STANDARD BLADE B R I G H T O N
SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1903
75cI
VOLUME 117
Issue 13
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021
Adams County works towards oil and gas rules County to propose amendments in accordance with new state standards BY LIAM ADAMS LADAMS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Adams County kicked off a process to update its oil and gas regulations that will conclude with a Board of Commissioners vote in July. The county will recommend to the board a series of major text amendments, including a minimum setback distance and a water and wildlife protection plan, among others. The amendments follow new state regulations the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) approved in November. Commissioners discussed the text amendments briefly at a March 16 study session, saying they wanted to wait for a future study session to have a more robust discussion. In
Weld County oil and gas wells along U.S. Highway 85. PHOTO BY BELEN WARD
the coming months, the county will solicit public comments through remote means and in stakeholder meetings and then draft formal amendments. There will be another
board study session and planning commission public hearing before commissioners vote on the amendments in a public hearing. Greg Dean, the county’s oil and
gas liaison commented at the March 16 study session, “I already have been told that the rules are too strict and not strict enough, and we haven’t even released the draft language yet.” Three of the county’s major oil and gas regulations — setbacks, cumulative impacts and community outreach — do not meet new state standards, explained Dean. In addition to updating those three, the county will be revising other regulations and in a couple of cases, exceeding state standards. County staff will also be proposing eight new impact plans for dust, odor, lighting, water and wildlife protection, community outreach, traffic and transportation, noise mitigation and cumulative impacts. The dust mitigation plan, for example, would place restrictions on construction vehicles’ speed and construction on high wind days. The community outreach plan would require the county to improve comSEE OIL & GAS, P5
Brighton approves Public Works designs Work on new city fleet maintenance shop could begin in a year BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Brighton will get a new Public Works service center with room to grow, councilors agreed. “There is no doubt that this project is long overdue and I’m very happy that we are starting to move on it,” Councilor Mary Ellen Pollack said. Councilors voted unanimously to accept the design bid from D2C Architects to build a Municipal Service Center at their March 16 meeting. The new building will serve as the new home for most public works functions, becoming Brighton’s base for streets maintenance,
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fleet maintenance and parks and utility maintenance functions. It will also have a space for Brighton Police Substation. The work will cost $451,847, Public Works Director Michael Woodruff told councilors. The center will be built on 15.5 acres the city owns Northwest of Main and Denver streets, surrounding the Tractor Supply store. It replaces the facility at 4th and Longs Peak. “If anyone has had the chance to check out our current maintenance building, it’s a nightmare,” Pollack said. “It’s just not acceptable, at all. And it’s not going to be a cheap project, but I think it’s a necessary project. We need to keep our equipment safe, covered and protected in the right place.” Woodruff said the city began looking at alternatives for a new maintenance facility in 2019. Each function within public works
currently operates its own maintenance facilities. It’s key to bring them under one roof, he said. The work will be broken into two phases, a building design phase and a construction phase. The first phase includes conceptual design and presentations to Brighton residents and the City Council and the Planning Commission before schematics and development plans are finalized. The second phase takes the approved design documents, calls for getting all work permits and concludes with the actual construction. The city plans to hire a construction manager for the project once the design work progresses, he said. That’s something the city did with the designs of a new water treatment plant. “It’s a collaborative process,” he said. “As we move through the
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design process we hire a CMAR (the construction manager) and the (manager) is then involved with the remaining design work going forward, the construct-ability review, cost estimates, equipment designs and procurement and will submit a maximum price that must be approved by the city.” That work will give the city a final price for the project, for councilors to approve before work begins. “The advantage is that the (manager) is part of the design team early in the process,” Woodruff said. “If we are going to have somebody build the project, it would be nice to have them involved in the overall design of the project.” Woodruff said the designs should be finished by the end of the year, with construction beginning in spring of 2022 and wrapping up in 2023.
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