[This letter is in response to “Setting the Record Straight on the Eastern Wastewater System Expansion” by CSU CEO Travas Deal in our June 6 edition. Deal’s letter was a response to the Bulletin article “Letter to COS council alleges Norwood responsible for wastewater expansion cost – but ratepayers are footing the bill” in our May 30 edition. – ed.]
Dear Editor:
We read Travas Deal’s letter on the Eastern Wastewater System Expansion (EWSE) purported to “set the record straight” with great interest. We thought Mr. Deal might finally address the concerns raised in our letter to City Council/Utilities Board, which were: Who decided to relieve the Banning Lewis owner-developers, principally Norwood, of their financial obligation under the Amended Annexation Agreement to “construct, at their expense, all wastewater collection mains and service lines” as provided by the City Code?
Instead, Mr. Deal goes to great lengths to justify the building of the EWSE. Neither my ratepayer client nor I have questioned the need for EWSE or CSU’s authority to take on the project itself. That’s not the point and we suspect that both the City and CSU understand this very well. The point is: Some person or group of people, not the City Council or the Utilities Board, decided that the owner-developers would be given a $400 million pass on building and constructing the wastewater expansion. Mr. Deal says there will be cost recovery from future homeowners (not the owners/developers) and that satisfies the Amended Annexation Agreement. The ratepayers will be stuck for 50 years paying the interest on the $400 million bond debt, as well as the risk of repayment, while Norwood benefits freely and without risk.
Want to set the record straight? Then answer this: Who decided that Norwood would not have to “construct, at their own expense” all or a large portion of the wastewater expansion as they agreed to do in the annexation agreement? When was this decision made? And if it was acceptable to give Norwood a pass, why was the decision to let them off the hook never publicly discussed or voted on by Council?
Bob Gardner
Join the Community Conversation
Please send your letters to the editor to heila@pikespeakbulletin.org by noon on the Tuesday before publication and include your first and last name as well as contact information. Please cite your sources for any statistics or other factual assertions. Letters under 500 words that do not need extensive fact-checking are more likely to be published. The Pikes Peak Bulletin does not endorse opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor.
