Boulder County, Colo. – Last night, the Board of County Commissioners declined to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the Denver Water Board regarding the proposed expansion of Gross Reservoir.

After hearing to more than six hours of public testimony over a span of two public hearings – Dec. 20 and Jan. 7 – and receiving more than 200 written communications from Boulder County residents, the Board of County Commissioners unanimously decided not to support the IGA.

The intergovernmental agreement was signed by the Denver Water Board on December 19, 2012, and would have served in lieu of review of the reservoir expansion project under the Boulder County Land Use Code. The IGA had been negotiated by the staffs of Boulder County and Denver Water as a way to address the impacts of the project and to define appropriate mitigation measures, but ultimately didn’t go far enough in protecting the quality of life for residents in the area in the opinion of the County Commissioners.grossReservoir

While they acknowledged some benefits that would result from the proposed agreement, the County Commissioners indicated that the terms of the proposed agreement did not do enough to protect the health, safety and welfare of their constituents or the environment and that they thought it was premature to enter into any agreement before the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which is due later in 2013.

Following the release of the final EIS, the commissioners will work with county staff on a thorough response to the findings, and continue to work with members of the public to address ongoing concerns about the impacts of the proposed project.

Visit www.bouldercounty.org/property/build/pages/moffatgrossiga.aspx for more information. To view the archived video from last night’s hearing, visit the hearings page and select the business meeting for Jan. 7 at www.bouldercounty.org/gov/meetings/pages/hearings.aspx.

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