Craig Daily Press

Craig — At Darcy Trask’s first Craig/Moffat Economic Development Partnership board meeting, objectives were broached large and small to the point board members joked they got a steal in hiring her as a part-time executive specialist.

Trask didn’t seem phased. She brought more items to Wednesday’s meeting than the board planned her to pursue.

She offered to take on the next phase in El Pomar and Mesa State’s study, “Socioeconomic impacts of growth,” which examines problems that might come with growth or hamper quality of life in Northwest Colorado.

If she participates, Trask will interview 20 local business owners about any growth concerns they see firsthand. Mesa State would pay EDP $1,000 to conduct the interviews, Trask said.

“It’ll give me an opportunity to meet those people” in the community, Trask said.

She also informed the board about her interest in participating on the state level. She would like to sit on a statewide committee and feels she has a strong chance because many committees want Western Slope representatives.

Trask plans to put on a property tax seminar the board unanimously approved. EDP will partner with the Moffat County Assessor’s Office to explain possibly confusing Colorado property tax laws, such as the Gallagher Amendment, which keeps residential property taxes low but puts more burden on commercial property.

“We like to keep the public well-educated,” Moffat County Assessor Suzanne Brinks said. “We’re trying to make business owners aware of taxes in the state of Colorado and Moffat County.

“These are things they need to know. I would urge all businesses, and even people thinking about starting one, to come. It’s pretty much open to all business people in the county. You don’t have to be a member of” EDP.

Becoming a leader

While discussing Trask’s participation in the Mesa State study, Gene Bilodeau asked if it would be a good idea to bring together parties with divergent ideas for addressing growth.

Bilodeau is a Craig city councilor and represented Colorado Northwestern Community Col­lege as an EDP member organization.

“There’s this whole fishbowl of ideas out there,” Bilodeau said. “We’ll have a better idea of what we can do together.”

Board members agreed. They thought it would be best to bring together city of Craig and Moffat County officials so they can come to terms with each other on how to plan for Craig’s future, specifically relating to new construction near city limits.

Members said it’s a chance for EDP to take an initiative in the community and facilitate economic development.

“If there’s some underlying tension (within the community) regarding growth,” Trask said, “it’s hard to be attractive to businesses looking to come here.

“Right now, it’s a little unwieldy, but we need to get our arms around this.”

Sooner is better than later, said councilor Joe Herod, who attended the meeting as the Council’s liaison.

“If we drag this out further, it’s only going to get worse,” he said. “I think the sooner we do something like this, the better off we are as a county.”

Herod, who has served on the Council for five years and is in his second term, said the main issue between city and county officials is water and sewer line requirements.

A subdivision on County Road 183, close to the bypass north of Craig, is a good example of problems caused by developers who don’t meet good building practices, as the city requires.

Runoff from the subdivision flooded the City Shop numerous times last year because the area’s culverts and roads were not built correctly, Herod said.

From now on, city officials do not want to annex or provide water and sewer to any subdivision that doesn’t meet city requirements, he added.

“Because, eventually, it’s going to have to be annexed into the city,” Herod said.

The city annexed the Ridgeview development on Craig’s west side because its developers did meet requirements.

Mostly, Herod agreed this is something developers should handle with the city directly and not involve the county. However, officials should come together and iron out differences and agree to a plan for the area immediately surrounding Craig, he said.

Herod said this wouldn’t apply to homeowners living on bigger lots, such as 5 acres, because that person can have his or her own wells and septic tanks. These requirements must apply to larger developments of housing, he said.

“If you build something like a subdivision, we want it to be up to code,” Herod said. “I really think this community could be 20,000 people in five years.”