SAND CREEK & MUD GULCH DAM INSPECTIONS

A pair of flood detention dams in the Canon City area have received favorable reviews following inspections by the Office of the State Engineer. The dams inspected include the Watershed C-3 Dam on the Sand Creek drainage just below the Cotter Uranium Mill south of Canon City and the Mud Gulch detention dam east of Canon City. The flood control dams are maintained by Fremont County.

The C-3 dam on Sand Creek was built in 1972 and is designed to hold 1,150 acre feet of stormwater. The dam serves a watershed of 2,266 acres south of Canon City. Dam Safety Engineer Mike Graber said in his inspection report that the dam remains in good overall condition with no problems noted. His only recommendation was that some routine maintenance be performed to remove some silt from the outlet pipe that has accumulated.

The Mud Gulch detention dam was built in 1971 and is designed to hold 432 acre feet of stormwater. It serves a watershed of 1,453 acres above the new Four Mile Ranch development east of Canon City. Graber said the dam remains in fair overall condition but is in need of timely maintenance including removal of silt from the primary discharge pipe and cleaning material from a plugged toe drain.

Both flood control dams were last inspected in the summer of 2002. The condition of stormwater detention dams in eastern Fremont County gained attention after the State Engineer’s Office issued a breach or repair order last year for the C-4 detention dam just below the Shadow Hills Golf Course south of Canon City. Engineering design work is now being completed in preparation for repairs to be made to that dam this fall under a project to be jointly financed by Fremont County and a federal grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Fire Meeting

The public is invited to the final Mason Gulch Fire information meetings, hosted by the Pike and San Isabel National Forest.

The meetings will be held at:

The Wetmore Baptist Church on
Tuesday, July 19 at 7:00 PM

&
The Beulah School on

Wednesday, July 20 at 7:00 PM

July 12th Commissioners Meeting

Efforts being undertaken to battle the Mason Gulch wildfire in Custer and Pueblo Counties were detailed to the Fremont County Board of Commissioners at today’s regular meeting. Paul Crespin, District Ranger for the San Carlos District of the U.S. Forest Service, reported that strides made today against the 11,700 acre fire in the San Isabel National Forest were important to containing the fire. Crespin said it was a miracle that no homes or outbuildings had been lost since the lightning caused fire was first spotted Wednesday evening, July 6th.
Crespin praised the efforts of all the firefighting agencies and contributions made by Fremont County agencies and citizens to help in the firefighting. He said the initial flights last Thursday by a pair of single engine tanker planes stationed at the Fremont County Airport this summer were vital in protecting lives and property in the Wetmore area. Crespin said the focus now is to prevent the timber fire from crossing North Creek Road in Pueblo County and reaching the homes and ranches in the Beulah Valley.
Commissioner Ed Norden also praised the work of airport manager Richard Baker and the airport staff who worked through the weekend to keep the planes in the air. Demand for fuel outpaced supply and the airport ran out of fuel Friday afternoon. An emergency delivery of jet fuel from Denver arrived at noon Sunday.
The County Commissioners adopted a countywide fire ban which is detailed in a separate announcement on this web page.
In other action:

• The Commissioners approved a Special Events Liquor Permit for Canon City VFW Post 4061 to serve the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s annual banquet on August 13th at the Fremont County Airport Industrial Park.
  
• Approved an amendment to the Special Review Use Permit for Children of the Son to operate year round. The facility will continue to have restricted use as a summer camp for young girls from May 1 to September 1. Jamey and Katrina Madonna will now be permitted to use the facility as a retreat and convention facility from September 2 to April 30 each year.
  
• Approved a preliminary plan for Cool Commercial Filing One….a five lot major subdivision on the south side of Highway 50 at Penrose between ‘L’ and ‘M’ streets. The Commissioners stipulated that a lot owned by developer Steve Cool on the north side of the highway where a stormwater detention pond will be built, be included on the subdivision plat and listed on the deed to clarify future maintenance responsibility.
  
• The Board also appointed Commissioner Mike Stiehl as the Fremont County designee to the Arkansas Basin roundtable. Nine river basins in Colorado will be represented on the statewide water roundtable dealing with interbasin water compacts. The roundtable was created by the 2005 Colorado General Assembly through approval of HB 1177.
  

