John Scarffe, Boulder County. Boulder County residents will have an opportunity to participate in the Boulder County Board of County Commissioners’ consideration of Denver Water’s appeal of the land use director’s decision that the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project is not exempt from the county’s Areas and Activities of State Interest. The review has scheduled a public hearing for Thursday, March 14, 2019, at 4:30 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Hearing Room at the Boulder County Courthouse, 1325 Pearl St., Third Floor.

This is a Public Hearing for the Board of County Commissioners to determine whether the Boulder County land use director erred in his decision that the proposed Gross Reservoir Expansion Project is subject to local government review, according to a Boulder County news release. The public hearing will focus on the limited scope of the determination and is not a hearing or decision on the perceived impacts or merits of the reservoir expansion project.

Denver Water is in the process of applying for a planned expansion of the Gross Reservoir Dam in southwest Boulder County. While this is not a Boulder County project, the reservoir resides entirely in unincorporated Boulder County, according to the release.

The Army Corps of Engineers and Denver Water are moving forward with expanding Gross Reservoir, and they will be channeling through the Moffat Tunnel and South Boulder Creek. Expanding Gross Reservoir will help protect Denver Water customers from negative impacts of a future drought and shortfalls in the overall water storage system, according to the Denver Water’s website.

“This project will increase Gross Reservoir’s capacity to 119,000 total acre feet by adding an additional 77,000 acre feet, and 72,000 acre feet will be for Denver Water use, while 5,000 acre feet will go to the environmental pool that provides additional water for South Boulder Creek during low flow periods and provides enhanced stream flow to a 17-mile stretch of South Boulder Creek located below the reservoir,” according to the website.

“The additional water supply will come from winter and spring runoff during the high-runoff months of May, June and July. Water will not be diverted for this project during low flow months and when water is scarce,” states the website.

“The Gross Reservoir Expansion Project is one of the major elements of Denver Water’s long-term supply plan. It will prevent future shortfalls during droughts and correct a serious imbalance in our North-South collection system. With this project, we will provide more water to customers while improving the environment surrounding the planned expansion,” states the website.

In a lengthy interview with Omayra Acevedo, who writes for The Mountain-Ear and the Highlander magazine, a Coal Creek resident wrote that when he moved to Lakeshore, he could not imagine the expansion project would go forward.

“Most people, myself included, figured the Corps would reject the project due to its massive environmental impacts, he said. “We were sadly mistaken, when the final EIS was released, with deficiencies, in April 2014.”

The biggest concern is the wholesale environmental destruction wrought in and around Gross Reservoir, including Walker Ranch and South Boulder Creek both above and below the dam, the loss of 200,000 to 600,000 trees, disruption to the ecosystem, the wildlife habitats here and their residents, he said. “This project will permanently alter the area in and around the reservoir and will never meet Denver Water’s stated purpose and need for the project.”

The project analysis is flawed, based on data from the early 2000s. Throughout the now 18-year-long permitting process, Denver Water has never updated its data, he said. The project describes water shortages and Denver Water’s inability to deliver service to its customers, which are refuted by its own usage data.

Two independent studies by water hydrologists and climate scientists conducted in recent years prove that the water Denver Water is planning to divert is no longer available due to the 18-year-drought and climate change, he said. “Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is the irreversible damage that will be done to the Fraser and Upper Colorado Rivers. The tributaries are already 80 percent diverted and described by ecologists and scientists as ‘on life support.’ “

Denver Water’s proposal is to take diversions up to 85 to 90 percent, which will effectively kill the headwaters. The Colorado River is the most diverted, most environmentally damaged river in the United States, he said.

“Diversions, controlled by the seven state Colorado River Compact, have over-allocated water rights and allowed so much water to be diverted that the Colorado seldom reaches the Mexican border or the Gulf of California,” he said. The proposed project is unsustainable, and management of the Colorado River watershed must change, or extreme consequences will result for the West, impacting the entire country and even the world.

“Gross Reservoir will be enlarged and likely never filled. It will then just be a big, ugly gash in the ground,” he wrote.

The Army Corp of Engineers issued its Record of Decision granting Denver Water a federal permit for the project in July 2017; however, before it can commence the project, Denver Water must still receive approval of its hydropower license amendment application from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Boulder County has intervened in the FERC application noting many reasons why the county finds the application to be deficient. In its motion to intervene, the county outlined nearly 20 points of contention with the project, according to the release.

On March 20, 2018, the County responded to FERC’s Supplemental Environmental Assessment, once again pointing out the deficiencies that Boulder County finds in Denver Water’s FERC application and FERC’s environmental assessment of the project. The county plans to further address impacts and concerns during a county land use review process and has explained to FERC that Denver Water must obtain required county permits before it undertakes the project.

A 1041 review would allow the Boulder County Planning Commission and the County Commissioners to conduct public hearings and review the application according to the criteria in the code. On October 12, 2018, Denver Water requested that Boulder County Land Use Director Dale Case determine whether Denver Water’s proposed Gross Reservoir Expansion Project is exempt from the Boulder County Land Use Code, because the land was zoned for use as a reservoir in 1974, prior to the State’s adoption of 1041 regulations, according to the release.

Director Case determined that the project is subject to review under the Land Use Code. “The director found that the statutory exemption did not apply,” according to the release.

On October 30, Denver Water submitted additional information and requested that the director reconsider his decision. On January 18, 2019, Director Case affirmed his initial determination that the project is subject to review. Denver Water has appealed that decision to the Board of County Commissioners, and the public hearing was set for March 14, 2019.

Colorado law grants “1041 powers” to local governments to identify, designate and regulate areas and activities of state interest through a local permitting process. The general intention of these powers is to allow local governments to maintain their control over development projects.

Online sign-up for speaking times at the public hearing begin on Thursday, February 14, 2019 at noon, when the online sign-up forms for individual speakers and pooled-time speakers will become available at bit.ly/GrossDamExpansion. All sign-ups will be placed in order based on the time they are received.

Those wishing to sign up for pooled time will need to include the names and addresses of anyone donating time to the pool. Members of the public will be able to speak at the hearing whether or not they have signed up online in advance of the hearing.

In-person speaker sign-ups will be taken beginning one hour in advance of the hearing start time and will include individual speakers and pooled-time speakers. The County Commissioners will continue to take public testimony until all speakers have had an opportunity to comment.

Written comments may be submitted through the online Gross Reservoir 1041 Review Determination Comment Form or mailed to the Boulder County Commissioners’ Office, P.O. Box 471, Boulder, CO, 80306, by noon on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 to be considered prior to the March 14 public hearing.

To receive notices from Denver Water about the Gross Reservoir Expansion project, look for the “Sign Up for Email Updates” option at the bottom of the “About the Project” page on their Gross Reservoir website. Boulder County also has an email or text sign-up list to receive county-related hearing and meeting announcements concerning the proposed dam expansion project. Additional information is available on the Boulder County website at: bit.ly/GrossDamExpansion.

(Originally published in the February 14, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)