Glenwood Springs City Council convened for its first of two regular September meetings on Thursday, Sept. 4, with all council members present in person.
The big item on the night’s agenda came toward the end of the more-than-three-hour-long meeting, when council, following a long, sometimes testy discussion, voted 4-3 to proceed on the long-debated South Bridge project with the idea of using a toll as a mechanism to deter use of the future bridge and the Airport Road/Midland Avenue corridor as a Highway 82 bypass.
Council was pressed to make a decision one way or the other by the Federal Highway Administration, which is sitting on $50 million in approved, but now uncertain, Rural Surface Transportation Grant funding for the estimated $84 million project, City Manager Steve Boyd advised.
The toll concept arose earlier this year when city officials — in an effort to ensure the bridge serves its primary intended purpose as an emergency egress route for South Glenwood and the Four Mile corridor, and not as a bypass for through traffic headed to and from western Garfield County — began exploring mechanisms to accomplish that.
In addition to traffic-calming design features, the toll idea emerged. Some council members and residents of the South Glenwood area liked the idea of charging a toll for non-Glenwood residents using the new bridge route.
Councilor Steve Smith recalled a June 30 South Bridge workshop attended by about 165 people. Attendees were about evenly split between those supporting and not supporting South Bridge, Smith said.
“When people heard about the toll as an option, the atmosphere changed,” said Smith. “It was finally a tool people could see tangibly as a way to do this.”
However, some council members fear a toll could further stall the project, which has been in discussion since the 2002 Coal Seam Fire nearly forced the evacuation of the entire Four Mile corridor as the flames threatened to jump the ridge from West Glenwood.
They also worried that it could be viewed as a big enough change in the scope of the project for the federal grant to be pulled.
A toll muddies the water as to the purpose of the bridge, said Mayor Pro Tem Erin Zalinski, who joined city officials in Washington, D.C. for the federal funding pitch prior to its December 2023 approval.
That pitch centered around public safety, not a bypass, she said.
“This is my literal backyard,” Zalinski said. “But the reason for this is a very real one … If there’s no evacuation route, people will die. I cannot in good conscience advocate for something that keeps my backyard more peaceful, but could potentially cause the loss of life.”
Councilor Ray Schmahl called Zalinski’s comments “an emotional response to a practical problem.” He moved to proceed with the toll concept, garnering the support of councilors Smith, Sumner Schachter and David Townsley.
Zalinski dissented along with Councilor Mitchell Weimer and Mayor Marco Dehm, who was clearly upset by the decision.
“I’m mad, I’m extremely mad. I need to breathe,” Dehm said at the conclusion of the meeting.
Affordable housing subsidy
In another split vote prompted by the Trump Administration’s pullback of previously approved federal grant money, the council agreed to backfill a funding gap for the 80-unit Canyon Vista affordable housing project in West Glenwood.
The project is backed by federal low-income-housing tax credits to allow for below-market rents. However, the loss of an EPA solar energy grant and other funding uncertainty has created a shortfall, a developer representative explained.
The City is already backing the project to the tune of $1.75 million from its dedicated 2C affordable housing fund. The additional ask amounted to about $1.5 million, including a $730,640 reimbursement from that fund to cover general fund impact fees, and another $785,000 in direct 2C dollars.
If the developer fails to backfill the funding, they could lose the tax credits, city Housing Development Manager Kevin Rayes advised.
The council voted 5-2 on a compromise to award the initial $730,640 in transfer funds, but to wait on the remainder to give the developer time to seek out other possible funding sources. Councilors Schmahl and Smith were inclined to find a way to award the full request now, in hopes of helping the developer close on the former Glenwood Gardens project site by December.
In other news
A proclamation was read acknowledging the city’s 140th birthday (Glenwood Springs was incorporated as a city in late 1885); council heard a report on the City’s external and internal communications efforts; and resident John Banks appeared under the public comments section of the meeting, asking for more transparency regarding a pending decision coming before City Council on Sept. 18 whether to rezone the Glenwood Springs Mall property to mixed use.