The Boxelder Creek Watershed is a vast, relatively undeveloped part of northeastern Larimer County. The drainage basins in this watershed cover approximately 260 square miles and extend from extreme southeastern Wyoming into southeast Fort Collins with flooding continuing extending past  Timnath toward the southeast. The Lower Boxelder Valley is irrigated and it contains some of the best agricultural land in the County. 

The Lower Boxelder Basin, close to I-25, has developed into an agribusiness and agri-research corridor which includes a major brewery, the Colorado State University Horticultural Research Center, and the Colorado State University Agricultural Research, Development, and Educational Center. 

The entire Town of Wellington and a sizeable portion of the City of Fort Collins are included in the Lower Boxelder Basin. The lower, southerly portion of the Basin is more urbanized and is impacted by many existing man-made structures such as streets and buildings.

The Authority is continuing the make steady progress as it moves forward with the remaining projects conceptually identified in the Original Master Plan.  Since our last newsletter much has transpired and we are seeing the need to increase our communications to keep everyone informed.

Here are the Updates:

The Coal Creek Flood Mitigation Project (CCFMP)

This project is now complete.  All that remains are the monitoring and maintenance of the erosion control measures installed with the project. 

East Side Detention Facility (ESDF)

This proposed facility remains sited next to the Gray Lakes Reservoirs across Interstate 25 from the Budweiser Brewery.  This site is south of the original master planned site.  It was selected from several other sites because it provided an efficient and large storage capacity while keeping construction costs lower through an earthwork balance.  The fatal flaw analysis is now complete.  We are now looking further into modeling flows across County Road 52 and how they will be channeled into the proposed facility.  We are now initiating the final design. 

Larimer Weld Canal Crossing Structure (LWCCS)

As we reported earlier, because of the efficiency of ESDF the Middle Basin improvements have now been reduced to a single crossing structure where Boxelder Creek crosses the Larimer Weld Canal.  This spillway will greatly reduce downstream overflow in the Canal east of this crossing as well as overflow in the Cooper Slough west of I25. Coordination continues with the Canal Company.

Timnath Negotiations

In November and December of last year the City of Fort Collins and Timnath amended their IGA to allow for the eventual opening of box culverts under Interstate 25 at Boxelder Creek. As a result of this, the Timnath Development Authority (TDA) contributed $500,000 to the final design and construction costs of the ESDF.  In addition the TDA agreed to participate in 25% of the remaining design and construction costs of ESDF and LWCCS.  This was a major cooperative effort and was a major step forward in keeping these projects moving forward.

CWCB Loan

On May 14, the Authority’s loan application for ESDF and LWCCS to the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), was approved and we are now ready to begin discussion of the final contract and move into final design and begin negotiations for the required land for the ESDF.   The combined total loan package is for $9.9M with 10% matching funds. Terms of these Loans will be for 15 years at 2.75%.  The final loan amount is determined as these project come to substantial completion.  At this point the targeted date for substantial completion is the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015. This approach, along with TDA participation, will hopefully allow the Authority to pay off the loans and sunset the Authority within 15 years of substantial completion.

January Joint Meeting 

In a joint meeting on January 17, 2013, the Larimer County Commissioners, City of Fort Collins Council Members, the Town of Wellington Trustees agreed to craft an Amendment to the Original IGA with the following provisions:

1.       The Authority be allowed to issue debt for the CWCB Loan Package (described above)

2.       Provision for establishing a sunset clause for termination of the Authority

3.       Give the Authority the ability to grant fee credits

At the request of the County, the issue of expanding the Authority’s Boundary was tabled.  This IGA Amendment is continuing through the approval process at this time.

Conclusion:

Overall the Authority remains committed to the goal of reducing the flood hazards and the threat of flooding to homes and businesses downstream within the FEMA mapped floodplain of Boxelder Creek. 

As a reminder, all Board Meetings are open to the public.  They are generally on the fourth Thursday of the month.  Meetings are held at the Leeper Center in Wellington and begin at 4:00pm.  The Board Meeting packets, which include the agenda, and engineer, financial, and manager reports, are also available for viewing on this website under the "Documents & Map" section.  These packets are posted to the website a few days in advance of the Board Meetings. 

I trust this update gives you a more current picture of our progress and the state of the Authority.  As always let me know if you have questions or need clarifications.

Sincerely

Stan A Myers P.E., Manager