Individuals living in Smith Creek Crossing and Sun Outdoors Rocky Mountains pay, on average, $200 to $300 for water every month, according to residents and representatives from Sun Communities. Occupants in the West Service Area have voiced frustrations about the costly water rates with the Town of Granby and Sun Communities since their water rates rose about 400% in 2023.

Representatives from Sun Communities said at the Granby Board of Trustees meeting on March 26, 2024, that the rates are impacting its ability to sell homes in the area, despite being some of the most attainable homes in the county.

“It is Sun’s business model that we want to grow,” Sun Communities Vice President of Construction Services Emerson Prosser said at the meeting.

“Sales have slowed drastically because of the water rate. It’s no secret it’s a small town. Everyone is aware that it’s a very high water rate,” Prosser said.

One of the solutions presented by Sun includes turning over the water operations in Granby’s West Service Area. The company would then have the freedom to run and maintain the system, while also allowing the company to set the water rates.

This would not be the first time that the company has proposed taking over the water infrastructure. A similar proposal was turned down by the town due to safety concerns in 2021.

According to the presentation shared by Sun Communities, there are 139 families currently residing at Smith Creek Crossing and the company is projecting 310 total homes at full build-out.

In addition, there are also 36 families who own homes in Sun Outdoors Rocky Mountains, which sees more than 20,000 visitors a year. Prosser could not say for certain when the full build-out of the property will be completed because of current market conditions and other outside factors. He added that the homes in the Sun Communities development are some of the most attainable in Granby.

Sun staff said they are looking for a solution that would keep people from moving out and encourage more people to move in.

Granby and Sun have been regularly meeting to try and solve the issue of high water bills. The Sun representatives stated that they were open to other options to lower rates that included having the town lower capital funds contribution or having the town contract with a private company to operate the system.

If the board of trustees decides to move forward with potentially turning over operations to Sun, the decision would go to a public vote by registered voters in Granby through a referral to a ballot question, according to town attorney Nathan Krob.

The reason this item was brought up months before elections in November is so that town staff could have enough time to work on ballot language and crafting a contract with details regarding the turnover. Other items that would need to be discussed and finalized include what the actual system entails, financial concerns and other fine details that would allow the transfer to occur.

Sun says a private system could likely run on a lower budget than the town is able to run it currently. This is mainly due to the need for capital savings to be made over the course of years to replace capital items in the future.

The meeting’s agenda included a letter from Douglas Bellatty with Granby Public Works discussing the “pros and cons” of the turnover discussion. In the letter Bellatty asks the question “Is Granby and its citizens better off with or without the WSA (west service area)?”

Positives on turning over operations include presumably lower bills for residents and no more rate complaints to the town. Sun Communities has said that if the water system were turned over to the company, it would contract with a private company to operate the system. Sun has proposed contracting with Ramey Environmental Compliance Inc.

Ramey Environmental Compliance does work on operation, maintenance and management of all types and sizes of water, wastewater and industrial wastewater treatment systems.

Under Ramey Environmental’s operations, current projections show that residents would pay less than $30 per 1,000 gallons. Prosser estimated that by moving to a private water system operator, Sun Communities could save up to $800,000 a year.

The water rate in the West Service Area in 2023 was $53.11 per 1,000 gallons and in 2024 the rate is $44.01 per 1,000 gallons. Town staff said that the decrease in rates was partly due to fixing leaky water infrastructure. In 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that the average family in the U.S. uses 320 gallons of water per day, but that figure includes outdoor use like watering lawns and gardens.

Some potential downsides included a decline in service quality, potential problems in the future regarding capital items replacement, loss of town staff and more. Some trustees were concerned with what would happen in the future to the water infrastructure if a private owner were to run the system. The North Service Area in Granby is currently experiencing sudden water rate increases to pay for a new water treatment plant. The full memo can be read in the meeting agenda.

Granby Water Superintendent Josh Broady attended the meeting and expressed his concerns with outsourcing water system operations. Broady explained that there is dedicated town staff working at the West Service Area and urged for some thought to be put into what happens during emergency situations.

“Personally I’m not going to leave Granby citizens without water,” Broady said during the meeting.

Trustee Deborah Shaw shared concerns about outsourcing the water systems operator since Berthoud Pass can be closed for days at a time during the winter.

Some board members suggested that Sun Communities subsidize water rates for residents. The town of Granby currently helps fund a low-income water assistance fund that is managed by Mountain Family Center and serves the North, South and West Service areas.

When asked what Sun would do in the event of a system failure, Prosser answered that Sun would cover the cost of any replacements or repairs. He also argued that since the water infrastructure is new, it is not expected to need any repairs soon. When Granby Town Manager Ted Cherry asked for examples of how Sun Communities had gone about repairs in privately operated water infrastructure in its other developments the representatives present were unable to list an example at the time.

During the public comment period on the item many Granby residents stated their desire for collaboration on the project.

One resident from Smith Creek even took to the podium to say how she can’t wait to move out, but that her financial situation would not allow for it now. She ended her statement with asking for collaboration on a solution.

Resident and executive director of Middle Park Conservation District, Katlin Miller, also spoke and voiced concerns about potentially selling water rights to Sun Communities since she is a landowner that uses water from the West Service Area.

No action was taken on the item during the meeting and the board will meet again to further discuss and potentially take action.