Boulder County and Peak Facilitation reached out to the community earlier this year to find qualified candidates willing to serve on the Gross Reservoir Community Advisory Working Group. The members were announced Friday.
The Gross Reservoir Advisory Working Group, which is made up of 12 members, will make recommendations to Boulder County about the best way to spend funds allocated to the reservoir from the Gross Reservoir Community Impact Mitigation Fund.
The Gross Reservoir Community Impact Mitigation Fund is a $12.5 million payment from Denver Water to Boulder County after the two entities agreed to a settlement of a federal lawsuit, according to the Boulder County website.
In July 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order that permitted Denver Water to begin with the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project. A lawsuit was pursued after Denver Water claimed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had "complete authority" over the project. This detail allowed the water company to avoid approval from Boulder County, according to the website.
Twenty-one people applied for a spot in the group and 12 were selected based on a number of factors including geographic location "to ensure that critical perspectives from various locations throughout the impacted area would be included in the process," a news release from Boulder County states.
The group encourages members of the public to follow its work and provide written comments throughout meetings. No verbal comments will be entertained during meetings.
The first meeting is on April 6 at 5:30 p.m. It will be held in-person at Coal Creek Canyon Improvement Association, 31528 CO-72 in Golden. The meeting will also be held virtually. Following meetings are scheduled for April 26 and May 16.
A community meeting will be held on April 29 for the public to provide further feedback.
