Merry Christmas to All & A Happy New Year!
Our fall newsletter is a little late this year, because we wanted to get as much info as possible to you. Let me start with the PID. It passed with a 2-1 vote. As soon as the new 5 member board is appointed they will be taking over our roads. Until then everything will remain the same. We will not be collecting road dues anymore as our new mill levy will be collected by the County, and they will pay our bills. The next order of business will be to decide whether or not to continue our road board.
Our next topic is the roads. We have been in contact with FEMA, Central Federal Lands, the Forest Service and the County. FEMA has turned us down. In talking with Central Federal Lands (a division of the Federal Highway System) they have been tasked with contracting and engineering for work on 43 and our access road. The Forest Service will be paying to repair their portion of the road (approx. ½ mile) plus farther up on the lower Forest Service and upper Forest Service (128) road. In talking to the County, their best guess is that they will probably pay at least 75% of the access road. That leaves us with our interior roads. At this point, we are waiting to hear if the County is including any help for us. We are also exploring other grants. Worst case scenario is we will make repairs ourselves.
Last but certainly not least, we were lucky to sustain the amount of damage we did. When you drive down 34 to Loveland or 43 to Estes Park the devastation you see is heart wrenching. But we are a resilient community, and are helping our neighbors by shopping in their stores or eating in their restaurants.
On the home front, I would like to thank the first responders, the people who worked on 153, the people who led convoys of our people in or out. The people who set up the food bank on the mountain, the ones who donated food and helped run it. The people who helped to make our roads safe. The people who got information and shared it with the community. The people who reached out to their neighbors because they could. I know I’m forgetting someone or something, so here’s to them!
We’ve all said this hundreds of times, to live here is a gift, as are our neighbors! About 99.9% of the time I realize how lucky we are, of course .05% of the time I’m mad at someone or something, and .05% of the time someone or something is mad at me! That is a wonderful thing!
P.S. Thanks to whoever decorated the Christmas tree on the access road!
Gary