Planning Commission set to resume Hearing on Master Plan Amendment

The continuation of a public hearing on a proposed amendment to Fremont County's Master Plan and review of the Urban Growth Boundary Area map of the City of Canon City highlight the agenda for the July 7th monthly meeting of the Fremont County Planning Commission.

The Commission heard more than three hours of testimony and conflicting legal opinions during the initial hearing regarding the master plan amendment being offered by the government affairs committee of the Tallahassee Area Community. The amendment would seek to establish a two-mile buffer zone between uranium activity and residential areas in Fremont County's Mountain Districts. Residents say health and safety issues are at stake as well as economic and environmental issues.

Planning Commission Chairman Tom Piltingsrud determined at the June 2nd hearing that the Commission was not prepared to make a decision because they had volumes of material and legal opinions to review. He continued the hearing until the July 7th meeting saying only new testimony would be allowed at the extended hearing.

The Urban Growth Boundary Area map prepared by the planning staff at the City of Canon City and referred by the Canon City Council will also be reviewed by the Planning Commission. The question is whether future growth areas targeted outside the city limits of Canon City would be subject to the city's subdivision and development regulations when reviewed by county officials.

The Fremont County Planning Commission meets at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 7th, in Room LL-3 of the Fremont County Administration Building. Because of the heightened interest in the master plan amendment and the large crowd that attended the first hearing, the July 7th meeting will be televised on the local public access channel 19 on Bresnan Cable.

Administration Building Sets Holiday Hours

The Fremont County Administration Building will operate with abbreviated hours this week due to the four day work week adopted recently plus an Independence Day holiday. Fremont County Manager George Sugars reminds citizens that the Administration Building will be closed this Thursday and Friday, July 2nd and 3rd. Employees at the Administration Building are now working ten hour days, four days a week, Monday through Thursday. Because the day off for the holiday observance was on Friday the schedule has been adjusted so employees will have their holiday time on Thursday, July 2nd.

Sugars notes that when the county commissioners announced that county employees would be furloughed ten hours as part of $634,000 in budget cuts in the current 2009 budget, those employees who work ten hour days will see their furlough reductions during five holiday periods this year. The first two furlough hours will occur this week when those employees will get off their ten hour workday for Independence Day, but their holiday pay will be calculated on eight hours.

Citizens needing to conduct business at the Administration Building should do so by the close of business at 5:00 p.m. this Wednesday, July 1st.

June 23rd Commissioners Meeting

After adoption of a resolution on June 8th to have the Fremont County Building Department take over the task of manufactured home inspections in Fremont County, the Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved another resolution setting a fee schedule for those inspections.

The manufactured home inspection fees adopted by the commissioners calls for a $350 fee to be collected for the county plus another $40 mandatory fee to be collected for the State of Colorado. County Building Official Mike Cox said the $390 fee is still considerably less than the $600 to $700 fee that third party inspectors had been charging for manufactured home inspections.

The commissioners Tuesday also conducted a public hearing on a Community Development Block Grant revolving loan fund through the Upper Arkansas Area Council of Governments. Jeff Ollinger told the commissioners that $290,000 is being made available for small business loans in the six-county region of Fremont, Custer, Chaffee, Lake, Park, and Teller Counties over a two year period. He said the money will come from the Governor's Office of Economic Development and simply expands the amount of money available in the loan pool to small businesses in the six counties.

In other business the commissioners:

• Approved a special events beer permit for the Canon City Rodeo Association for motocross races on July 10th and 11th at the rodeo grounds south of Canon City;
• Approved a change in the corporate structure for the hotel and restaurant liquor license for Merlino's Belvedere. The change shows Mike and Cathy Merlino now holding a 51 percent interest in the corporation with Bruce and Susie Bell holding the remaining 49 percent.
  

SDS Preferred Alternative Remains Pueblo County

Colorado Spring Utilities is conducting an analysis to update the plan for how to implement its Preferred Alternative, a pipeline originating at Pueblo Dam, for the Southern Delivery System (SDS) project. The updated plan will outline the most technically and fiscally responsibly way to construct the next major component of its water delivery system.

"The Preferred Alternative remains the best option for SDS," said John Fredell, SDS Project Director. "While we have two viable options, we must be prudent stewards of our ratepayers' money, and our analysis has shown that the alternative from Pueblo Reservoir remains the most advantageous and cost-effective route for SDS."

Construction costs for the Pueblo County option are estimated to be at least $190 million less than the Highway 115 Alternative through Fremont County. The Preferred Alternative was also deemed by the Bureau of Reclamation as having the lowest energy use requirements of all the options studied, as well as fewer environmental and cultural impacts.

Fredell said Springs Utilities will continue working with officials and water providers in Fremont County and plan to preserve the option to build the Highway 115 Alternative until construction on the Preferred Alternative is underway. The Fremont County Commissioners approved a conditional use permit earlier this year for the SDS Highway 115 route.

For more information on the Southern Delivery System, visit www.sdswater.org.

