grass Service with the Weld County Ramblers at 10 a.m. on Sunday January

R• E •REDS V • I • E • W TONE PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LYONS, CO PERMIT No 2053 RESIDENT / OCCUPANT

Redstone stands with President Zelensky and the people in Ukraine

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VOLUME 23, NUMBER 11 LYONS, COLORADO DECEMBER 14, 2022 / JANUARY 18, 2023

B• R • I • E • F • S

CHRISTMAS SERVICES

Lyons Community Church services

LYONS – The Lyons Community Church, at 350 Main St. on the corner of 4th and Main, offers United Methodist Church services every Sunday at 10 a.m. and Catholic Mass every Saturday evening at 5:30 p.m.

The United Methodist Church services will include an All-Age Christmas Pageant at 10 a.m. on Sunday December 18.

The Church will hold a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at 7 p.m. on Saturday December 24.

The Church will hold a Christmas Day Service at 10 a.m. on Sunday December 25.

The Church will hold a Bluegrass Service with the Weld County Ramblers at 10 a.m. on Sunday January 1.

Allenspark Community Church

ALLENSPARK – Christmas is fast approaching and the church will be celebrating the birth of the Christ Child on Christmas Eve, December 24, at 3:30 pm in the church at 16 Washington St., across from the post office.

The sanctuary will be filled with music – Don Shelley, church organist, will open the service with a solo; anthems will be sung by the choir under the direction of Leigh Bogardus; Kayleen Patrick, Colette McDonald, Cindy Rockett, and Julie, Jerilyn and Jamisyn Fischer will use their respective talents to help tell the story of this night; and familiar hymns will be sung by the congregation. The account of the birth of Jesus as told in the book of Luke will be shared by Pastor Ralph Patrick. And, as is our tradition, everyone will be given a candle to turn on for the singing of “Silent Night” to close the service.

As Jesus was God’s gift to mankind on that special night, the church will have a gift bag for all those in attendance.

Everyone – area residents, families, friends – is invited to join us. If you have questions, call the church at 303-747-2821. There will not be a service on Christmas Day, December 25.

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Baby’s first Christmas – Seven-month-old Reese, from Lyons, had his first visit with Santa at the Lyons Holiday Artisan Market on December 10. Reese came dressed in his green Grinch hoodie to make sure Santa knew he meant business. And he gave Santa’s beard a little tug just to make sure it was the real thing. PHOTO BY CATHY RIVERS

Board denies developer discount, clears way for coffee drive-up and sewer rate increase

By Greg Lowell Redstone Review

LYONS – At its December 5 meeting the Town of Lyons Board of Trustees denied a developer’s request to pay discounted cash in lieu of water shares.

The board, by consensus, denied developers Dave Wickum and Keith Chatfield’s proposal to offer less-than-market-value cash in lieu of Colorado Big Thompson (CBT) water shares for development of eight house lots on McConnell Drive.

Wickum and Chatfield proposed paying the town $29,100 in cash per house instead of the current CBT market rate of $70,000 to 75,000. They based their offer on a comparison of Longmont, Fort Collins, Berthoud and Loveland – all of which accept cash from developers to manage their water requirements. The board had heard their detailed proposal at the November 21 meeting.

Under the 2003 intergovernmental agreement with the City of Longmont (from whom Lyons receives its water), each new lot in town that taps into the water system requires the owner to bring to the town a CBT water share. Alternatively, the Lyons municipal code allows the trustees to accept the cash equivalent of the current market price of the CBT share in lieu of the actual share.

Lyons currently holds 727 CBT shares, of which 709 are committed to Longmont in “water year” 2023 for existing water taps. Eight of the remaining town’s balance of shares would have to be transferred to Longmont if the town decided to accept cash in any amount from the developers.

Prior to their decision, the board heard from Utilities Director Aaron Caplan that the cash in lieu of shares would be deposited in the town’s wastewater fund to be used for related projects.

There was discussion on how that cash might be used to shore up the town’s wastewater fund, which is facing a shortfall in 2023 due to increased expenses at the wastewater treatment plant. The town’s advisory Utilities and Engineering Board had recommended that the town accept only full market value cash in lieu of water shares.

Town attorney Brandon Dittman said that the development agreement for Lyons Valley Park (where the eight lots are located) specifically requires CBT water shares for each new home. The lone exception to that agreement was for Summit’s affordable housing units in LVP that, by town code, could use far less expensive Lake McIntosh water shares (currently in the $10,000 range).

After hearing these details. Mayor Hollie Rogin asked the board if any of them were interested in discounting the value of the water shares for the developers. There was no response in the affirmative. Rogin then said that there was no need for the town “to give a subsidy to build million-dollar homes,” and told Keith Chatfield (who was present via Zoom) the town is not willing to discount the water share values.

The matter being closed, Chatfield said he would pursue buying CBT shares on the open market.

The board also weighed approval of the conditional use of a drive-up window and a waiver for unpaved parking for the planned Mud Hut coffee business at 4033 Ute Hwy., adjacent to the existing U-Pump-It gas station. The board had adopted Ordinance 1136 on November 21, which added “drive-up windows” to the list of allowable conditional uses in the B-Zoning District.

The drive-up/walk-up business will have a single CDOT-approved entrance and egress off Rte. 36 and an unpaved circular drive. The business itself will be a trailer with sewer and water connections that can be quickly disconnected in the event of a flooding emergency.

There were no comments at the public hearing, and the board unanimously approved