Community and Public Facilities

Infrastructure: Sooner Or Later, It Matters.  -- IBM

Vision: Adequate services should be planned and managed to ensure that the provision is consistent, reliable, and appropriate for the development it serves and compatible with the mountain environment.

• Lack of coverage by Fire Districts (e.g., Lake Dillon Fire District - Lower Blue Basin).

Public Facilities

• Infrastructure to access to Summit Stage transit stops (e.g., sidewalks).
• Inadequate childcare services.

•   Lack of County active recreational use facilities (e.g., ball fields).
• Insufficient linkages to significant summer and winter trailheads

Infrastructure (e.g., water, parking, roads, and schools)

• Physical availability of water
  -  Protecting water supplies from significant depletion and contamination.
  - Future development furthering demand and reliance on limited ground water resources.
  -  Providing for water rights and storage capacity more resistance to drought conditions.
  -  Increased out-of-district requests for water requiring future expansion of water, sewer, or metro district boundaries.
  -  Meeting criteria for mandated water and metro district augmentation plans at projected build-out (e.g., Copper Mountain Consolidated Metro District).
  - Lack of conditional water rights from Green Mountain Reservoir (Copper Mountain Consolidated and Hamilton Creek Metro Districts).
  -  High fluoride levels Hamilton Creek Metro District.
• Adequate parking for peak weekends.
• Increased costs to cover development impacts.
  - Budget implications to fix roads.
• Increasing costs of maintaining existing infrastructure.
• Maintaining the level of service of the existing road system and bikepath.
• Lack of sidewalks in existing subdivisions (e.g., Dillon Valley).
• Specific dedication of school sites.

¹ Costs of County roads vary significantly due to differences in classification and use; represents a 24’ wide road inclusive of 2’ of shoulders; estimates do not include right-of-way costs.
Source: Summit County Engineer, 2002.

1 Represents roads maintained year-round and under County jurisdiction; does not represent CDOT, USFS, or Town roads.    
Source: Summit County Road & Bridge, 2002.

Regulatory Framework

There are a number of different jurisdictions, County departments, and levels of government involved in the provision, planning, and management of community and public facilities.  The overall infrastructure is interconnected and accordingly a number of different statutes guide the level of service of services and infrastructure.   Likewise, the number and types of agencies administering community and public facilities is wide ranging and is not the sole responsibility of the County.

One component of community and public facilities that is within the County’s purview is the use of impact fees.  Specifically, implied authority is given through C.R.S. 29-20-104.5.   Key requirements of imposing impact fees on capital facilities include:

• Fees must meet ‘directly related’ test.
• Legislatively adopted.Generally applicable – not aimed at a specific property.
• Can apply only to capital facilities (useful life of 5-years or more).
• Cannot be used to remedy existing deficiencies.
• Can be used for any facility related to a service the local government is authorized to provide: (roads, water, sewer, parks and open space, libraries, police/fire, storm drainage, etc.).

The use and implementation of impact fees would require significant research and studies.  Said studies would need to include components addressing a capital facilities plan, demonstration of need, proportionate share, calculation of costs, crediting, and cash flow projections.  Subsequently, other similar development charges or alternatives to impact fees should also be considered in-lieu of impact fees.  These methods include: adequate public facility ordinances, development excise taxes, land dedication/exactions, or development agreements.

Goals, Policies/Actions

Infrastructure

Goal A.          Ensure infrastructure is planned, funded, and built to support new development.

Policy/Action 1.   Require that new urban development locate in areas that can be efficiently served by public services and infrastructure. [Proposed mandatory provision]

Policy/Action 2.     Promote clustering of development where appropriate to provide for more efficient distribution of public facilities and services.

Policy/Action 3.     Amend the Land Use and Development Code to clearly require developers to address costs of projects, paying for or contributing to the installation of necessary infrastructure and addressing off-site impacts.

Emergency Services
Policy/Action 4.     Promote the provision of infrastructure where needed to support ambulance and fire rescue services.

Water & Sewer
Policy/Action 5.      Ensure that land uses in urban areas requiring sewer and water are served by public sewer and water systems.  Urban development should be served by water systems and not by individual wells.

Policy/Action 6.     The impact of new development on aquifers and water tables that supply individual wells in existing homes should be evaluated in the development review process.

Policy/Action 7.     Develop stricter water conservation measure to be applied to new and existing  development (e.g. xeriscaping landscaping and installation of low-flow toilet requirements).

Policy/Action 8.    Develop incentives or ordinances to mitigate impacts on water resource infrastructure.  These may include: receiving credit for water conservation, rain sensor, sub-metering, soil preparation, turf limitation, waste of water, median sub-surface irrigation, or restrictive covenants ordinances.

Policy/Action 9.     For development not served by public sewer and water systems well-permits shall be issued from the Office of the State Engineer prior to development.  Return flows shall be returned to the same stream system in which the well is located and waste water treatment provided  through an individual disposal system of the non-evaporative type.

Policy/Action 10.   All development shall maintain in-stream flows and agreements.

Special Districts
Policy/Action 11.   Special districts should be consolidated where feasible and economically advantageous.

Policy/Action 12.  New special service districts should be created only if the service they are intended to provide cannot be provided by another entity.

