2026 PID Annual Owner Meeting
Date & Time: April 11, 2026,
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Location: Fire Station #9, 100
Palisade Mountain Dr
Audio Recording:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ByAF7zb6VVytcbLlMs8mQynIK0olFGGr/view?usp=drive_link
Board Members
James Toland, Chairperson
David Hoffman, Treasurer
Connie Garrett, Secretary
Ed Ostransky, Contractor Liaison
and Member At Larg
The meeting was called to order
and commenced by suspending Robert’s Rules.
Board members introduced themselves.
Community members present at the meeting: Barb Carlsen, Dick Spitler,
Gail Hoffman, Carolyn Ostransky, Amanda Carian, Donovan & Laura Colegrove,
Jim Burrell, Tyler & Sarah Peterson, Carol Whipple, Michael Knight, Louise
Tang, Esben Retboell, and Jason Illeman.
Officers
James Toland was reaffirmed as
board chairperson. David Hoffman was reaffirmed as board treasurer. Ed Ostransky was appointed as board
secretary. The county no longer allows long-term
appointments and made an exception for James’ reappointment to the board last
fall. James and Connie will be serving out their final term, after which there
will be three open board positions. Applications
for board members can be submitted on the Larimer County website in the fall: https://www.larimer.gov/boards/storm-mountain-public-improvement-district#/board. Reach out to David Hoffman if you have
questions about serving on the PID board.
Board Mission and General
Discussion
The mission of the board is to
maintain the roads in the Storm Mountain PID district and improve roads as the
budget allows. The PID advises the
county and works with contractors, who are hired by the county, to maintain and
improve roads. The county is responsible for the contracts and payments to
contractors. The PID is not a HOA and does not perform any work related to
private property. The scope of the PID
is limited to the public roadways, which generally have a 25-foot easement from
the center of the road. Private driveways are not a part of the public roads
and are not included in the scope of the PID.
The PID cannot own property. The PID
may not change tax rates. The PID board members are volunteers.
The PID was established in 2014 by
community vote. The budget is funded by property taxes and managed by Larimer County. The Forest Service does not contribute to any
road maintenance as their portion of the road is considered a 4WD trail. The unpaved section of the Access Road is
owned by the forest service.
Financial Review – 2025 Spend
The beginning balance in 2025 was about $125k. This was a carry-over from 2024 for chip seal
reserve and emergency\contingency expenses.
2025 Revenue
- 294k
from property taxes
- 9k from
interest
- $5k from
road and bridge fees
2025 Expenses
- $239k on
summer road maintenance
- $39k on
snow removal
- $19k on
county collection and administrative fee
2025 Carry Over for 2026
·
$131k of
unspent funds will be carried into 2026 and will be reserved for chipseal. The last chipseal work was done in 2023.
Chipseal needs to be reapplied about every 5-7 years, and costs about $100k
each time. The board is targeting 2027
for the next chipseal application. It is noteworthy that the Access Road is a
combination of chipseal, asphalt, and recycled asphalt. Each has their own life expectancy and
maintenance techniques.
The county financial report is updated monthly and available on the
Larimer County Website:
https://www.larimer.gov/engineering/improvement-districts/more-info#storm-mountain
2026 Proposed Budget
The 2026 budget was reviewed and approved with no changes. 2026 goals are
to continue patching, ditching, and adding materials where existing road base
has been exhausted. Total revenue is
down slightly from last year. The
decrease is likely due to fire damaged homes where property value went down.
Lake water access is a new expenditure this year; the amount is yet to be confirmed
but estimated at $5k. This cost is still
more affordable than hauling water up the mountain. Locally sourced water also alleviates
additional road trips saving both contractor hours and wear and tear on the Access
Road.
The current snowplow contractor has a minimum guarantee to cover
insurance and on-call costs. The board
has leveraged the minimum guarantee to deploy plow operations when forecasts
are on the line to meet the plowing threshold.
Quotes for sand barrels came in at $1500 per barrel. This quote is high, and the board would like
to see a community effort to build and install sand barrels. Reach out to the PID board for sand barrel building
plans if you can help in this effort.
There are a variety of sand\salt mixtures available: the county recommends
the low salt version. Community should
be mindful not to over-apply salt which gets into the watershed.
Trees need to be cut back where they are encroaching in the road and
obstructing visibility. The board hopes
to acquire new contractor to assist in tree maintenance. In prior years snowplow contractors have
helped with tree removal, but the current snowplow contractor does not include
tree removal in their services.
Summer and Winter Work Review
and Community Feedback
Summer road work is targeted to begin in May. The board discussed county timing for bid
process: county publishes bids in April, contractors submit for bids, the
county confirms that the bid is market competitive. Once the contract with the county is signed
then the contractor can mobilize and commence work. Because of the complexity
and unique work required in the Storm Mountain PID district, there is often
only one contractor to bid on summer and winter work.
The board has reviewed the roads with the summer contractor, Foster Dirt,
for upcoming work. Foster Dirt is very
knowledgeable regarding the Storm Mountain roads and are ready to start work
once county bid\contract process is completed.
The priority will be the Access Road: to bring in material where road
base is exhausted, patching recycled asphalt areas, and ditching for water
erosion control. Work will then begin on
community roads for grading, ditching, and bringing in road base material where
needed and as budget allows.
Trees need to be cut back where they are encroaching into the roadway.
With the mild winter, there was little discussion on snow plowing other
than to note that the contractor continues to learn the roads and consequently
side roads have been missed. Community feedback
is needed to let board and contractor know when roads are missed. The consensus is that the community and board
value a local snow removal contractor both for mobilization expediency and
knowledge of the roads.
The Access Road was blocked again by a trailer stuck on the switchbacks. The county installed the sign that was
proposed last year regarding a maximum trailer length. The county recommends community members to
call if the Access Road is blocked.
Another sign request was discussed to recommend 4WD and chains. This sign would be placed at the bottom and
top of the Access Road.
There was discussion regarding Storm Mountain Drive above the high low
needing material especially the portion of the road owned by the forest
service. Foster Dirt recommends
upcycling exhausted materials that are pulled from other parts of the mountain
to use for this area. The community also
discussed areas where grading may not be needed as it pulls up extra
rocks. The board will discuss this with
Foster Dirt.
Reminder: there will be open positions at the end of the year. Board members must own property within the
PID district. Board officers must be
full-time residents. Applications can be
submitted on Larimer County website: https://www.larimer.gov/boards/storm-mountain-public-improvement-district#/board
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned.
