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VOLUME 123, NUMBER 9 • STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO • www.steamboatpilot.com
Exchange proposed Deal would give city Steamboat Lake water storage rights Brandon Gee
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Steamboat attorney and regional water guru Tom Sharp has proposed a five-party water rights exchange that could prove to be a lower-cost alternative to solving some of the region’s water priorities. If realized, one end result
is that the city of Steamboat Springs would receive as much as 2,000 acre-feet of storage rights in Steamboat Lake to augment its 8 cubic feet per second flow in the Elk River. That would save the city the cost and difficulty of building its own new reservoir on the Elk. Augmentation of the city’s Elk River water right is necessary for the city to bring the water into the munici-
pal water system, which is necessary for development in western Steamboat and the city’s goal of reducing its near sole reliance on the Fish Creek watershed. Sharp said the city’s 1999 Elk River water right could be curtailed during low flows because the Colorado Water Conservation MATT STENSLAND/STAFF Board holds a 1977 in-stream Steamboat water attorney Tom Sharp is proposing a five-party exchange of water rights, which would affect the various water supplies in Routt County, including Stagecoach Reservoir.
See Exchange, page 8A
States oppose efforts
Brandon Gee
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Jacques Billeaud
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX
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Steamboat 700 measures for sustainability debated PILOT & TODAY STAFF
Lawmakers try to block federal health care plans
Republicans in more than a dozen states opposed to President Barack Obama’s push for health care overhaul have mounted state-driven efforts to block federal intervention in health care, with some early success. The pushback focuses in some areas on fact — Obama’s stated determiObama nation that all Americans should be required to get health care coverage, for example. Other resistance, though, is based on unfounded notions of what has been proposed — fears, for example, that the nation would adopt a singlepayer system in which the government would take over health care, something Obama specifically disavowed Wednesday. Even if state lawmakers succeed, doubts remain about whether their proposals would take effect if a federal overhaul were passed. Experts say federal law likely would trump such state changes. “My sense is that if they pass a comprehensive reform bill, it would probably pre-empt what the state is doing,” said Paul Bender, a professor at Arizona State University’s law school and an expert in constitutional law. In any case, supporters aren’t letting up. “It became very clear that the direction for what they call health care reform at the federal level was putting at risk our health care freedoms, and we need to move quickly to make sure citizens are protected,” said Republican state Rep. Nancy Barto, sponsor of a measure in Arizona.
Green plans
MATT STENSLAND/STAFF
Another attorney will be coming to Routt County on Oct. 1 to help ease the workload for 14th Judicial District Deputy District Attorney Rusty Prindle, right, and 14th Judicial District Attorney Elizabeth Oldham.
New deputy in town
Routt County DA’s Office will have new senior attorney Oct. 1
T
he Routt County District Attorney’s Office is streamlining and rebuilding after going from three deputy district attorneys to just one in previous months. Fourteenth Judicial District Attorney Elizabeth Oldham, who oversees Routt, Moffat and Grand county
SUNDAYFOCUS STORY BY ZACH FRIDELL offices, said a new deputy DA will start working in Routt County on Oct. 1 as a senior attorney. Deputy DA Rusty Prindle has been the sole deputy in
the office for the past month since the departure of deputy DA Rebecca Voymas and deputy DA Carl Stahl weeks before that. The high caseload has meant Prindle has been working nights and weekends, and calling for reinforcements when needed. “He’s been fantastic in stepping up to the plate and cover-
ing,” Oldham said. Prindle has asked for help from attorneys in neighboring counties when he had scheduling conflicts — usually court in two courtrooms at once. Oldham also has helped take cases on some days, but she was occupied with the See Attorney, page 8A
The city of Steamboat Springs and the developers of the proposed Steamboat 700 annexation have negotiated for months and reached agreement on many complex issues, including affordable housing and water. The two still stand in sharp disagreement, however, when it comes to the sustainability practices that may or may not be incorporated into the development that proposes 2,000 homes and 380,000 square feet of commercial space on 487 acres just west of city limits. City officials say there are no sustainability requirements in the annexation agreement, but Steamboat 700 planners say their sustainability master plan is a firm commitment to employing green features in the development. “To be absolutely clear, there are no sustainability requirements in the annexation agreement,” city Planning Services Manager John Eastman said Thursday. “If they were to do nothing in (their sustainability plan), there would be no repercussions under the annexation agreement.” Steamboat 700 planners argue just the opposite and say that if they don’t follow through on their commitments in the sustainability plan, the city would have the same recourses as if the development didn’t build its required infrastructure or contribute its required lots to affordable housing. “We volunteered to Planning Commission and City Council to put a set of sustainability contributions into the annexation agreement, and that was agreed to by council,” Steamboat 700 consultant Peter Patten said Thursday. The most current draft of the annexation agreement states only this about sustainability: “The See Steamboat 700, page 9A
College hopes to lead sustainability
CMC officials apply for $5M grant to fund geoexchange heating, cooling system Jack Weinstein
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Colorado Mountain College officials are excited about TOM ROSS/STAFF a proposed 40,000-square-foot Geoexchange systems, such as the one housed facility on the Alpine camin this mechanical room that serves the Park Place pus continuing the college’s neighborhood, are becoming more common in emphasis on sustainability, Nancy Genova, executive vice Routt County.
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building. Teaming with the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, college officials hope the Alpine campus will become a leader in geoexchange technology and education. “We think this can become an international academy where people can come to learn all about geoexchange,” Genova said.
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president of college initiatives and innovations, said during a meeting Wednesday night. During the meeting held at Centennail Hall in downtown Steamboat Springs, Genova said the college had applied for a $5 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to help fund a geoexchange technology system to heat and cool the
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Geo technology systems aren’t new, but they’re becoming more popular, Terry Proffer said. He is a certified geoexchange designer and International Ground Source Heat Pump Association certified trainer with Major Geothermal, of Wheatridge. See Geoexchange, page 9A
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