Castle Rock 1996 WCPlan Proof of Notice

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Dail' ..News- Press .' : Yse;:'ingDougl~S'counIY Since 1892 , ~ By Kevin Duggan N~.s.l'rt!ssWrltt', Hoping to set a good example for its citizens. the lown of Castle Rock. is moving 10 force itself 10 conserve water. Under an ordinance that has betn passed on first reading, the town would have until ncltl May to reduce by 30 percent the amount of water it uses to irrigate public lands. Councilman Steve Bosnd, a hydrologist by profession, drafted the ordinance. It would apply to all lands that are either own~, maintained or irrigated at town The ordinance also would re- quire a fandscape design and management plan for every pub- lic arca thai is buill after the law goes' into effect. Boand said building permits and water taps would not be issued for new areas ulIIillhe plans are approved. Designers of new areas would be encouraged to use nalive plaflls. xeriscaping llnd otherw8- terconservationmellsures in their plans, Wasting water would be prohi- bited under \.he ordinance, and could result in fines - even against town departlllents. .-.; 25 cents Boand said if a town depart- ment is fined, money would be transferred from it.~ operating fund to the water con!lervation fund. "We wanted it to be an incen- tive to "et our own people in- volved In conservation Jlnd fa take an active role," he said. "Deparunent managers who al- ready have tight budgets will be careful not to wa.~te waler be- cause they dOn't want to lose any money." Enforcement of the water re- . strictions would fall on the See WATER, page 3 Wodn8sdey, Jun. 27, 1990_P.g. 3 I Water: Castle Rock embarks on conservation effort i Continued from page 1 '. " I town's public works and building I depllrtment, as well as the parks and recreation depnrtrnent, which I is responsible for watering public I areas around town. I Bruff Shea, director of Jlnrks r and recreation, said the depart- I ment has already taken steps to I cut its water use by the required I 30 percent. He said master valves have I been installed in park watering : system.~ 10 help cut down on t~ amount of water lost through I . I , , I , I I stuck villves' and water mnin breaks. The pnrks department has also started to turn off ils watering sy~lems when more than a quar- ter-inch of rain falls before 3 p.m. The systems h:we to turned off manually during the day, but aner regular work. hours automatic shut off devices keep sprinklers from running during rllin storm~. Shea said parks and recreation hal, been able to save 900,000 gallons of water so far this year, partially because a mild spring allowed the dep.~trnent to turn on its walering sySlems later than usual. He said the standard!! !'oet by Boand's ordinance can be met through careful planning, al. though some acIjustmenlS might be needed. . 'The whole intent of the or- dinance is to try it out and see if it works," Shea said. "It will prob- ably take a year 10 work every- Ihingout." Boand said a booklet uplain- ing the "nuts and boIlS" of how the ordinance would work will be given to (own council members at their meeting this week. The ordinance also allows for variances ff'()tn the restrictions under some conditions. While limited to public land, the ordinance could serve as a model for future efforts to restrict water use on private land, Boand said. "It's basically a trial run," he said. "If it works well, I think we'll talk about private areas. .That's next on me list."