period in the contract the town signed with LivWell in December.
“I hope this is the last extension,” Trustee Katie Gill said. “I understand that they want to get financing” for the project. “I trust we are more about finding financing rather than looking at the site itself.”
The Board of Trustees voted on Dec. 20 to allow LivWell to construct a retail store on a one-acre parcel it owns behind the wastewater treatment plant. The property is on the east side of C-470 at Morrison Road, east of the hogback and far away from Morrison businesses and Red Rocks Elementary School, a concern of the board and residents as they discussed allowing retail marijuana for more than a year.
LivWell, which has 21 retail stores in Colorado, expects to provide the town with between $800,000 and $1.3 million each year in sales-tax revenue, plus it will pay the town $15,000 a month to lease the property.
