Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Hayden town officials will decide this evening which project deserves a share of the state's next round of Energy Impact Funds.

The deadline for submitting grant requests for Energy Impact money is next month, so the Hayden Town Board must move quickly to determine which project merits possible funding.

"At this point, what we need is consensus," Town Manager Rob Straebel said.

The Town Board earlier mulled the possibility of seeking a grant for the realignment of Breeze Basin and Third Street.

Cost estimates and engineered drawings have already been offered for the realignment project.

Such advance work would be beneficial to the grant-writing process, Straebel said.

The Town Board, however, has discussed seeking an Energy Impact Grant to cover some of the costs of replacing water lines along First and Second streets near the mobile home park.

The town has developed no cost estimates on the replacement of the water lines.

Both projects are necessary, Mayor Chuck Grobe said, but the board must consider which project demands immediate attention.

The town placed the asbestos water lines along First Street more than 40 years ago. When the town began plowing First Street again this winter, plows removed a layer of snow that acts as insulation for the shallow lines.

When the ground freezes and the snow is gone, frost can reach the lines much more easily because they are buried only four feet below the surface.

If one of the lines broke, Grobe said, the town could pay a lot more than the cost of laying new water lines alongside the old ones.

A small scare was caused when one of the lines froze this winter.

"If it does freeze and break, we're kind of snafued," Grobe said. "If we had to say just one, then a grant for the water lines is more critical."

It's important the Town Board make a decision on one project because the town typically applies for only grant in any given cycle, Straebel said.

The deadline for grant submittals to Routt County for the local Prioritization Hearing falls on June 17, followed by the tentatively scheduled July 2 meeting. The state must receive all grants by Aug. 1.