Load Limits Restored for Texas Creek Bridge

Load limits on a Fremont County bridge at Texas Creek used to access a popular ATV recreation area have been restored following a series of tests performed Wednesday on a steel truss. The tests conducted by Lamb-Star Engineering of Texas concluded that a blemish on the steel truss was a forge mark and not a crack in the metal. County Engineer Don Moore said that the engineers had to rely on ultrasonic testing and magnetic particle testing to reach a conclusive decision that there was no crack in the metal.

The bridge over the Arkansas River, at the junction of Highways 50 and 69, is the only access to a widely used Bureau of Land Management OHV recreation area. Commercial rafting companies use the bridge to access a whitewater rafting takeout on the north side of the river and a local aggregate company uses the bridge to reach a rock quarry.

A routine inspection by a state bridge engineer in early May raised the initial question of a crack in the steel truss. Load limits on the bridge were immediately lowered from 11 tons to 3 1/2 tons. Following Wednesday's engineering tests, the Road and Bridge Department on Thursday removed the warning signs and again posted the bridge for an 11 ton load limit.

June 8th Commissioners Meeting

Authorization for the Fremont County Building Department to participate in Colorado's manufactured homes inspection program highlighted a brief agenda for the Fremont County Commissioners meeting on Monday. The board approved a resolution which allows the county's building inspectors to handle manufactured home inspections under rules set forth by the Colorado Division of Housing. Building Official Mike Cox said his inspectors have been trained and are reading to begin handling manufactured home inspections.

Cox said in the past most of those inspections were handled by inspectors from the Denver or Colorado Springs area. He said inspectors he has spoken to have no problem with the county taking over those tasks.

District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden said in fact the manufactured home inspections will help keep county inspectors busy in the field while other building permit activity has slowed somewhat. Norden noted that Cox also proposed the idea as a way to bolster some of the revenues for the Building Department.

The commissioners approved a special events beer permit for the Pathfinder Park steering committee which is putting together a fundraiser at the park on the 4th of July. Virginia Patton said the day long event will include roast beef, pork, chicken, and goat. There will be craft sales, games, and other entertainment running from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Pathfinder Park.

The commissioners also approved a special events beer permit for the annual Ranch Rodeo which kicks off the Fremont County Fair on Saturday, July 25th, at the rodeo grounds south of Canon City.

The commissioners regular Tuesday meeting was moved to Monday to allow Commissioner Norden to attend the three day summer conference of Colorado Counties Inc. in Vail. Norden said in the interest of budget constraints the county is facing, only one commissioner would be attending the summer conference and Norden said he would be paying the costs of the conference out of his own pocket.

Stimulus Funds to Replace BLM Park Center Well

(The following information provided courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management)

The Bureau of Land Management has received funding to drill a replacement Park Center Well as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Park Center Well is an 80-year-old artesian well located on BLM - administered lands along Garden Park Road north of Canon City. The well supplies water for domestic and fire suppression uses to approximately 4,000 users in the Park Center Water District. The BLM learned in 2008 that the 3,000 foot deep well had developed serious leaks in the casing.

According to RGFO Manager Roy Masinton, "The BLM will coordinate the plugging of the old well with the drilling of the new one to minimize impacts to local water users. This should be possible unless the old well fails."

An environmental assessment for the project is scheduled for completion in July 2009, with drilling of the new well scheduled for completion in early 2010. The contract to drill the replacement well will be done in accordance with the federal procurement process, with competitive bids determining the eventual cost of the replacement well.

The original well was drilled in the 1920's for oil and gas exploration, and then abandoned when drillers hit water instead of fluid minerals. The BLM later acquired ownership of the well. The BLM holds a Federal Reserve water right for 227-acre feet of water annually. The BLM leases the well water to the Park Center Water District through an agreement with the BLM Royal Gorge Field Office.

Master Plan Amendment set for Planning Commission Hearing

The Fremont County Planning Commission Tuesday heard over three hours of testimony on a proposed amendment to the Fremont County Master Plan and then continued the public hearing until next month.

The amendment proposed by the 'Tallahassee Area Community' (TAC) would create a two-mile buffer zone between uranium activity and residential areas in the county's Mountain Districts. The amendment would also seek to require more comprehensive review of Designated Mining Operations and add more specific language to some of the definitions in the master plan.

County Attorney Brenda Jackson expressed concerns in an eight page memo that the amendment would conflict with state law noting that county regulations cannot prohibit something that state law allows. Jackson also said some of the specific limitations and regulations are more appropriate in the county's zoning resolution than to be placed in Fremont County's master plan which she says is used more for guidance but is not binding.

TAC attorney Steve Mullican contended that the county indeed has the right and authority to protect its citizens in land use decisions. TAC members argued that proposed uranium mining should not be allowed in close proximity to homes.

Planning Commission Chairman Tom Piltingsrud called for the matter to be tabled for another month saying the Commission had volumes of material and legal opinions to review. Piltingsrud said additional public input would be allowed at the July hearing but not from those who already testified Tuesday evening. The Planning Commission will assemble again at 7:00 p.m., July 7th, at the Fremont County Administration Building.