Let's hope so - - -
http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2010/03/12/news/doc4b99d9576f5a7365217746.txt#commentBakery owner pushes rebuilding plan - Jerry Greene antsy to get back to bakingBy REILLY CAPPS
Published: Friday, March 12, 2010 12:07 AM CST
Jerry Greene is passionate about a lot of things — skiing, baking, radio — and he’s always moving fast. And even though this last month has been a whirlwind — he’s set up a new office, felt a wave of support and condolences from the community and even met the President of the United States of America and told him his story — it has been, at times, a little lonely.
“Right now, although I’ve got a lot of work to do, I feel out of it,” said Greene.
His bakery, Baked in Telluride, burned down a month ago.
“You know,” he said, “when I was running the bakery, I was an integral part of the town and had needs and things to contribute all the time. So now I’m out of the flow, and sometimes when I walk down the street I feel like a tourist.”
Greene wants to be back where he was, on South Fir Street next to the grocery store. In that spot, two generations of Telluride visitors have known they could find a bagel, an inexpensive platter of black bean tacos or sandwiches. In that spot, Greene baked for 34 years, always in an old building covered in red corrugated tin.
He wants to do it again, only this time in a brand new … building covered in red corrugated tin.
It’s a complicated situation, since Greene was a renter, but he has spoken with the town’s planning department about replacing the structure with a bakery that is almost the same.
The reason he wants to build a similar building is that it could streamline the planning process. While building in a National Historic District like Telluride can be an arduous process, rebuilding an old structure — this one was more than 100 years old — is much easier.
Buildings destroyed by an “act of God” — that’s how the building code puts it — can be rebuilt without the usual requirements and burdens placed on new buildings, confirmed Daniel Murray in the town planning department. Most new buildings, on the other hand, have to provide parking and contribute toward affordable housing in town.
But, of course, it’s not up to Greene what to build. He doesn’t own the land, and he didn’t own the building.
The property is owned by the three children of Joe Zoline, the founder of the ski area. It would be up to them what to do: whether to rebuild the same structure, build something different on that spot, or let it sit empty.
A call to the lawyer who administers the estate of Joe Zoline yesterday was not returned.
The Zolines own a substantial portion of the land on South Fir.
They own the west side of the street, from Baked in Telluride down to San Juan Avenue. They also own one lot on the other side of the street. Their property includes the Village Market and the Stronghouse Studios, but the land is widely seen as underused, given how close it is to the ski lift and the downtown. There is speculation that the Zolines may eventually pursue a larger development there.
If the Zolines say no to rebuilding, Greene says he’ll open in a different space and bake somewhere else. He hopes he’ll be back in the kitchen again, serving up pizza and donuts. After he’s gone, he wants to be remembered as the guy who started the radio station and who started the bakery. And without the bakery, half his projects are gone.
He hopes to do it until the day he dies.
“You know, my father said he never should have retired,” said Greene, 62. “And I think it would reasonable to, you know, be involved in the bakery indefinitely.”
Listening to:
Final Four Playoffs
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