Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
Gypsum town officials hosted a pair of Sept. 11 State of the Town bus tours. The tours were booked full enough to warrant bigger buses from Core Transit.
Before the morning tour, resident Hector Gonzalez said he was interested in finding out “what direction we’re heading in as a town.”
Fellow resident Kathy Ochs said she came out to learn more about the town than just her Cotton Ranch neighborhood. Ochs’ husband, Darrel, said he was interested to learn more about some of the construction projects around town.
Kathy Ochs lauded the tour approach, calling it a “novel” way to show residents some of the things going on around town.
With a full bus, here are a handful of takeaways from the morning-long tour.
Gypsum’s drinking water is pretty special
The lion’s share of the town’s drinking water comes from the Moser Spring, several miles up Gypsum Creek. The water comes into the town’s primary water treatment plant, is filtered a bit, has a little chlorine added and that’s it.
A secondary plant, called the Norgaard plant, is used as needed.
The town a few years ago acquired LEDE Reservoir at the headwaters of Gypsum Creek. That reservoir holds a maximum of 947 acre-feet of non-potable water.
The town is also working to create another reservoir along the Eagle River for emergency water storage.
Water and sewer service is expensive
The town just last year increased tap fees for new development for the first time since the early 2000s. Water rates also recently increased for the first time since the early 2000s.
The town also recently signed off on nearly $90 million in revenue bonds to pay for a new wastewater treatment plant. The current plant, built only about 20 years ago, cost about $5 million. Since the town’s wastewater system has to be mostly self-sustaining, that cost has to be paid through much higher rates.
A strong sales tax base
The airport and Costco are really, really helpful. We know that visitors contribute a large share of the sales tax revenue to Avon and Vail. But Gypsum Town Manager Jeremy Rietmann told tour participants that roughly 40% of the town’s sales tax revenue comes from out-of-town residents.
The Tower Center project is a big one
That project, located between existing neighborhoods on the east end of town along U.S. Highway 6 and the entrance to the Colorado National Guard’s High Altitude Aviation Training Site, is still in the town’s approval process. As proposed, the project will include:
- 47 single-family lots
- 80 townhome units
- • 324 apartments
- Mixed-used and commercial areas including 48 residential units with 26,000 square feet of commercial space and up to 100,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, including a possible location for a new post office
Rietmann said the new post office could drive customer traffic for the other commercial space.
The plan also includes a proposal for a 2.1-acre park.
Will we ever see an airport interchange?
There’s currently right-of-way for an Interstate 70 interchange to serve the airport, and a “shovel-ready” plan was drawn up in the first decade of this century. These days, there’s a greater need for interstate access between Eagle and Gypsum. The problem then, and now, is money. Finding more than $100 million will be tough.
Not everyone loves the food trucks
One participant called the trucks at the intersection of U.S. Highway 6 and Valley Road an “eyesore.” Reitmann noted that the trucks sit on private property, and pay business license fees and sales taxes. The trucks may also provide entrepreneurs an opportunity to get a foothold in town without the overhead costs of paying building rent.
When that intersection is used in the near future for a roundabout, Rietmann said it’s possible that at least some of those trucks will move to a town-owned site near the Interstate 70 interchange.
As the bus returned to Gypsum Town Hall, Kathy Ochs said “I can’t believe all that’s going on in Gypsum — it’s a very progressive town.”
Gonzalez said he’d also been impressed with the tour. “I was actually surprised to see the rapid development in Gypsum. It’s very impressive.”
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