Fruita City Government

City Council’s last meeting, May 5, found the topic of Grand Valley Estates Subdivision again as a point of controversy. It seems that this problem has festered since the first time the issue went to Council nearly three years ago.

In the past Jake Segrist, owner of the adjacent property, and the developers of Grand Valley came to odds when the developer moved the irrigation diversion box, located 30 feet within Segrist’s property, destroying fencing, without following whatever a verbal agreement had been made between the two entities. According to Segrist, when his property was flooded, with no resolution to the problem, with an open manhole over the water, which could have been deadly for children who could have played near that opening and fallen in, this caused the friction, Segrist mended his own fence which had been torn down and moved the box.

Many discussions have transpired from that time to the present.

Readers can find the minutes and other pertinent information from such meetings at City Hall, Fruita.

At the time of this meeting, the developer was found in default for not having an irrigation diversion box installed at the  time of inspection for First Release of the subdivision improvements agreement.

Plans presented to City Staff on April 14 by Max Schmidt, of Grand Valley Estates, should be able to provide water to both his development and to Wildcat Ranch Subdivision, the subdivision now caught in the middle of the controversy between Grand Valley and Segrist, who claimed he had not been able to irrigate his land.

Segrist, who wants Wildcat Ranch to have water, would not agree with Schmidt’s plans since the plans would make him have to irrigate his property differently.

If both parties can’t solve the problems in an amicable manner, then individual property owners would have to pay for the correction.

Even though $115,000.00 was available through the SIA to correct the problems, the letter of credit expired and was not renewed which removes that money.

Wildcat Subdivision residents made it clear that they did not have money to resolve a problem that was not theirs to begin with. They also noted that the developer of their subdivision had skipped town with their HOA funds leaving that account with only a little over $100.

One Wildcat resident, who is a pilot, is losing his landscaping for lack of water. He asked that he be allowed to drop in an apparatus to siphon water to his property since he cannot be home to water for four straight days a week. Permission was granted.

The two sides have until May 18 to fix the problems.

Dinosaur Journey requested financial assistance for important maintenance projects, that of replacement of carpet in high-use traffic areas. To replace the 1994 carpet, would cost $11,452.

Under financial news the City has thus far received over $2,250,000 in grants from the state for the construction of the wastewater treatment plant.

The Fund Raising Committee working on donations for a six-lane pool instead of three lanes has been busy with grant writing. The kick off campaign will begin May 22 at the summer pool location.

EXCEL Energy is donating the work in energy modeling for the Community Center. This would usually cost around $50,000.

Happy Birth Day Fruita! This 125th anniversary will be recognized at a community cake cutting May 15 at 5p.m. in conjunction with Mike the Headless Chicken Festival and Celebration.

The issue or revising the sign code to best suite the needs and the wishes of the community and businesses involved was the topic of discussion which created many comments and took the bulk of the time in the meeting.

It was moved and seconded to send the code back to the Planning Commission for further study before bringing it back to Council for approval or for a move for additional study