Winter Park’s Pet Pass

With ski/snowboard season now underway, pets can get a souvenir Winter Park pass to match that of their human counterparts, with all proceeds benefiting Grand Count Pet Pals, a division of the Grand County Animal Shelter.

For a minimum donation of just $5, Winter Park Resort’s season pass office will print a special pass card complete with the animal’s photo, its name, the owner’s phone number, and the phone number of the Grand County Animal Shelter, creating a unique and fun identification tag.  
Pet passes do not grant lift access and do not come equipped with RFID.      
With 100% of proceeds going to Grand County Pet Pals, Winter Park’s Pet Passes are also a good way to give back to a local organization that provides so much assistance to pet owners and their beloved companions.  Since the passes were first introduced less than a month ago, nearly $300 has been raised.  
Pet owners can simply email a photo of their animal to seasonpass@winterparkresort.com or bring their pet to the Winter Park Resort Pass Office located in the Balcony House between the hours of 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Monday-Friday.  

Fraser Trash Facility Discussion

After open house meetings and several open forum discussions the Fraser Town Board has changed its focus from the Mill /Leonard street location and decided to begin initial planning phase for the  property next to Fraser Cemetery on County Rd 72.  The location is adjacent to the tracks just under the overpass close to the Fraser Tubing Hill.  The decision comes after feedback from dozens of citizens expressing concerns over the proposed neighborhood site. The Recycle and Pay as You Throw facility will hopefully open to the public sometime in 2018.

Fraser Pedestrian Safety Improvement Project

Fraser wants to create a safer downtown area for pedestrians and bikers. They have hired a firm, Bowman Consulting, to design Highway 40 crosswalks that are family friendly, pedestrian crossings with the hopes to slow the traffic and create safer crossing zones in the old town area.  Fraser has grant funding for about $1 million for the project through the Colorado Department of Transportation: Highway Safety Improvements Project program. The town board approved an agreement with Bowman Consulting estimating the design engineering phase at about $90,000.  Fraser will fund the engineering portion and use the two CDOT grants to complete the project by late 2018 early 2019.

Moffat Railroad Museum Model Railroad Club

The Chtristmas train exhibit in Granby is a really neat addition to the holiday season event lineup each year.  It is a real treat for the young and young at heart.  If you have never been to their exhibit you should put it on your list this year. They have a permanent home and have been hard at work getting ready for the holiday rush in their brand new building in Kaibab Park.

The museum has a few dedicated volunteers and hobbyists but they could use some help.  If you have some extra time to devote they need a couple of volunteers a day through January 6th.  This is the opening weeknd and they need immediate help:

Friday 24th – Saturday 25th – Sunday 26th — 10am to 2pm and 2pm to 6pm-need 4 volunteers – 2 people per shift.  Call Dave Naples -970-281-9094 to volunteer.  Check out story on Page 16.

Pile burning continues near Winter Park and Grand Lake

U.S. Forest Service firefighters had success burning piles in the Arrow unit near Winter Park last week, accomplishing more than 10 acres of burning, for an estimated 360 piles. In addition, the crews accomplished 11 acres in the Trail Creek area for a total of 415 piles.  Firefighters will continue burning slash piles this week in the following areas:
Arrow Fuels: 2,500 hand piles and 15 machine piles; Potential impacts: Arrow Tunnel area, Corona Pass Rd. Lakota Trail Area, Winter Park Resort; General Location: East/Southeast of the Town of Winter Park. North/NE of Winter Park Resort and Lakota Subdivision.
Trail Creek Fuels North: Approx. 5200 hand piles; Potential impacts: County Roads 41, 42, 12, 413, 414, 415, Grouse Rd; General location: 2.5 miles northwest of Fish Bay on Lake Granby.
Winter Park Fuels/Upper Fraser: 2,500 hand piles and 162 machine piles; Potential impacts Town of Winter Park, St. Louis Creek, Vasquez Creek Rd and Vasquez Creek area subdivisions, Elk Creek Road, Town of Fraser and Hwy 40 corridor general area; General Location: South and West of Winter Park, Southwest of Fraser.
Conditions are evaluated each day to determine if ignition will take place. Ignitions are generally expected to begin after 10 a.m. and will cease several hours before sunset. Smoke may be visible. Precipitation, wind, temperature, fuel moisture and staffing all play a part in when and whether ignition occurs. Firefighters monitor the area after burning is complete. Public and firefighter safety is always the number one priority in burning operations.
A complete list of areas where pile burning could occur on the Sulphur Ranger District this season is located at: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4648/.

Fraser 2018 Budget Draft Released

The town held their second public hearing on the budget last week. Some new items for this year include additional funding for the Art in Public Places Program, the establishment of a new community housing account, which will provide funding for affordable housing projects and an increase in the Water Fund emergency reserves account.  The town will likely adopt the 2018 budget at the next meeting scheduled for Dec. 6th.

