Longtime Peach Valley resident Fred Kuersten spoke up about water during the morning public comment period at Monday’s Garfield Board of County Commissioner (BOCC) meeting.
“Every week, you see in the paper where the people want to do new subdivisions and tear up farm ground and whatnot,” he began. “And this year it’s been especially bad, because one thing I don’t think anybody’s looking at is the water. What are these people going to do for water for these places?”
Kuersten mentioned his well, drilled in 1974, and how the water diminishes every year, how people go to Silt, New Castle and Rifle to haul water and how some Silt Mesa wells have run dry.
“The commissioners need to sit back and hold off on any more development until they do some kind of research on the water,” he continued. “Because, you know, once water’s gone, it’s gone.”
The BOCC largely agreed with Kuersten. Commission Chair Tom Jankovsky said, “Water is the lifeblood of Western Colorado.” He added that the BOCC has approved minor subdivisions as a use-by-right and that developers must show adequate water supply.
“But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have the water,” he explained. “They have it maybe legally, but it doesn’t mean that they have the physical water.”
They approved the consent agenda, including a comment letter to the Bureau of Land Management concerning the December 2026 oil and gas lease sale. Jankovsky made it known that he did not want to go through another environmental review about leases on the Roan Plateau. He added that negotiations resulted in protection for the area for 20 years, except for two of the leases that may be up for auction in December.
“I’m sure that you’ll see the letters to the editor and comments from the environmental community about how beautiful and pristine this is — and it is,” he said. “But it’s not any different than the rest of Western Colorado.”
A presentation of a housing needs assessment of the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys was next up, which did not sit well with Commissioner Mike Samson.
“It’s a little depressing to me,” he commented after the presentation. “It really is.”
In 2024, the Colorado legislature passed Senate Bill 24-174, requiring local governments to complete a housing needs assessment (HNA) by Dec. 31, 2026.
The report for the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys is being showcased from Aspen to Parachute.
The Sopris Sun reported on the HNA in June, when it was presented to the Carbondale Town Trustees.
Liz Axberg, housing policy analyst for the City of Aspen, and Rachel Shindman of Economic & Planning Systems, Inc., contracted for the project, handled Monday’s report and fielded questions from the BOCC.
The HNA explores housing trends, prices and demographics in Pitkin and Garfield counties and the Roaring Fork Valley portion of Eagle County.
“This is really intended to help us understand the magnitude of housing need in the area, where that need is coming from and then what trends we’re seeing,” said Shindman.
Highlights included population age, job types and housing trends, area median income (AMI) and how locals are struggling to afford housing. Shindman pointed out that more people call Garfield County home than work in the county, and that more housing units are occupied in Garfield County than in Pitkin.
“In some communities, vacancy can mean a house that’s waiting to be sold, a house that’s waiting to be rented,” said Shindman. But in resort areas, she added, “Vacant typically means a second home or a vacation rental.”
The report shows 41% of housing units in Pitkin County are vacant, compared to 8% in Garfield.
The median home price in Basalt and Carbondale in 2024 was $1.4 million. In the Glenwood/New Castle area, it was $640,000 and $418,000, respectively. But, Garfield County’s median income is $82,000 for a two-person household.
“So to afford that $480,000 home, this household still needs to earn one and a half times that income,” said Shindman. She said to buy a median-priced home in Glenwood Springs or New Castle, that household must earn twice the median income, or 200% of the AMI.
Samson’s concerns focused on additional housing costs — insurance, property taxes and other fees — and how difficult it is for working families to afford to live where they work. He added that traffic has increased from Rifle to the Roaring Fork Valley.
“We’ve made it much easier to subdivide small subdivisions in our county,” he said. “You can take [35 acres] and divide it into seven lots and you have more land available, but then your questions on water and livability and traffic are out there.”
Resident Siri Olson mentioned increased traffic and water use, wondering if it might be time to close the door on further development.
“I feel like we’re at a breaking point in this state and in the West with this endless push for more and more people [moving] here,” she opined. “I think the state as a whole needs to ask itself, ‘How many more people can we safely support with our finite resources?’”
Localized housing action plans based on the HNA are expected by the end of the year.
During the afternoon session, the BOCC approved a preliminary plan for a major subdivision application for the Hogback View Estates between Canyon Creek and New Castle.
You can watch all archived BOCC meetings at the Garfield County website.