Silverton Board of Trustees voted this week to allow construction of a new road, despite protests and concerns from town residents over the road cutting through once-protected wetland area.

Since September, the town has been divided over any kind of road or building construction on identified wetlands within town limits. Local environmentalists and longtime residents argue that development of the land would destroy crucial ecosystems that would never be able to recover.

“It takes thousands of years for these things to develop, and it takes a day to destroy them,” said Trustee Tyler George.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concluded that only 1.5% of wetlands are left in Colorado as a result of land development, with 90% of the state’s fish and wildlife species dependent on their resources, according to its Colorado Wetland Resources National Water Summary.

Up until a few years ago, the wetlands within Silverton’s town limits were under the protection of the Army Corps of Engineers, the military agency responsible for environmental protection. Once the agency reassessed the wetland’s perimeters and discovered they were no longer connected to the Animas River, they redesignated the area as non-jurisdictional and no longer under federal protection. The wetlands then became available for land development.

Many of Silverton’s residents believe the wetlands should continue to be protected, even if they are no longer under federal protection.

“I’m requesting that the trustees should send the issue of protecting all wetlands to a vote,” said Sandy Campuzano, whose family has lived in Silverton since the 1800s. “... If the issue is so divisive, after spending more than 90 days educating ourselves on why the wetlands are so important to protecting the town’s environment water and economy, it’s time to move forward.”

Campuzano, who runs a website with her grandson to protect Silverton’s wetlands, believes more than just the board of trustees should be able to vote on the issue.

“The citizens of Silverton should be heard,” she said at Monday’s meeting. “Let them decide the issue of the wetlands protection by their vote.”

Many of the town trustees acknowledged the importance of the wetlands, while also acknowledging there is nothing in the town’s code that prevents developers from building on non-jurisdictional wetlands.

“Our town code and everything we have on the books would not preclude this road from being built,” said Silverton’s Director of Public Works John Sites.

“This conversation for us has been so difficult,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Sallie Barney. “This road is covering terrain that is right now currently (not protected) in our code. It’s not protected wetlands federally, and it's not protected locally. That’s how this road can meet the code. For us to protect this land, we would have needed to protect it in our town code, and unfortunately, we don’t have anything doing that right now.”

Another issue raised in the meeting was with the actual structure of Roberts Road, which several residents and the San Juan Fire Department have argued is too narrow, a purposeful design attempted to cut as little into the wetlands as possible.

“I think the road plan is not adequate in its current design to support several houses on the hill,” Campuzano said. “The road is very narrow, and I’m very concerned about the steepness of it. I think it would be wise to have the plan scrutinized with fresh eyes to assure that it will be safe.”

Sites disagreed with the sentiment.

“This morning we got a comment from the Silverton/San Juan Fire Department that the road is too narrow and too steep,” he said. “It is well within our development standards. This has been reviewed extensively by our town engineers. I would not discount the fire department’s comments, but it’s a bit late in the game.”

Sites then added, “We have much steeper streets in town.”

After continual back and forth between the trustees on whether preservation of the wetlands should take place over policy, four of the trustees decided to go forward with the road’s construction. Trustee Jordan Bierma abstained from voting.

“Ten to fifteen years seems like a long time that this has been non-jurisdictional wetland, but it takes thousands of years for it (wetlands) to become established,” Bierma said. “It seems like this happened only yesterday. I feel rushed into making this decision. I don’t think it’s a right decision as a community. It puts us in a really difficult position. I don’t think I can vote to approve this, as I don’t think it is the best outcome for the community, and I’m supposed to be here representing the community. Just because we have poorly written land-use codes doesn’t mean I have to abide by something that’s not accurately representing what it should be representing.”

The lone trustee to vote against the road’s development, Trustee George, echoed Bierma’s sentiments.

“Based on the feedback I’ve gotten from the town, the town wants more than what Army Corps gives,” he said. “Just because we have poorly written codes or the absence of codes doesn’t mean I have to vote on it. If we do have to follow whatever code we have that’s too poorly written or full of holes, if my voting against something like that goes against my position on the town board, then I’m going to need to look for another job. That’s a bad way of doing things.”

Mayor Shane Furhman was absent from Monday night’s proceedings and did not vote on the road’s approval.

molsen@durangoherald.com