John Scarffe, Gilpin County. The Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners approved a letter opposing the Gross Dam expansion during a virtual regular meeting at 9 a.m. on December 17, 2020. The Board also approved an agreement for Commercial Appraisal Consulting Services and discussed County owned property and the C-PACE Clean Energy Program. 

The Commissioners opened the meeting with a celebration of Commissioner Gail Watson’s service. Staff also recognized Commissioner Ron Engels for his service. 

Commissioner Linda Isenhart said Gail served the County for eight years, and she has had the privilege to work with her for six years. This year, Gail has been chair, and it has been a very challenging year but Gail served with statesmanship and heart and made many hard decisions. 

Highlights of Gail’s work include a passion for creating transportation systems and started funding Gilpin Connect with a Subaru SUV, which morphed into medical transportation, Isenhart said. Gail also has been working on a shooting range for the County.

Gail has given freely of her graphic arts background, creating the County’s new logo to honor mining history, and she worked on dedicating the historic Red Tail Cabins and the historic designation for Lincoln Hills. 

Jill Grano with the office of U.S. Congressman Joe Neguse said Congressman Neguse has entered Gail into the official records in Washington, D.C., and she read the certificate. “The impact of her work will continue into the future.”

County Manager Abel Montoya shared photos and said Gail would stop to celebrate employees. She always goes the extra mile and will drive behind the wheel on Gilpin Connect.

  With the pandemic, they looked upon the horizon and didn’t know which way to go, turn right or left, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. “We were able to continue to chart the course for the County,” Montoya said. 

Sheriff Kevin Armstrong said he has been humbled and honored to work with Gail and Ron. About ten other staff members and members of the public expressed their appreciation for working with her and Ron.

Gail said that 2020 has been a difficult year, but even with painful layoffs, she can’t imagine a better place to live and a better team to work with. She formally recognized Finance Director Clorinda Smith, who has been invaluable to her, and presented her a plaque. She also recognized Assistant to the Board Sharon Cate whose commitment and institutional knowledge has been invaluable. 

Later in the meeting, Montoya and County Attorney Brad Benning presented a comment letter regarding the Gross Reservoir Expansion to Denver Water, Boulder County Board of Commissioners and other impacted cities. Montoya said that as the Commissioners are aware, Denver Water has filed an application to more than double Gross Reservoir. 

It will be a multi-year project involving removing trees with traffic haul route impacts on Highway 119. “We would like Denver Water to come and explain the traffic routes and safety protocols,” Montoya said.  

It could involve one truck every 20 minutes on Highway 119 for several years, so they have safety and noise concerns. They also proposed that transporting lumber along a nearby rail line would be a better alternative.

Benning drafted the letter, and said they don’t want Denver Water to move forward until they speak with impacted communities. The comment period would end at 4:30 p.m. that day so they would like to send that out today. 

Commissioner Watson said, “I don’t think the letter is strong enough. We’d rather not have the project come to fruition. 

“We think this is a bad project environmentally.” About 650,000 trees would be cut down, primarily in Coal Creek Canyon, and now trucks are coming along Highway 119. 

The letter also is not making the connection to Highway 72, which goes through three counties back and forth and is such a winding road. Isenhart said that would have an impact on emergency services and possibly a toppled over truck. 

Commissioner Engels said he liked the tone of the letter but will agree if it’s the consensus of the Board to object to the entire project. Montoya said they would work on the letter and forward it to the Board. He suggested the Board reconvene at 3:30 p.m. to review the letter before the 4:30 p.m. deadline. 

Upon reconvening at 3:30 p.m., the Commissioners discussed traffic impacts on Highway 119 and south from Gross Reservoir on Highway 72. Everything would come out on Highway 72 and then to Highway 119.

The Gross Dam road accesses Highway 72 south, but big tree removal would be on the west side going from Lazy Z Road to Magnolia Road and then to Highway 119. 

Watson said the letter doesn’t make reference to the casinos and Highway 6, which is a major route to the county industry, which are the casinos. Isenhart said the County could have thousands of people coming up. 

Montoya and Benning changed the letter with Sharon Cate’s proofreading and then sent it. The letter stated that the Commissioners express their opposition to the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project. 

“Impacts on Gilpin County and other eastern slope communities have not been adequately considered and addressed.” The Board respectfully requests that the Boulder County Board of County Commissioners and Denver Water do not proceed with the project as currently proposed until Gilpin County, Denver Water and other jurisdictions meet to discuss and address the serious concerns and impacts from the project. 

The letter listed environmental impacts, such as the removal of 600,000 trees, wildlife impacts since the headwaters for South Boulder Creek are in Gilpin County, sustainability and conservation, traffic impacts on Gilpin County’s most used and relied on roadways including Highway 119, U.S. 6 and Highway 72.

Union Pacific’s Moffat Tunnel Subdivision rail line appears to be a possible alternative. The line travels west from Denver and comes very near Gross Reservoir where it crosses and is accessible from Gross Dam Road. 

The line also travels close to Highways 72 and 93 and crosses those highways at various locations providing additional access points for transferring tree and other materials for transport south or north on Highway 93 or I-70, or for taking materials and equipment to Gross Reservoir.

“We understand the proposed project will impact several communities. We look forward to discussing all of these issues so that impacts are fairly and effectively addressed.”

The Board approved an agreement for Commercial Appraisal Consulting Services with Richard E. Jortberg. With the onset of legalized limited stakes gaming in Gilpin County, the Assessor requires specialized expertise in the valuation of all gambling related commercial properties. For his services, the Appraiser will be compensated in the amount of $42,642.

Assessor Anne Schafer said Jortberg is known internationally as a casino consultant and lives in Boulder. He has not asked for an increase in this year’s contract. The Board moved to delegate this to the Assessor.

Schafer also presented a list of county owned property and said the Board didn’t need to make a decision today. They have defined county owned properties and have come up with strategies to sell the properties. 

Gilpin County owns a lot of mineral rights. The County also owns quite a bit of property on Chase Gulch Road with steep terrain, and they are looking at Black Hawk to purchase that and will look for adjacent owners to purchase the other properties. The motivation is to contact contiguous owners get these properties on the tax rolls. 

Central City Community Development Director Ray Rears and Tracy Phillips, of C-PACE introduced the C-PACE Clean Energy Program. Phillips said the program was launched in 2016. Financing is provided through private capital so no bonds are required.

It offers building owners and developers to finance improvement or new development with 100 percent financing long-term up to 25 years. It is different than the traditional loan, so no out of pocket expenses up to 25 years. It is also the first program in the country for new construction. 

Each county needs to opt in, and so far, they have 32 counties opting in. Part of the mission is to make C-PACE available for rural communities, which have specific challenges and trying to find ways to overcome that. A county receives a one percent fee for any projects financed, and for a county to participate, the county needs to pass a resolution and sign an agreement. 

The Commissioners agreed they need more time to look at the documents and talk to the County treasurer and place this on the January 5, 2021, agenda, which will be the next meeting of the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners.

(Originally published in the December 24, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)