Green River council joins San Juan diversion application, approves DOT and CDBG grant resolutions

The City of Green River City Council voted unanimously Thursday to join a San Juan Water District application for a water diversion tied to a Habilla Homes development and to approve resolutions supporting a U.S. Department of Transportation RAISE grant and a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application.

Councilmember Beau said the city’s signature on the San Juan application would give the municipality potential access to additional supply without creating an immediate financial obligation. “It’s not gonna cost us any money,” Beau said, adding that the arrangement would leave the city with the option to lease water in short-term (three- to six-month) periods if demand requires it.

The San Juan application, described in the meeting as roughly 24,000 acre-feet (approximately 2,000 cubic feet per second at the diversion points), is being advanced by the San Juan Water District in connection with a private developer, Habilla Homes. Council discussion said the city’s role would be as a secondary joiner to make the application more attractive to state reviewers; the council recorded no new immediate water delivery commitments.

The council also approved a resolution supporting a RAISE grant application to fund infrastructure, principally a road to the Western Industrial Park. Council discussion put the potential RAISE award at about $3,000,000; councilmembers said that, if RAISE funding is incomplete, the city would use a CDBG award to fill funding gaps. “If we get everything that we need from that, then we would not pursue the community development block grant application,” a councilmember said during the discussion.

Both grant-related resolutions passed on roll-call votes. During each roll call the verbal tally recorded those present voting “aye,” and the mayor pro tem noted the measures passed unanimously of those present.

The meeting also addressed the city’s representation at an upcoming canal-company meeting. The council agreed that the chair would serve as the city’s proxy for the canal-company annual meeting the following day; that assignment was made informally by the chair and no separate roll-call vote was recorded.

During public comment, Lance Erwin urged the council and residents to review historical canal-company minutes and the water-rights appropriation record. “I would just encourage people to just research… the water guys’ website and see how appropriation works,” Erwin said, advising that older minutes may clarify how current water rights developed and how the canal company interacts with city interests.

The council opened the special meeting noting four late agenda items and said it delayed the start briefly to secure a quorum. After the votes and the proxy assignment the meeting adjourned.