Fremont County Fire Ban

The Fremont County Commissioners have adopted a countywide fire ban at the request of Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker. The Commissioners approved a resolution imposing the fire ban at their regular meeting July 12th. Extreme fire danger conditions have elevated the risk of wildfires. The fire ban closely follows Stage One Fire Restrictions put into place by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management on all federal lands in Fremont County effective July 13th.
Fremont County Undersheriff Ty Martin told the Commissioners that the County was fortunate to get through the 4th of July without a fire ban. But Martin said the County has seen drastic changes in just one week. Besides the huge Mason Gulch fire in Custer and Pueblo Counties, Martin cited other wildfires in Fremont County. He said three fires burnt across 35 acres in the Deer Haven area northwest of Canon City off of County Road 11 last week, The Canon City Fire District put out a small wildfire in Red Canyon, and a B.L.M. crew put out a small timber fire in rugged country in Phantom Canyon.
The fire ban includes these prohibitions:
Ø No open burning or agricultural burning
Ø No campfires or use of charcoal or wood fire grills (gas grills & propane stoves are permitted, and recreational fires or campfires are permitted within fire grates or pits in established recreation sites or campgrounds) Charcoal grills can be used only at sites of permanent residential or commercial structures.
Ø No fireworks
Ø No welding or use of a torch with an open flame
Ø No smoking except in an enclosed vehicle or building (the tossing of lit cigarette butts from moving vehicles is strictly prohibited)

The Deer Mountain Fire Protection District imposed fire restrictions on June 9th and the Canon City Fire District adopted a fire ban on July 7th. The Fremont County fire ban will remain in force until action is taken by the Board of Commissioners to lift it.
This is a list of Stage One Fire Restrictions which apply to all U.S. Forest and B.L.M. public lands in Fremont County and cover the B.L.M.’s Royal Gorge Resource Area and the Pike and San Isabel National Forests:
STAGE I

The following acts are prohibited until further notice:
1. Building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire, campfire, coal or wood burning stove, any type of charcoal fueled broiler or open fire of any type in undeveloped areas.
2. Smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, in a developed recreation site or while stopped in an area at least 3 feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of all flammable vegetation.
3. Using explosive material: (ie: fireworks, blasting caps or any incendiary device which may result in the ignition of flammable material.)
4. Welding, or operating an acetylene or other similar torch with open flame.
5. Operating or using any internal combustion engine without a spark arresting device properly installed, maintained and in effective working order meeting either:
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Standard 5100-1a; or
Appropriate Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) recommended practice J335 (b)and J350 (a).

The Fremont County Commissioners urge everyone to exercise extreme caution to avoid another catastrophic wildfire.

C-4 Dam Update

Officials from the Colorado State Office of the U.S.D.A.’s Natural Resources Conservation District have detailed their engineering design plans to repair a floodwater control dam south of Canon City. The N.R.C.S. staff members reported to the Fremont County Commissioners and citizens at a July 7th meeting that plans are to complete the design work and bidding process so that reconstruction of the C-4 Dam can get underway this fall. The C-4 Dam was built in 1971 and is designed to hold 213 acre feet of stormwater which would be released at a slower rate to protect some 500 residences in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. The dam is located on the north side of the Shadow Hills Golf Course.
N.R.C.S. State Conservation Engineer John Andrews reported that half-inch to three inch holes that were found in the 1980’s developed into larger sink holes over the years. He explained that such subsidence has been found to be a problem with soils in dams built in desert areas of the southwest. Andrews said the engineers’ investigation revealed cracks at least 25 feet deep and were as wide on the bottom as they were on the top.
Andrews said the N.R.C.S. repair plan calls for excavating the face of the dam where cracking has occurred and then replacing it with compacted soil down to bedrock. He said that will prevent water from destabilizing the base of the dam above bedrock. He said the height of the dam would be raised about 1 ½ feet.
After engineering design is completed this summer Andrews said the N.R.C.S. will turn over design specifications to the Fremont County Commissioners so a construction contract can be bid and awarded. The construction would take about four months to complete next winter or early spring. Andrews said normally it takes about two years of review but because of concerns to the Lincoln Park community they’ve made it a priority to get it all done in about nine months.
Federal funding will finance 90 percent of the project while Fremont County will contribute the other ten percent in matching funds.
The State Engineer issued an order last year for the County to either repair the dam or breach it. Fremont County Emergency Management Director Ray Southard is again keeping a close eye on developing thunderstorms as the summer monsoon season approaches. He says the County wants to make sure citizens have ample warning should heavy rain raise any safety concerns about the stability of the dam.

