6 | Tuesday, April 4, 2017
LOCAL
STEAMBOAT TODAY
Local middle school taps next assistant principal Matt Stensland STEAMBOAT TODAY
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
A high school principal from West Virginia will be the next assistant principal and athletic director for Steamboat Springs Middle School. Jay Hamric was selected from a pool of 33 applicants from Steamboat Springs and communities in several states for the position, according to incoming Principal Heidi Chapman-Hoy, who is the school’s curHamric rent vice principal. Chapman-Hoy was selected in February to replace current middle school Principal Jerry Buelter, who is retiring at the end of the school year. “We were fortunate as a district and a school to have had such a strong applicant pool,” ChapmanHoy said in an email to staff Friday. Champan-Hoy said formal interviews and a building tour with four finalists for the position were conducted March 24. “We had an amazing day a week ago Friday,” Chapman-Hoy said Monday. “We felt fortunate that the
applicant pool and the four finalists were amazing educators and very diverse.” Chapman-Hoy said it was Hamric’s connection with students and diverse background in education that led to his selection. Hamric has spent the last seven years as principal at the 350-student Tucker County High School in West Virginia. Prior to that, he and his wife spent 10 years overseas, where Hamric was a school administrator for school systems in China, Bosnia and in Cote d’Ivoire on the Ivory Coast of Africa. Hamric said he first visited Steamboat Springs over a weekend on a cross-country road trip a few years ago with his wife, a teacher, and their three children, who are 13, 11 and 9. “I fell in love with the community,” Hamric said. Hamric received his bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and his master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. To reach Matt Stensland, call 970-871-4247, email mstensland@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @SBTStensland
Land Trust holds access easement Road continued from 1 concerned the public is about to lose access to a jewel. Routt County Road and Bridge is recommending the county vacate the entirety of County Road 18C, which currently only leads to the gate that enters the private Lake Catamount subdivision and the Green Creek Ranch (formerly known as the Elaine Gay Ranch). The move would allow the county to give a bridge and a road, and the accompanying maintenance responsibilities, over to private landowners. The landowners would also get more privacy. The Routt County Planning Commission will weigh in on the proposal April 20. As of January, the county had received letters of support for the road abandonment from all but four of the property owners who are served by the road. The central question facing the county: Is there enough public use on this road to warrant holding onto it? Or is it best to get it off the county’s road inventory? On one hand, the county would save money and resources by turning ownership over to private hands. On the other, some residents don’t want the county to give up public access to the area. Tom Litteral said the abundance of bald eagles, waterfowl and sandhill cranes have long drawn birders such as himself to the bridge. He says there are very few “quiet” river crossings that far upstream
from Steamboat that are accessible to the public. “Although the paved portion of RCR 18C is short, its value is very high for the public’s experience in watching wildlife,” Litteral wrote in an email to Steamboat Today. “I would be very disappointed if this asset is lost the public.” Road cyclist Jack Ferguson said Monday the county road is a popular meeting place for him and his fellow cyclists. It gives them a safe place to meet off of a busy road. “It’s just plain pretty. and it’s something an awful lot of people enjoy,” Ferguson said. “Usually when you give up something like that, sometime down the road you wish you really hadn’t.” Susan Dorsey, of the Yampa Valley Land Trust, also opposed the proposal in a letter she wrote to the county planning department in December. “The public must not lose access to this location of high public value,” Dorsey wrote. “…it is a great public access point to watch the nesting bald eagles in the cottonwoods on Green Creek Ranch along with over 121 other bird species…” The Land Trust currently holds an access easement into the Catamount subdivision for the historic Rehder Ranch. The organization is working to ensure that easement is maintained. To reach Scott Franz, call 970-871-4210, email scottfranz@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @ScottFranz10