Eagle County commissioners celebrate projects for green energy, conserving water and housing
Geothermal, water-saving, housing projects bring out the fancy shovels
Scott Miller/Vail Daily
A brace of gold-painted shovels sits in Eagle County’s administration building, used for groundbreaking ceremonies. Those shovels got a workout on Tuesday.
The Eagle County Board of Commissioners held three groundbreaking ceremonies Tuesday, starting with a project that commissioner Matt Scherr noted doesn’t usually draw a crowd: the replacement of a building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. But this replacement is different.
The county is installing a $14 million geothermal system to heat and cool the main campus at the south end of Eagle’s Broadway Street.
County officials had secured $4.15 million in grant funding for the project, and the project had been budgeted for this year. But a request for proposals at the end of 2024 resulted in estimates higher than the original $9.5 million project estimate.
The commissioners in February decided to go ahead with the project, in part because the administration building’s existing heating and cooling systems, original to the building, were due for replacement. At the time, Eagle County resiliency director Tori Franks told the commissioners that a direct replacement of the system would cost roughly $7 million, with no greenhouse gas reductions.
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Moving forward anyway
Replacing the current gas-fired system with an electric system would reduce greenhouse gas emissions but would increase current utility costs by about $35,000 per year.
At Tuesday’s ceremony, Scherr said the geothermal system will “cash flow right away.” In addition, Scherr noted that the system can be extended to the Eagle Public Library.
The system, Scherr said, shows “what is possible” by using heating and cooling potential that already exists in the ground, and setting an example for the community.
A short walk to the east side of the building put the shovels to use again, with a demonstration garden that’s replacing the lawn on the southeast side of the main entrance of the building.
That project, a joint effort between the county, the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension, the Eagle County Conservation District, Front Range-based Resource Central and other partners, is replacing nearly 4,200 square feet of grass, cutting water use by 75% in that irrigation zone.
Commissioner Jeanne McQueeney noted that the project is also an example for the community of what can be done in the name of more sustainable living.
“This is something that serves as a demonstration for the community, where you can say ‘Oh, I could do that, this is not so very hard,’ and it’s not all cacti,” McQueeney said. “This is our commitment to sustainability and resource conservation.”
Eagle County Conservation District Executive Director Laura Bohanon said that group is “really excited” to partner with the county on the project, and noted that landowners can work with the district on a “conservation roadmap” of their own, starting with a trip to BeyondLawn.org for an individual evaluation.
Continuing a partnership
The third groundbreaking, in Edwards, celebrated the continuing partnership between the county and Colorado Mountain College, with the third of three apartment buildings near the college’s Edwards campus.
That third building follows the footprint of the first two buildings, but has more two-bedroom units. This building, expected to open in 2026, will have 30 units, with 18 two-bedroom and 12 studio units.
This building is the last of a complex partnership between the county and the college.
The first building, 36 units, mostly studios, is for college faculty, students and staff. The second building, which has been occupied since January of 2024, also has 36 units, with tenants mixed between the college and eligible county residents. According to county Housing Director Kim Bell Williams, the college is taking over full possession over time, and that building will ultimately be fully occupied by college students, faculty and staff.
The third building is the same size as the first two, but has fewer units due to having two-bedroom units. When finished, it will be occupied by county residents and employees.
