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Commissioners approve Gross Reservoir mitigation funding

Wes Isenhart
Posted 7/8/23

[caption id="attachment_101351" align="alignleft" width="300"] Gross Reservoir commissioners meeting: Left: Gross Reservoir Impact Mitigation Funding commissioners’ meeting. Right: Anna McDermott

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Commissioners approve Gross Reservoir mitigation funding

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Gross Reservoir commissioners meeting Above, left: Gross Reservoir Impact Mitigation Funding commissioners’ meeting. Above, right: Anna McDermott and Chris Passarelli presented the commissioners with the report from the Gross Reservoir Advisory Working Group. PHOTOS BY WES ISENHART Gross Reservoir commissioners meeting: Left: Gross Reservoir Impact Mitigation Funding commissioners’ meeting. Right: Anna McDermott and Chris Passarelli presented the commissioners with the report from the Gross Reservoir Advisory Working Group. PHOTOS BY WES ISENHART[/caption]

The Boulder County commissioners met on June 29 at the Boulder County Courthouse to consider the distribution of impact mitigation funds that were part of the settlement of the lawsuit by Denver Water regarding the Gross Reservoir expansion project. All commissioners were in attendance.

The meeting consisted of presentations and recommendations from the Gross Reservoir Community Advisory Working Group and County staff, followed by questions from the commissioners and a vote to approve the funding as recommended. Anna McDermott and Chris Passarelli were the presenters for the Advisory Working Group while Special Projects Coordinator Barbara Halpin presented the recommendations from the county staff.

The foundation for all the recommendations was an analysis by Pinyon Environmental Inc. of the potential impacts of the construction on nearby households based on Denver Water projections over seven years. Impacts were grouped into three categories (air quality, noise, and visual). The measurements were converted into ranking scores from zero to five and then combined for a total ranking per household.

The Working Advisory Group supported the methodology of the Pinyon report but recommended using scores tabulated to one decimal place instead of rounded whole numbers and identified 14 households as anomalies that required an adjusted score. Surveys and lived experiences were also incorporated into the report recommendations. The full report (boco.org/GrossWGreport) was previously submitted to the commissioners for review prior to the meeting.

County staff recommended accepting the results of Pinyon analysis and incorporating the Working Group methodology, including using ranking scores to one decimal place. Citing the settlement and the intent of the mitigation fund to help those households with significant and mitigatable direct impacts, County staff recommended grouping households into tiers based on rankings and make equal payments for each tier. Tiers 1 and 2 were for households with lower rankings, were situated away from the project, or experienced low or infrequent impacts. Tier 3 was for substantial impacts, while tier 4 was for those households experiencing the most severe impacts. The working group was not opposed to using tiers to make standard payments.

The working group report split the mitigation fund into two phases. Phase 1, which started in 2022, was allocated $4 million; while Phase 2, starting in 2025 ,was allocated the remaining million. The rationale was that the first phase was going to last longer and impact more households. The working group also recommended that the interest earned on Phase 2 funds be added to the fund prior to Phase 2 payouts. County staff, citing state and federal regulations regarding interest on public funds, recommended removing the interest provision before approving the working group report.

County staff also requested setting aside $50,000 in an escrow account for Phase 1 households who are being impacted by the construction but got skipped by the Pinyon report. The money would come from the Phase 1 allocation.

County staff also listed a small set of households as anomalies to augment the reports. These were households that shared a common impact and staff recommended that they be given the same ranking and tier. Staff also wanted to receive authorization to finalize the list of eligible households and collect relevant tax information.

The final staff recommendation was to set a deadline of April 30, 2024, for property owners to complete the necessary paperwork and claim their Phase 1 payout amount.

Commissioner questions at the end of the presentations centered on methodology and justification for anomalies. They all expressed their thanks to the working group members and staff for working so diligently and cooperatively on such a difficult assignment. Commissioner Stolzmann acknowledged that it was a challenging and complicated situation and recognized the extraordinary volunteer efforts by the members of the working group. The commissioners voted unanimously to accept the working group report and approve the staff recommendations with the referenced modifications for implementing it.

Boulder County maintains a webpage for the Gross Reservoir Impact Mitigation fund at bouldercounty.gov/ property-and-land/land-use/planning/ gross-reservoir-mitigation-fund. Special Projects Coordinator Barbara Halpin can be reached by email at bhalpin@bouldercounty.org or phone at 720-564-2830 can also answer questions about the fund.