Policy/Action 13.   Encourage existing water and sanitation districts to provide out-of-district hook-ups and services to new and existing development.

Fiscal Impact

Policy/Action 1.     Explore the feasibility of implementing impact fees.  Determine if they are equitable and infrastructure they could be applied to, to fund additional infrastructure and offset impacts of development (e.g., roads).

Policy/Action 2.     Fiscal impact studies should be conducted concurrently with evaluating off-site impacts and updated as need.

Policy/Action 3.     New growth should be responsible for funding capital improvements it requires and impacts to infrastructure (with the exception of deed restricted affordable housing).

Policy/Action 4.     The County and towns should work with infrastructure and service providers to develop capital improvement plans and equitable funding mechanisms to satisfy plan needs.

Policy/Action 1.     Support practices and programs to lengthen the life of the landfill to avoid relocating   and to maximize efficiencies.

Policy/Action 2.    Support the mission of the Summit Recycling Project, their strategic plan, and development of the Materials Recovery Facility to extend the life of the landfill.

Policy/Action 4.     As more development occurs in the County, a preferential rate structure should be developed further and placed on mixed construction waste going to the landfill to encourage the recycling of wood, stumps, trees and yard waste.

Policy/Action 5.     The County, local businesses, and the Summit Recycling Project, should work with local resort associations and condominium complexes to further develop recycling programs and enable tourists and residents convenient recycling opportunities.

Policy/Action 6.     Business development should occur with recycling in mind.  When creating areas for trash dumpsters, adequate space for storing recycling bins should be allocated.

Policy/Action 7.     The County should continue to support Summit Recycling and encourage the community to whenever possible, consider and use waste reduction methods such as source reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, and buying recycled products.

Goal D:             Development of community facilities and the extension of services should be carefully planned and coordinated with the Towns, special districts, and appropriate agencies.

Policy/Action 1.   Cooperation between governmental entities should be promoted, including sharing of services (e.g., plowing roads).

Policy/Action 2.     The County should work with the School District to coordinate planning for schools, parks, and joint use facilities.

Policy/Action 3.     Encourage and provide for expanding health care facilities to serve area residents.

Policy/Action 4.     Locate community facilities used by the general public so that they are readily accessible by public transit.

Policy/Action 5.     Encourage new and expanding development to provide for childcare needs and encourage employers to provide for the childcare needs of employees and potential employees.

Policy/Action 6.     Require appropriate design and screening of communication towers to preserve visual  character when technically feasible.  [Proposed mandatory provision]

Policy/Action 7.     Design community and public facilities to conserve water and energy.

Policy/Action 8.     Require joint use of facilities (e.g., utility corridors, co-location of cellular communication towers) between utility providers, unless no practicable alternative exists.  [Proposed mandatory provision]

Policy/Action 9.    Continue to work cooperatively with the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments in determining water quality and quantity issues/needs.

Basin Specific

Policy/Action 1.    Basin plans should encourage development in locations which minimize fiscal impacts on governmental service providers

Policy/Action 2.     Coordinate with utility providers to ensure their planning for facilities is consistent with basin and town plans.

Policy/Action 3.    Map water, sanitation, metro, and fire districts service area boundaries.  To the extent practicable keep these map(s) current.

Sustainability Measures

Sustainability indicators will be used as a means to assess progress toward achievement of specific goals and policies/actions outlined in this element.  The indicators are quantitative and qualitative measurements that reflect data available from a number of resources.  While there are many forms of measurements, these indicators are representative of specific issues and concerns throughout the County.  The representative data from each indicator corresponds to the outlined goals within this element and can be tabulated and presented to illustrate trends and progress.  Analysis of these annually can serve as a basis to support County management decisions.

The Summit County School District’s enrollment doubled between 1985 and 2001.  Table 6 is intended to track enrollment trends and student growth rates. 

Road System/Overall Condition Index (OCI)

The County uses a system that measures the total miles of maintained road in the County and evaluates the condition of these roads.  This system is referred to the as the Overall Condition Index (OCI) and is derived from a visual inspection process that considers asphalt and aggregate road distresses.  Qualitatively, any OCI below 40 should be considered Poor, ratings between 40 and 60 Fair, ratings between 60 and 70 Good, and ratings over 70 Very Good to Excellent.  In 2003, 52% of all County roads were considers to be in fair to good condition.  Tables 7, 8 and 9 are intended to track the total miles of maintained roads, the Overall Condition Index of these roads and specific usage of key collector or arterial roads in different basins.

Source: Summit County Road and Bridge Department 2003 Road Condition Report.
¹ Table 7 evaluates the condition of the County’s roads from several perspectives:surface type, road  classification, and collectively, of a system as a whole.  Town’s not included.

Source: Summit County Road and Bridge Department 2003 Road Condition Report.

Source: Summit County Road and Bridge Department 2003 Road Condition Report.
¹ Roads identified are considered either a significant arterial or collector.

Waste Reduction and Management

Programs and practices to lessen waste going to the landfill and lengthen its life are in place.  Table 10 is intended to track the amount of materials collected through the Summit Recycling Project materials recovery facilities and total volume (tonnage) of solid waste collected at the County landfill.

Source:  Summit County Engineer, 2003

Implementation Strategies

¹ Note: Length or timeline of respective programs needs to be discussed, prioritized, and developed.

 

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