CMC trustees vote on lease for compressor station

At the May 14, 2012, meeting of the Colorado Mountain College Board of Trustees, the board voted to not recognize a land lease between the college and SourceGas.

SourceGas has been seeking to build a booster compressor station on the college’s campus in Spring Valley. After hearing feedback from the community this spring, SourceGas approached the county commissioners and withdrew their application for a previously leased site. Since then they have been considering another site, closer to the college’s water tower.

Trustees also voted to rescind and withdraw any authorization for SourceGas to continue forward with its application to amend the college’s PUD. The college’s board plans to engage outside legal counsel to further address this matter.

About 20 members of the public, college employees and students attended today’s meeting, and of those approximately a dozen spoke. Opinions expressed covered the spectrum from opposing construction of the facility anywhere on campus, to encouraging the college to support construction of the facility at the second proposed site near the water tower because it is preferred over the original site, to encouraging the college to expedite approval of the compressor station to assure sufficient future natural gas supplies in the region.

In other business, the trustees voted to affirm the current contract for the college’s president and approve a fall 2012 sabbatical for Aspen humanities faculty Tom Buesch.

The board also heard the first reading of the college’s proposed general fund budget for $55.5 million ($3 million more than the current year). The board will vote on the budget at their next scheduled meeting, to be held June 18 at the Aspen campus.

In addition, trustees voted to accept a land donation agreement. Airport Land Partners has offered what’s called a “charitable bargain sale,” on approximately 25 acres of land, to the CMC Foundation. The acreage is adjacent to the college’s existing campus in Rifle. The agreed-upon price is $500,000, to be paid over five years without interest. The Clough Family Foundation has agreed to donate $200,000 toward the purchase price, resulting in a net cost to the college of $300,000. The appraised value of the property is $2,230,000. The purchase transaction would come back to the board for final approval.