Montrose, CO—The Montrose Board of County Commissioners signed an intergovernmental agreement between the county and the Town of Nucla that provides $300,000 to the town for replacement of a sewer line and utility access holes.

“We’ve all been there—when you are getting into a remodel project and something else comes up that needs to be fixed,” said Commissioner Roger Rash. “The Town of Nucla has done a great job getting this funding and adjusting to changes in this project. I look forward to the continued development of Nucla’s Main Street.”

“I am very grateful to the county for their assistance with the sewer line and utility access holes,” said Melissa Lampshire, Nucla Town Manager. “We are already raising water rates $4 per month over the next two years to offset some of the funding for this project, so avoiding increasing those rates even more is a huge benefit to our residents. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue our main street improvement efforts.”

The town of Nucla recently approached the county with this project and requested $300,000 to assist with a costly change to a larger project. In 2019, Nucla was awarded a Main Street Improvement grant to beautify the downtown area. This includes replacing and widening sidewalks, replacing existing ADA ramps nd add more ADA ramps, adding bulb-outs at the intersections as well as installing new curb and gutter. The grant covered 75 percent of the cost of engineering for three blocks of improvements and additional construction. After the engineering and survey team completed the survey in 2021, it was apparent that the town needed to replace the infrastructure since the service lines and meter pits to both homes and businesses on Main Street are in the sidewalk area.

Montrose County set aside $1.5 million dollars, originally received through the American Rescue Plan Act, to be awarded to towns within county limits that have water and sewer infrastructure projects.

“This is a great use of this funding, and I look forward to collaborating on more local projects that benefit our residents and towns,” said Commissioner Sue Hansen. “We know that some of the infrastructure is aging and this funding will assist towns in updating to handle growth.”

The town was awarded additional DOLA funds to assist with the majority of this project, but was notified after the fact that the sewer lines and utility access holes had to be replaced at several locations. The estimated cost of this project is the $300,000 that was requested from the county.

To learn more about Nucla, please visit https://townofnucla.colorado.gov/.