Fraser River Corridor Master Plan Community Survey

If you haven’t had a chance to complete the online survey for the Fraser River Corridor Master Plan, the Town of Fraser appreciates your taking the time to click the link below and submit your input as it is important to the master planning process! A key piece of this planning process includes involving local residents to leverage their knowledge about where they live and the environment around them. The feedback you provide will help guide the Master Plan Team in understanding how you currently use the Cozens Ranch Open Space, how you would like to use it in the future and how you would like to see this area improved overall. The outcome of the project is to protect, connect and inspire! We want to focus on incorporating the Fraser River more into the Town of Fraser and into the lives of the residents and visitors. Our desired outcome is to showcase Cozens Ranch Open Space to everyone and allow the natural beauty of the river corridor to positively impact people of all ages without negatively impacting the wildlife population.

Please complete the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FraserRiverMPSurvey and visit the Town of Fraser’s website for more information about the project at http://frasercolorado.com/ . Please do not hesitate to contact Catherine Trotter (ctrotter@town.fraser.co.us) or Brandon Parsons (bparsons@thkassoc.com) with THK with questions or for more information. The survey closes on November 30, 2017 and will be posted to the Town’s website in January of 2018.

Grand County Gives Day

All Day Rally for Grand County Gives, a regional partnership to help raise awareness for Colorado Gives Day, and, 20 Grand County nonprofits are participating! The all-day rally schedule starts at

8:30–9:30 am Big Shooters Café in Kremmling: They will be offering ½ off Coffee to anyone who stops by while we are there. From 10:15–10:45 am, Hot Sulphur Springs Courthouse – Declaration that December 5th, 2017 be known as Grand County Gives Day. 11 am–1:30 pm Country Ace Hardware Granby: They’ll be offering Hot Dogs for a donation. In addition, Ace is offering a “Roundup” for sales from November 24th – December 5th. 2–3 pm Murdoch’s in Fraser: Gift card raffle, Elevation Pizza will provide snacks. At 3:15 pm the event moves to The Winter Park Pub

Pub: BOGO appetizers.

Faser River Corridor Master Plan Public Workshop #2

We invite you to join us for our second public workshop on Tuesday, Dec. 12th from 5-7pm at the
Fraser Historic Church (107 Eisenhower Drive) to provide your input on ways to develop a long-term vision to protect and enhance the Cozen’s Ranch Open Space. At the meeting, we will review and discuss up-to-date results of the online community survey, present design alternatives, and brainstorm additional ideas in a collaborative workshop. For more information, please contact Catherine Trotter at ctrotter@town.fraser.co.us.

Fraser River Corridor Master Plan Community Survey

If you haven’t had a chance to complete the online survey for the Fraser River Corridor Master Plan, please take five to ten minutes to do it. Your input is important to the master planning process! A key piece of this planning process includes involving local residents to leverage their knowledge about where they live and the environment around them. The feedback will help guide the Master Plan Team in understanding how you currently use the Cozens Ranch Open Space, how you would like to use it in the future and how you would like to see this area improved overall.
The outcome of the project is to protect, connect and inspire! The project will incorporate the Fraser River into the Town of Fraser and into the lives of the residents and visitors. The desired outcome is to showcase Cozens Ranch Open Space to everyone and allow the natural
beauty of the river corridor to positively impact people of all ages without negatively impacting the
wildlife population.The survey will run from October 13, 2017 – November 30, 2017. The results of the survey will be posted to the Town’s website in January of 2018.

East Grand School District Budget Talks

On average, the state funds 64% of the total investment in Colorado schools, with the local share being 36%. However, due to variations in property wealth, the state share varies widely by school district. It looks like the East Grand School District (EGSD) will likely have a budget surplus in 2018 according to Superintendent, Frank Reeves. EGSD was estimating a shortfall of approximately $1million this year based on a downward trend in student enrollment and the loss of property taxes from Snow Mtn Ranch. The board has proposed an abatement tax of about $1million with a “One Time” mill levy increase of 1.9685 mills to offset any deficit.  That increase will translate to an additional tax increase of $14.17 per $100,000 of assessed valuation on residential property and an increase of $57.09 per $100,000 on commercial property.  Recent news from county records pertaining to new home construction tax collections plus a significant increase in new student enrollment seems to point to a surplus according to the districts latest discussions. In addition, YMCA of the Rockies realized the hardship placed on the school system and returned half the interest monies the district paid back after the long dispute between Grand County and the organization was settled last year. The East Grand School Board has yet to finalize any decisions for the upcoming budget and are taking all new information into account before they move forward. The board expects to make a final decision in next couple of weeks.