NORTH FORK TIMES
SURFACE CREEK NEWS
SPORTS
TEENS FOR JEANS
ORCHARD CITY TRIBUTE
A SHOT AT REDEMPTION
Hotchkiss K-8 students collect clothing for homeless teens, B4
New park to be completed in time for centennial celebration, C1
Lady Eagles look to improve on last year’s state performance, B6
DELTA COUNTY
MARCH 7, 2012 VOL. 129, NO. 10
75¢
INDEPENDENT
www.deltacountyindependent.com
Convenience store planned at 50, 92
Commercial building picks up BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
Commercial development has picked up since the beginning of the year, with the most visible construction yet to come at the corner of Hwy. 50 and 92. Maverik has purchased the six-acre corner parcel which contained Bruton’s Conoco, Pro-Build and B&L Motor Homes. Before a fire swept through shared retail space in 2009, Nichols Carpet and the Salvation Army also occupied a portion of the acreage with a vacant restaurant. The corner will return to its original purpose as a gas station/convenience store, part of the rapidly expanding Maverik chain of stores. The remaining parcels will be sold. Construction permit manager Don Lilyquist said Maverik’s goal is to open 25 to 30 stores a year. The chain is located throughout the western states of Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, but currently has just two stores in Colorado — Fruita and Grand Junction. “We’re looking at two additional parcels in the Grand Junction-Montrose areas, Lilyquist said. Currently, six stores are under construction and 234 are in operation. The timeline for Delta is still uncertain because of
remediation work at the site. At some point, underground storage tanks discharged fuel into the soil. Once the extensive testing is completed and the contaminated soil has been removed, Maverik will begin working through the design approval process with the City of Delta. “I suspect we’re at least two months, possibly as many as four, before we begin construction,” Lilyquist said. “Once we begin, we’ll be on a 130-day construction schedule.” The current structure will be razed, and a bright, cheerful convenience store will be built from the ground up. The convenience store will have a full range of food items, as well as an onsite bakery where breads and pastries are baked fresh every day. Outside there will be 10 fueling stations. Maverik bills itself as “adventure’s first stop,” so all stores are built around an outdoor theme. Lilyquist said the Delta store will look very similar to the operations in Fruita and Grand Junction, except that it will be slightly larger at 4,600 square feet. The entire operation will be open 24 hours a day, requiring 12 to 15 employees to cover all the shifts. The store director has not yet been assigned, Lilyquist said. Colorado West Ophthalmology East on Highway 92, Sul-
Rec center pool to close for a month BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
The pool at Bill Heddles Recreation Center is slated to be closed for about a month beginning April 2. The primary purpose is to replace the dehumidifcation unit, but while the pool is closed the surfaces of the main and tot swimming pools will also be replastered. “The dehumidifcation system is 20 years old and has been limping along for 10,” said Renee Ealey, assistant director of the rec center. The HVAC unit will be moved into a “bump out” to be built adjacent to the pool area. “We will have to break out walls, and add some concrete out back,” Ealey said. Replacement of overhead ductwork will also take place. The pool has to be drained to bring in lifts to reach those ducts. While the pool is closed, the wood in the sauna will be replaced, repairs will be made to the pump, and the pool deck will be recaulked. “Ideally we won’t be closed
the entire month,” Ealey said. The goal is to be open in early May for the rush of end-of-year school programs and the beginning of summer usage. The rec center dehumification system, called a pool pak, went to bid in October 2011. Four bids were received, with the winning bid of $441,800 submitted by Cooling’s Heating & Air Conditioning of Montrose. The other three bids topped $500,000. Resurfacing will be done by High Country Pools & Spas of Fort Collins. Just two qualified bids were received for this project, which includes the addition of drain covers, a safety feature now required by federal law. High Country’s bid totaled $153,130. The main and tot swimming pools were last resurfaced in early 2000. According to rec center director Wilma Erven, years of chemicals have simply “eaten” the plaster down to concrete in several large areas.
livan Construction is erecting an office building that will be shared by Colorado West Ophthalmology and Alpine Optical. The new office is located at 1426 Mesa View, near Delta
County Federal Credit Union. “We are building a new office in Delta to better meet the needs of our patients in Delta and the surrounding areas,” said Karen Winkel-
man, Colorado West Ophthalmology. Currently, there’s a six- to eight-week wait for appointments with the one ophthalmologist the current COMMERCIAL BLDG. TO A3
Photo by Pat Sunderland
Piling it on The feel of spring is in the air, even on Grand Mesa where February storms have finally pushed snowpack closer to expected levels. The NCRS SNOTEL site shows Mesa Lakes at 81 percent of normal. Statistics aside, there’s plenty of the white stuff for outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy the incredible opportunities for snowmobiling, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing found on Grand Mesa.
