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Grand County agrees to hold CWCB Colorado Water Plan grant for Jones Ponds feasibility study
Summary
The Board of County Commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding allowing Grand County to act as fiscal agent for a Colorado Water Conservation Board grant that will pay for engineering feasibility work to formalize storage in two ponds near Tabernash for Middle Park Water Conservancy District.
Grand County commissioners on June 10 approved a memorandum of understanding that lets the county receive and disburse a Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) Colorado Water Plan grant to study feasibility for expanding and lining two unadjudicated ponds on property outside Tabernash.
The agreement makes Grand County the fiscal agent so Middle Park Water Conservancy District can fund an engineering feasibility study of the Jones ponds — a set of gravel‑pit ponds on land owned by Ron Jones — that Middle Park hopes to use to store part of its conditional Fraser Valley storage right.
County manager Micah Moyer told commissioners the board had previously given direction to work with Middle Park and the memorandum follows that instruction. Kent Whitmer, representing Middle Park Water, said the district has a conditional storage right of roughly "about 170 acre‑feet" in the Fraser Valley and has used only a small portion for Sunset Ridge ponds. Whitmer said, "we have a grant waiting with the CWCB to be dispersed for about $176,000," and that because Middle Park is not de‑bruced the district cannot receive the funds directly without triggering TABOR issues.
Under the MOU the county will hold the CWCB award in an escrow‑style account and release payments to the engineer after Middle Park verifies invoices. The draft MOU follows a template the county has used for other water grants; county counsel and the county treasurer will review invoices and the treasurer may assess the routine treasurer's fee set out in county practice.
Commissioners discussed basic project elements: the two existing ponds are a flow‑through feature today, will need lined basins and inlet/outlet structures if used for storage, and Whitmer estimated lining and modest deepening in the current footprints likely would yield roughly "40, 50 acre‑feet" of usable storage if the ponds are not expanded. Whitmer and county staff emphasized the feasibility work will determine whether the footprint should be altered, how the ponds would be lined, and how stored water would be operated in coordination with other Fraser Valley water resources.
A motion to approve the memorandum of understanding was made and adopted by voice vote. Commissioners directed staff to work with county counsel to finalize the MOU language and to return any requests for disbursement to the board with the treasurer's recommendation.
Because Middle Park has indicated it will pursue de‑brucing authority in a future election cycle, Whitmer said the district hopes the grant and the feasibility work will reduce the need for future county handling of similar grants.
