The city of Idaho Springs has demanded that the Clear Creek School District immediately stop installing a main water pipe at the site of the school district’s planned Transportation and Maintenance Facility.

However, the school district says this is all a misunderstanding, and its crews have not been working on a water line and are waiting for city approval to install the pipe. School officials have contacted Idaho Springs officials to sort it out. 

This is the latest in a series of issues between the city and the school district over the Transportation and Maintenance Facility or TMF that the school district plans to build on the track just south of the former middle school on Highway 103.

In a letter dated Sept. 13 to the school district, Idaho Springs officials said city staff observed contractors working to install a main waterline extension on Sept. 8 without the required city approvals. Idaho Springs is demanding a preconstruction meeting between the city and the school to “ensure that all proper permissions and easement have been obtained,” according to Jonathan Cain, Idaho Springs’ assistant city manager.

The school district says its crew found that a culvert was clogged, and a Colorado Department of Transportation crew was unclogging the culvert on Sept. 8, according to Superintendent Karen Quanbeck. 

The school district subsequently sent a letter to Idaho Springs officials, saying: "We are reiterating the district’s commitment to the city that the project’s tasks related to the water tap/extension will follow the city’s process. ... The district and its project team have held fast that no work regarding the water main or tap/extension will begin until a permit is received."

In the letter, the school district told the city that the stop-work order was issued to the wrong party and asked that the city continue to process its contractor's application for the water main extension.

According to the cease-and-desist letter from Idaho Springs, any main extension that connects to the city water system must be designed and constructed in conformity with the city’s Master Plan.

“The city has neither received nor approved a proposed easement for the location of the main waterline being apparently installed,” the demand letter reads. “If work occurs in violation of this stop-work order, daily fines will be imposed.” 

The cease-and-desist letter comes after Idaho Springs took the school district to court in early August because the city contends the school district hasn’t gotten the proper zoning approvals before site work began at the track for the TMF. The city says its regulations concerning traffic control, lighting, landscaping, parking, noise, drainage, stormwater and erosion control apply to the project because they impact surrounding neighborhoods.

The school district believes that because it’s a public entity, it falls under the jurisdiction of the state rather than the City of Idaho Springs. The Colorado Department of Public Safety’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control issues building permits for school districts, it says.

A court hearing before Idaho Springs Municipal Court Judge Michael Goodbee on the August court case is set for 9 a.m. Sept. 22 in Idaho Springs City Hall.