C-4 Dam Public Meeting

The Fremont County Office of Emergency Management, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and the Fremont County Commissioners host a public meeting Thursday evening, July 7th, to discuss the status of the C-4 flood control dam south of Canon City. Due to subsidence of soil in parts of the dam the Colorado State Engineer’s Office issued a breach order to the County last year. The breach order requires that Fremont County either take steps to repair the dam or breach it. Breaching or removing the entire dam would expose some 500 homes in the Lincoln Park neighborhood to potential flooding from a significant storm event south of Canon City.

The C-4 dam is a 38-foot tall earthen embankment located just to the north side of the Shadow Hills Country Club Golf Course. It was built in 1971 and it capable of holding 213 acre feet of stormwater which would be slowly released over a longer period of time. Safety concerns about the C-4 dam came to the public’s attention in August of 2004 when a severe thunderstorm with the potential of heavy rain passed over Canon City. Emergency Management Director Ray Southard kept an all night watch on the dam but the rain and a threat never materialized. Southard says his office remains vigilant in keeping a watchful eye on the dam from any storm and flooding threats this summer.

A team of specialists from the NRCS completed an engineering assessment of the C-4 dam earlier this year and said the dam can be repaired. The NRCS has made available $600,000 under the Small Watershed Rehabilitation program to help repair the dam. The Federal funds will be matched by $60,000 from the Fremont County Board of Commissioners. Engineering assessments and status of repairs to the dam will be discussed at the public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 7th. The meeting will be in Room 207 on the second floor of the Fremont County Administration Building at 615 Macon Avenue, Canon City.

June 28th Meeting Review

The Fremont County Board of Commissioners authorized more engineering and design work on the County’s portion of the new Pathfinder Park at Tuesday’s regular meeting. The Board adopted a resolution that authorizes an expenditure of up to $60,000 in Conservation Trust Funds (lottery money) with D.H.M. Design and Matrix Engineering. The firms’ work will include master plans for utilities and drainage on Fremont County’s 47 acres at Pathfinder Park along Highway 115 west of Florence. The contract will also include site, grading, and excavation plans for developing an outdoor arena. The arena is targeted for completion by the end of this year.

The Commissioners adopted a resolution formally terminating a moratorium on the issuance of building permits for duplexes in the County which was imposed last spring. On June 14th the Commissioners had approved an amendment to the County’s Zoning Resolution which restricts the construction of two-family dwellings, or duplexes, to only medium and high density residential zone districts. With that amendment in place the moratorium was removed.

The Board approved a resolution which amends a resolution adopted in 2004 for West Fletcher for property on the southwest and southeast corners of ‘N’ Street and Highway 50 at Penrose. When Fletcher’s property was rezoned to a business use there was a requirement that he make necessary intersection improvements and pave a portion of ‘N’ Street. Because that requirement was cost prohibitive for Fletcher, the Commissioners approved an alternate plan that requires Fletcher to install a pair of culverts under 15th Street and to put four inches of gravel onto 15th Street between ‘M’ and ‘N’ Streets and for about 300 feet east of ‘N’ Street.

The Commissioners heard another request from Tallahassee area residents who are trying to find a parcel of property on which to build a garage to house an ambulance for Northwest E.M.S. District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden said the Board shares the groups’ frustration in trying to find a solution for where an ambulance garage could legally be constructed. The Board suggested a further workshop meeting with the group to explore alternatives.

The Commissioners Tuesday also…

• Approved a $6,900 expenditure for a one year contract with D & T Ventures for the County Assessor’s website that provides property information services. The Royal Gorge Association of Realtors is recruiting sponsors to help finance the service for the coming year.
• Approved a $29,000 contract with G.M.S. Inc. of Colorado Springs for the cost of the North Canon Sanitary Sewer Study. The study will examine a broad area north of Canon City for sanitary sewer service where many septic systems have been failing.
• Approved a two lot minor subdivision for Madeline Langston for property on the northwest corner of 7th and ‘M’ Streets in the Beaver Park area.