A proposal to construct a rest area at the Boulder I-15 interchange looks very promising, Jefferson County Commissioner Leonard Wortman said May 9.
The state is “very interested in pursuing” the project and would like to start construction in the spring of 2018 with a fall 2018 completion, he told attendees at the weekly commission meeting. The facility would be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week year round, he said. An evening presentation in early June is tentatively planned to present the findings from a recently completed feasibility study to the public, said Wortman.
On another matter, Wortman told his fellow commissioners costs for safety repairs on bleachers at the county rodeo grounds may not be as expensive as previously thought. Architects and engineers viewed the bleachers recently and said problems may be easier to fix than expected.
Among other business conducted May 9, the commissioners:
• heard a report from Boyd An- drew officials about community drug and alcohol prevention and treatment services. Dan Krause told the commission the Elkhorn Treatment Center is fully staffed and has a census of 45. Over the years since the facility opened in April 2007, the clients have been arriving with more challenging addictions, Krause said staff reports.
• heard opposing views on the status of Rocky Road south of Boulder and tabled the matter to a future meeting, date to be decided. (See separate article in this issue.)
• listened to Owen Voight, President of Legacy Mining, on plans to mine waste rock from south of Ash Grove property and truck it to Golden Sunlight Mine for ore recovery. The material has a “fairly high arsenic level” and will be transported in covered trucks, roughly four trucks of 30-32 tons per day, an accordance with stringent requirements set by state regulators at the Department of Environmental Quality, said Voight. The mine site is about 150 yards off Sawmill Road, he said.
• and discussed the process by which the expenditure of the $500,000 Boulder Development Fund will be overseen. A resolution to establish a board for that process will be on the June 6 commission agenda, the commissioners said.
