BRECK RESIDENTS TAKE ACTIVE ROLE IN GOVERNMENT IN 2009

Legislation Passed Will Affect Town Long-Term

BRECKENRIDGE - Breckenridge was abuzz with democracy in 2009 as the
town marked its 150th anniversary.

One successful grassroots petition drive led to decriminalizing
private use of small amounts of marijuana, while another caused the
elimination of a mandate for residential firebreaks.

Mayor John Warner said he was "disappointed" in the outcome of the
firebreak ordinance, which town and local fire officials had spent
several months framing.

"If I wasn't a full-time dentist, I think I would like to have spent
the time talking to members of the public that signed the petition
directly and try to dispel some of their fears about it," he said.

The mandatory "defensible space" ordinance was one of the few in 2009
that caused a split in the council, but Warner said he's proud of the
council's "genuine desire to move our community forward."

"Most of the time we tend to bury the hatchet and go on to the next
issue," he said.

Marijuana Laws

As of Jan. 1, town code no longer criminalizes adult
personal possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana for private use.

"Hopefully people understand that any public use or display - there
will be no tolerance for that," town police chief Rick Holman said.

Warner said he was also concerned with how many people in the
community confused the marijuana decriminalization with regulations
for marijuana dispensaries - which came about following a statewide
ballot item in 2000 allowing medical marijuana.

"I think there was a pretty high level of confusion - not only from
the print media but what you were hearing about both issues on the
radio and on the television ... I think a lot of citizens felt they
were the same issue," he said. "Clearly as a board, we weren't
promoting the possession."

The council had the option to approve marijuana decriminalization not
long after the petition signatures were certified, but it voted to put
the item on the ballot instead. The final vote came to more than 70
percent in favor of decriminalization.

Breckenridge was the first Summit County community and one of the
early ones in Colorado to draft a set of regulations for medical
marijuana dispensaries. The final product, with the help of town
staff, Holman and town attorney Tim Berry, has set an example for
other communities across the state.

"I believe we broke some new ground in terms of creating regulations
on where (dispensaries could be located)," Warner said, adding that
the map was reworked about five times.

McMansion policy Town residents also got involved with the
neighborhood preservation policy approved to limit proliferation of
McMansions in Breckenridge. After many homeowners and people involved
in the housing industry became upset by early proposals, a task force
was created for compromise.

"That is new, and I think it's great, and I think that the task force
was able to answer a lot of peoples' questions," Warner said. "The
reality is it didn't please everybody, but it pleased enough that (we
said,) 'Lets go for it and pass this thing.'"

While the above decisions will affect the town over time, budget cuts
because of a $2 million to $3 million 2009 revenue shortfall were
implemented almost immediately as the picture became more grim.

"I'm not too sure we got the message out that we all need to share the
pain," Warner said.

Every department in the town government was affected, and residents
were unhappy to learn of a reduced snowplowing schedule and reduced
hours or services at amenities such as the Breckenridge Recreation
Center, Stephen C. West Ice Arena and Gold Run Nordic Center.

"We certainly don't want to diminish our residents' experience here,
but we have to live within the confines of our budget," Warner said.

He said that in many ways 2009 was a good year.

"It seems like the crowds are coming back to the community, and I
wish we had a little more snow - that would be my only buzzkill right
now, is we could use some more snow," Warner said.