North Delta tunnel repair is ‘a big job’ BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer
Repair of last summer’s collapse inside a quarter-milelong irrigation tunnel beneath Cory Grade is turning out to be, as predicted, a big job. The North Delta Irrigation Company owns a canal and tunnel that provide irrigation water from the Gunnison River to some 2,000 acres of local farm land. Last year as the damage was still being assessed, North Delta Irrigation Company president Ken Nelson told the DCI that it would take more than a small bandage to repair the tunnel, “This is going to cost,” he said. The company has since approached the Gunnison Basin Water Roundtable and the Glenwood Springs-based Colorado River Water Conservation District (commonly known as “The River District”) about possible funding assistance. Lynn French of Crawford said the company is hopeful that funding assistance in the
form of a grant/loan package will be approved in time for work to begin this spring and, hopefully, completed by June 1. “At their annual meeting, the members of the company voted almost unanimously to increase their assessments to pay the loan portion,” French said. “We have gotten very positive feedback from the state staff,” he added Tom Alvey, Delta County’s representative on The River District’s board of directors, reported to the county commissioners on Monday, March 5, that cost estimates for reopening and shoring up the collapsed tunnel section ranged from $1.6 million to $2.35 million. French said the company is hopeful its application will be approved by the state at a scheduled March 20 meeting. The section of tunnel under Cory Bench has by all assessments served its useful life. French explained the engineering solution chosen will replace the tunnel section
with a 54-inch-diameter heavy polymer-resin pipe reinforced with extensive concrete grouting that will run through the entire tunnel section. Last summer’s collapse created a true emergency that has been met with cooperation and a lot of hard work to put the proposed solution in place now, French explained. A number of solutions were proposed and discussed, but the new pipeline is expected to work best well into the future. It will serve as the beginning of planned long-range system improvements that will pipe the company’s water from 2100 Road to Highway 65, and then beyond. In spite of the high cost of repairs, Alvey noted that the North Delta system is vitally important and “would be a significant loss to the area.” North Delta Irrigation Company was able to draw supply from a junior decree on Tongue Creek last year when abundant water was available. French credited the City TUNNEL REPAIR TO A3
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Hospital, ambulance district candidates named
Accent ........................... A4 Activities ......................A11 Agriculture .....................C6 Back Page ................... D8 Business .......................A10 Church ........................... D3 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Legals ......................... D3-5 North Fork Times ........B1-4 Obituaries ..................... A8 School Zone ............... A6-7 Service Directory ........ D7 Sports ..........................B5-8 Surface Creek News ...C1-5 TV Listings ..................C3-4
Delta County School District is seeking volunteers to participate in the interview of finalists for the superintendent of schools position. Participants must be available for a two-hour training session Tuesday, April 17, at 7 p.m., and the day of Saturday, April 21, for interviews. Two committees will be selected by the Delta County Board of Education. Each committee will consist of 8-12 members. Interested participants can find an application on the school district’s website, www.deltaschools.com. Applications are due March 26.
The Delta County Clerk & Recorder’s Office will conduct a coordinated election by mail to fill the boards of special districts. The election is scheduled May 8; ballots will be mailed on about April 19. Two directors will be selected for fouryear terms on the board of directors of Delta County Memorial Hospital. Board president Thelma Starner is term limited; the other seat is held by John Breitnauer Jr., who is seeking re-election. The other three candidates are Diana Hanson, David Lane and Barry Singleton. Three 4-year terms will be filled on the
board of directors of the Delta County Ambulance District. Six candidates have expressed interest: Pamela Baysinger, Teresa Ferganchick, Bud Holmes, Shirls Kaiser, Kathie Lester and Kathleen Ryan. Kaiser and Lester currently serve on the ambulance board with Alana Foster, who is not seeking re-election. Hotchkiss Fire District #4 will expand its boundaries with approval from the affected residents. The North Fork Pool, Parks & Recreation District will also be included in the election, but county elections officials had no information on candidates.