Overwhelming public and Town Trustee support resulted in $175,000 originally planned to provide a match for a wildfire mitigation grant to remain with the Estes Valley Fire Protection District, even though a match for the grant is no longer required.
Mayor pro tem Marie Cenac and Trustee Cindy Younglund were not present at the May 27 regular Town of Estes Park Board meeting, but the remaining five on the governing board voted unanimously to “keep the money with the Fire District.”
It’s been several years since the wildfire mitigation grant was applied for, and one year since the Town allocated the funds required to make the required match. But early this year, EVFPD was told they didn’t need to make a match, the District came to the Town Board to ask whether they could keep the funds which would be used complete the full project in the Thunder Mountain and Windcliff neighborhoods off Highway 66.
Initially, there were some comments questioning whether spending Town money in unincorporated Larimer County should happen this year in consideration of the Town’s tight budget. At the May 1 Town Board meeting, numerous public comments were submitted in support of the project.
“I have 22 insurance policies,” said Gerald Mayo, Estes Park resident and businessman for the past 34 years. In that time, he and his wife Susie had to evacuate their home twice, due to wildfires. The first time was for the High Drive Fire on June 23, 2012, which “burned 22 homes in two hours,” he said. The second time was for the state’s second-largest wildfire in Colorado history, the East Troublesome Fire of October of 2020.
“If you talk to some of these firemen, they stopped that fire at the YMCA of the Rockies. Had they not stopped it, we would have lost our town. Our fires do come from the west, and it just seems prudent, as insurance from wildfires, that the fire department be able to keep this money, because I kind of like my house,” Mayo said.
Natham Hallam, a fuels specialist for Rocky Mountain National Park and Division Chief 32 with EVFPD, said that he is currently working on contracting fuels mitigation work on198 acres in RMNP to tag onto this project, he said.
“But these fuel works don’t know boundaries. It needs to go across onto the private land. Fuel mitigation is critical for us firefighters to gain access and put the fires out to protect the values that are threatened.” Hallman added that it takes more than one agency to get that work done.
Trustee Frank Lancaster said that he is happy to vote for anything that provided two things: wildfire mitigation and flood mitigation. However, the longer the Town goes between these natural disasters, the shorter the memory of the resulting damage and loss gets, he said. “The amount of money we are putting in, $175,000, is nothing. I mean, it’s part of one house that would be destroyed,” Lancaster said.
Mayor Gary Hall said that another consideration is “that we don’t have a great snow pack this year. I would be ashamed if the fire started over there and the wind was blowing the right way and we hadn’t taken care of that business,” he said.
Trustee Kirby Hazelton said that the Town’s participation in this grant is an example of an interagency cooperation that could make all the difference to public safety. But Trustee Bill Brown said that using these funds in the county may be controversial, “is this the highest priority right now?”
“That is the most dangerous place in Estes Park for a windblown fire to blast right over the mountain and have a direct path into the heart of Estes Park, to answer your question bluntly,” said Frank Theis, who purchased the Marys Lake Lodge property in 1999.
“I used to hike with my little puppy up the mountain there and I realized then that this is like God’s killing ground. So please, if 55 acres more could be mitigated with these funds that otherwise will be delayed, please try and keep it going.”
Other people to speak were Fire Chief Paul Cappo who reiterated his commitment to wildfire mitigation and numerous letters of support were received from the public.
Salud Clinic has raised $500,000 to stay open
John Santistevanm, CEO of Salud Family Health which operates community health centers throughout rural Colorado, said a crisis has been partially averted with the community raising $500,000 to keep the Estes Park clinic open past the May 31 deadline.
He said another review must take place in September. Declining funds received from the federal government and the Medicaid rollback has resulted in another 14% of the Estes Park center’s patients becoming uninsured, which is another expense to bear for the local center.
Kent Smith remembered
The Town Board had kind words for Kent Smith who died on May 18. Smith and his wife Judi regulalry attended Town Board meetings as citizen observers.
“I wanted to share just a really quick perspective to pay some kind of tribute to Kent” said Trustee Mark Igel, who related a story about when Kent and his wife Judi came into Town. The first thing they did was to talk to Igel and ask him about opening a sign shop. Igel had been making signs in Estes Park for decades.
“He came in respectfully, and he came in gently,” Igel said. “That is how he operated in town. He contributed a lot, he showed us how you deliver on a commitment that you make, and he always followed through. So, I want to thank Kent for his contribution to our community and to his wife, Judi, for supporting him in that and to share my condolences with their family. “
Other trustees and the mayor echoed these sentiments.
Open house for Development Code update set
On June 25, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Estes Park Museum’s meeting room, Town of Estes Park staff and the consultant, Design Workshop, Inc., will host an open house to get public feedback on what they would like to see while rewriting the current Estes Valley Development Code.
Personnel matter referred to Restorative Justice
Trustee Mark Igel, Town liaison to the Transportation Advisory Board, made a motion to remove Belle Morris, the chair of that board. Since detailed information was not received in the board packet, the matter was shelved until all parties can attend mediation, if appropriate, and it will be handled in an executive session by the Town Board.
Strategic goals for 2026 revised
Travis Machalek made a presentation on new language for some of the strategic goals set at the April 18 study session. This will be explored in a separate story by the Estes Valley Voice. The next Town of Estes Park Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 11 at Town Hall, 170 MacGregor Ave., beginning at 7 p.m.