Granby’s Board of Trustees met as the Grand Elk General Improvement District Board on Tuesday night before their regular board meeting. As the general improvement district board, they discussed ideas to finance the repair of the stretch of Thompson Road from Highway 40 to the Grand Elk neighborhood.

Town Manager Ted Cherry presented his memo about Thompson Road to the board, saying that town staff would like direction on if the improvement district board would be willing to cover the cost of the repairs. 

Town Attorney Nathan Krob wrote in a memo that legal responsibility for repairs would likely fall on the Grand Elk Owners Association or Dillon Cos., the company that owns the shopping center on Thompson Road. The agenda packet included a 2016 letter from owners association lawyers claiming no responsibility for the road, a position reiterated by David Hall, the Grand Elk Owners Association president, during public comment.

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“The town’s attorney has opinions on (issues) that we have very, very different opinions on,” Hall said. “One of the things our attorney said to me over the weekend is, this (memo) is written like an invitation. Come on and sue us. We don’t want to do that. We don’t want to sue the town.”

Cherry wrote in his memo that previous Grand Elk Owner Association leadership approved of the idea that the improvement district and town split any costs Dillon Cos. would not cover. While Cherry has spoken with Don Forrest from Dillon Cos. and shopping center property manager Aileen Phillips about covering some of the cost, he emphasized that their participation is not guaranteed.

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Multiple community members spoke during the public comment time for the Thompson Road issue, including Hall. He supported pressuring Dillon Cos. to contribute to the repairs and said the owners association, which pays to plow Thompson Road in the winter, received no financial assistance for plowing from Dillon Cos. until they sent a letter threatening to not clear the road at all.

“This is property that we don’t own,” Hall said. “We didn’t wreck it. The trucks wrecked it, that are delivering there for City Market. Dillon Cos. owns this, it’s their responsibility, and it shouldn’t be taken out of the pockets of the people of Grand Elk.”

Lisa Wood, a member of the Grand Elk Homeowners Association board, emailed a statement to Sky-Hi News about the meeting. She wrote that the Hall and former neighborhood board president Joe Press did not say everything they wanted to in their three minutes of public comment.

Wood emphasized the owners’ position that the road is not their responsibility, so Grand Elk money should not be used to fix it. The owners association is seeking their own legal opinion on the matter because they disagree with Krob’s interpretation, Wood wrote. 

She also mentioned an improvement district unrestricted fund balance that Cherry said would reach $1.1 million by the end of 2022. Wood wrote that the owners did not know of this surplus and would rather use it for repaying debt than repairing the road.

After further board discussion, the trustees directed staff to put a discussion about Thompson Road on a future agenda, hoping that more meetings between parties and legal analysis in the meantime will help lead to a solution.

Reclamation Ride dispute

The board approved a resolution accepting a settlement and general mutual release for a dispute the town had with Reclamation Ridge. The town revoked a gravel pit permit from the company Jan. 25 after owner Ken Evans failed to sign an amendment to the permit. That came after complaints of an illegal dump site on Reclamation Ridge property.

Other business:

• The board approved minutes for the May 24 Grand Elk General Improvement District meeting, the minutes from the July 12 board of trustees meeting and the accounts payable for July 26.
• David Buckley, the Republican candidate for Colorado State House of Representative District 13, spoke during public comments to introduce himself to the board.
• Daniela Gosselova spoke during public comments to ask the board to offer better benefits to employees and ask about water management in the Grand Meadows subdivision.
• Trustees approved moving their first November meeting to Wednesday, Nov. 9, to avoid election day on Nov. 8. They also vacated meetings Nov. 22 and Dec. 27 because of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
• The board passed a resolution to coordinate the town’s regular election with Grand County’s November election.
• Town Finance Director Sharon Spurlin told the board she could move town debt to another bank to get a lower interest rate and gave a sales tax report during the administrative staff update.
• Trustee Jeffery Sneddon gave an economic development update, mentioning a Denver Post article about Destination Granby, the success of Music & Market, the Dream Builder women’s entrepreneurship program and Recast City, which works to bring small-scale industry into small towns.
• Trustee Nicole Schafer gave a housing committee update that included a summary of Granby’s current housing market, a mention of the Fraser River Valley Housing Partnership meeting last week and an update on deed restrictions for the town’s Highway 40 affordable housing project.
• Trustee Chris Michalowski said in the public works update that the water utility shed by the skatepark is finished.
• Cherry gave updates on a salary survey and interviews for the assistant town manager position
• Mayor Josh Hardy mentioned the Northwest Colorado Rural Philanthropy Days conference from Sept. 13-15 and an issue the Moffat Railroad Museum is having with weeds in his update.

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Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information from a statement provided to Sky-Hi News by a member of the Grand Elk Owners Association. It was also updated to correct the spelling of a name.