Gypsum enters ‘rat’s nest’ over zoning violations
dfranz@eaglevalleyenterprise.com
GYPSUM – Gypsum Town Council anticipates a swarm of upset residents to bring some noise into town haul at the council’s next meeting Sept. 10.
“Be ready for it, and I want all of us to treat everyone fairly and work with them as individuals,” Mayor Steve Carver told his cohorts and staff at the end of their Aug. 27 meeting.
The agitation apparently started earlier this summer after a resident complained about neighbors renting converted lock-off units that are against zoning regulations in certain parts of town. The town started investigating the allegations with intent to enforce its zoning codes.
Council members have repeatedly said they don’t go out of their way to see who is violating the codes but that the town has to investigate when someone issues a complaint.
“What’s happened is that one resident says, ‘You’re investigating me because of a complaint? Well, then I’ll give you some other names to investigate,’” said Gypsum Town Manager Jeff Shroll. “The Park Street issue is going to blow up.”
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Council members acknowledged that some cases are very different from others.
“There’s something wrong when you have a mobile home with 17 people living in it and you can’t do anything about it (because of zoning) but grandma can’t live in the basement,” Carver said. “I don’t want this to be a black-and-white town. There is a gray area to everything and we need to work with people on this. It’s going to be a rat’s nest but we have to work with everyone.”
Shroll said the flood will start at the next council meeting.
“It’s going to hit us Sept. 10 and it’s only going to get worse,” he said.