County planning commissioners have started work on the infastructure part of updating the 2001 comprehensive plan. They discussed it at their June 4 meeting with county planning staff.
Planning Director Damian Peduto presented several maps that show locations of current or in-process infrastructure - roads, central water, central sewer, central natural gas. Laying these maps over each other shows the areas with the best infrastructure, which he called "the path of least resistance" to future development.
"What we have is something the (2001) comp plan sincerely lacked," he said. "The meat of what we did is the infrastructure inventory. We can't plan for the future without knowing what we've got. Measuring costs of growth can't happen without knowing what we've got."
The 2001 plan didn't have an infrastructure chapter. The transportation section merely refers to a county transportation plan from 1998 called TRIP 2030. The update, TRIP 2040, will be added in the plan appendix when it's done, Peduto said.
"We'll come up with a level-of-service schedule. You decide in the plan what level of service you want to see achieved on the different types of roads" such as collector and arterial, he said. "This is the foundation."
Groundwater was included under environmental resources in the 2001 plan. It expressed concern about the proliferation of individual wells and septic systems and recommended public support for creation of a rural water system. That water system is now being constructed and serving customers in the La Plata/ Archuleta Water District. Another rural system is in the planning stage for the southwest part of the county.
In an e-mail to staff, Kathleen Lyon from the county attorney's office said the county should promote more of these systems "to address the lack of water infrastructure and lack of reliable water sources presently frustrating growth in large areas of La Plata County."
The draft update notes that the county commissioners created a Water Advisory Committee (WAC) last year to examine water issues in the county. The committee is supposed to finish work this summer and make recommendations to the county commissioners. The committee was set to give an update to the county commissioners on June 11.
The draft also notes the statewide Colorado Water Plan being developed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board and regional basin water roundtables. The draft of that was released in December 2014. The final version is supposed to be released this December.
"When that happens, we should come back and adjust the comp plan," Peduto said.
Planning commission chair Jim Tencza also wanted ag water infastructure to be acknowledged in this section.
The comp plan update includes more about sewer services than the 2001 plan, including general capacity issues, future county build-out, and intergovernmental cooperation. San Juan Basin Health is in charge of individual septic systems. Peduto noted they recently rewrotetheir regulations. "We might want to consider that," he said. "There are things we wrote that would allow us to coordinate with San Juan Basin Health."
Planning commissioner Lucy Baizel objected to the idea that everyone thinks growth is good. "Maybe we don't want water and sewer systems throughout," she said. "Have hubs where we'll incentivize growth."
Planning commssioner Tom Gorton said, "I think when we talk about growth of the county, not extending infrastructure isn't the right way to do that. Withholding water isn't something I'd support. ... Better infrastructure is in everybody's best interest."
The plan update includes general utilities - electric, phone, cable, fiber optic networks, and central natural gas. It says, "There are several correlations to the potential for build-out and the existence of these utilities. By first understanding what level of service for these exists within the county, a stronger understanding of where 'the path of least resistance' for future build-out within the county exists."
Telecommunications is treated separately from the other utilities as "a unique form of infrastructure which directly affects economic and residential development... as well as the physical landscape. Wireless communication technology development is providing unprecedented opportunities for La Plata County residents and businesses."
Peduto said, "That's a big part of economic development. We have a significant population of people who work from home. If they have the opportunity to move here but they don't because there's no service, we've lost that opportunity. We're also talking about business, home use, quality of life, start-up businesses from home by people who already live here."
Cell phone and high speed broadband internet services, or the lack thereof, were the focus of public comments at the meeting.
Paul Romere, who lives east of Bayfield near the county line, said, "We have no cell service unless you are high enough to have direct line of sight with the tower. I have a cell phone, but I can't use it at my house." He said 20 subdivision residents each put up $400 to an internet service provider for a promised transmission speed of three megabytes per second. "We barely got .75. Their equipment is obsolete," he said. Another provider proposed beaming a signal from the HDs, "but when they looked at what it would cost, we aren't worth it."
Bliss Bruen from County Road 228 had similar complaints. Around the country, 55 percent of rural residents have access to 10 mbs, she said. "When we measure this, we're getting sometimes .021, .055. ... We're paying for a (transmission) rate that we never get. ... We're paying almost $100 a month. I'm always driving to the Bayfield library or in town" for better internet.
Dick Norton from CR 221 countered that if people really want these services, they should get together and make it happen, not look to the government. He cited LAPLAWD. "LAPLAWD wasn't done by the government. The real success was because of the people who put their shoulders to the wheel."
The draft plan suggests county incentives for utility providers to extend or improve services in outlying areas. Tencza wanted more specifics of what those might be.
Peduto stressed that staff is just providing information. It's up to planning commissioners what to do with it.
Planning commissioners and planning staff hold special meetings the first Thursday each month to work on the comp plan update. The July 2 meeting will include a panel of experts to answer questions in each of the infrastructure categories.
The work is scheduled to continue into 2017. Work on the plan can be viewed at http://co.laplata.co.us/departments_and_elected_officials/planning/comprehensive_plan.
There's a link on the site to submit comments as well.
