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Waterline extension OK’d

Nick Foster

Routt County residents who live close to Hayden now have a better shot at tapping into Hayden’s water supply.

After a lengthy discussion at the Hayden Town Board meeting Thursday night, which revealed trustees were split on the issue of allowing out-of-towners to tap into municipal water, the trustees voted 3-2, approving a resolution to allow county residents within 150 feet of Hayden’s waterlines to tap into the town’s water mains, upon case-by-case approval from the Hayden Town Board and Public Works department.

The resolution has been debated at several meetings in the past two months, and it brought more deliberation Thursday.



Hayden resident and Planning Commission member Garold Gilbert reported there were 25 out-of-town taps in use, and he said he had a problem with continuing to allow more out-of-town taps because they do not contribute tax dollars to the town’s water system. Gilbert said by approving this resolution, the town is opening the door to more nontaxpayers, or as he put it, opening up “a real can of worms.”

Planning Commission member Tom Rogalski and Andrea Hayden also were in attendance and voiced their opposition to the resolution.



County resident Brett Brooks was at the heart of the resolution as his property line sits 148 feet from a Hayden water main. Trustee Tim Frentress supported his request to tap into town water.

“If one more tap is going to break this town, then we’re in a lot of trouble already,” Frentress said.

Trustees Joe Schminkey and Chencho Salazar agreed and, along with Frentress, voted to approve. Trustee Ken Gibbon, who said he opposed the resolution in several previous meetings, was absent, and the resolution passed.

In other water-related business, the Town Board passed an ordinance requiring developers bringing a new development before the town to submit sufficient water rights for their development before the Planning Commission approves a preliminary plat.

“Thank you,” Town Manager Rob Straebel said to the Town Board after voting to approve the ordinance. “This will be a great ordinance for the town of Hayden in the future.”

In other business:

n Residents of Park Trailer Park and South Second Street have new addresses, as the Town Board approved the address changes at the request of the West Routt Fire District, which was having trouble locating some of the homes in the area. Among the changes, two new street names were created: Park Alley and Jackson Alley.

n The production of the “Hayden Community Video” was approved. The video, which will include interviews with several prominent and longtime Hayden residents, will be used as part of Hayden’s “community visioning process” for creating a 2004 master plan by pulling together what the Hayden community wants for its future.

n The revised contract from the Gates Family Foundation for $158,000 was approved. The revisions were made to state that 4S would pay for the $61,000 Impact Study, instead of the town using part of the grant money for it. Also, the revised contract states that the town must plug all the information from a new development of at least 10 acres into the CommunityViz software before construction of that development begins.


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