Water hurdle crossed at Whetstone, work to resume soon on housing project

Slate River providing water to three hydrants

By Mark Reaman

Construction will begin again on the Whetstone community housing project this winter. After two weeks of work, the development has accessed enough water for fire suppression and the Crested Butte Fire Protection District (CBFPD) has lifted its stop order to allow workers to return to the project. Located near the Brush Creek turnoff south of Crested Butte, the water will come from the nearby Slate River in case of an emergency.

The CBFPD had told Gunnison County (the developer) that it had until the end of November to provide adequate water to the project or it would be closed down. A subcontractor on the project, Mountain Concrete Group, was supposed to have a water main up and operating between the town of Crested Butte and Whetstone by early fall but never completed the project. They were let go from the construction project by the primary contractor Moss Construction, last month.

Since then, the county and CBFPD have worked collaboratively to figure out a solution. They focused on installing a so-called dry pump that would take water 400-feet from the nearby Slate River to the project site, but it took several tries before enough water was deemed adequate for the safety element.

“It is a dry system that pulls from the river if needed,” explained CBFPD CEO Sean Caffrey. “It is supported by two trailer-mounted pumps to generate adequate water flow to the on-site hydrants. I don’t think this setup is common enough to have a special name but our test on Tuesday showed it worked. The system will be kept dry to prevent freezing and will only be used in an emergency.”

“After the initial test failed last week, the contractors got new, bigger pumps and changed some fittings that were restricting flow,” said Gunnison County manager Matthew Birnie. “Spallone Construction set the pumps and a company called Rain for Rent did the balance of the work. The fire district wanted to see 500 gallons per minute at three of the connection points on the job site with them open at the same time. One connection point was at 1,000 gallons per minute, one was in the 900s, and one was around 700 gallons per minute.

“There is a fourth connection point as well,” said Birnie.

According to Caffrey, the delay was an issue of getting the pump, pipe sizes and connections correct to generate an adequate flow rate. He said the developers now have enough water from a safety perspective to continue construction on buildings 9, 10, 11 and 12. “We have asked them to refrain from additional construction until the permanent system is in place next spring,” he said.

Birnie said there is no cost to the county for this work. “The contract requires Servitas/Moss to meet the schedule and Guaranteed Maximum Cost,” he said. “And this work was necessary for them to keep the schedule given the missed deadline for connecting to the Town’s water. We are still waiting for the fittings that allow the connections from the flexible hoses to the fire trucks. We will resume the work as soon as we get those in, perhaps as soon as Thursday.”

The work will now focus where the construction stopped in the fall. “Through the winter, work will be focused on the four larger buildings that you see currently,” Birnie explained. “Getting roofs on the two that are mostly framed, framing the other two and then working on electrical, dry wall and plumbing in those buildings is priority for winter. It remains to be seen whether we will still be ahead of schedule, but we are all comfortable that we will be able to meet the schedule now that we can get back to work.”

“We are glad to have worked this out with the county and the contractors and we are grateful to our fire prevention team for working though this,” concluded Caffrey.