Public Works Director Trent Prall - City of Grand Junction - Full Circle Podcast with The Christi Reece Group

What public works projects are on the horizon for Grand Junction and how does that impact you? REALTOR®  Jen Taylor sits down with Public Works Director Trent Prall from the City of Grand Junction to get the inside scoop on what's happening in the Grand Valley in this month's Full Circle Podcast!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews
and incredible tales fromColorado's Western Slope, from
the mountains to the desert.
Christy Reese and her team herefrom the Movers Shakers, and
characters of the Grand Valleyand surrounding mountain towns
that make the Western slope theplace we all love. You'll
learn, you'll laugh, you'lllove with the full circle.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hey everybody, it's Jen Taylor with the Kristy
Reese Group. Welcome to theFull Circle Podcast. Spoiler
alert, I'm not Kristy Reesefrom filling in for Kristy this
week. She's, I dunno , she'sdoing something really fun. I'm
not sure what, but good forher. I am here. I am lucky to
be here with my good friend andcolleague. We've been working
together for a long time. Mr.
Trent PR from the City of GrandJunction.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Good afternoon,

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Jen. Hi Trent. What

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Are you ? Thanks for having us.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yes. What are you up to this afternoon?

Speaker 3 (00:51):
So, yeah, here what I think to share a little bit
about everything that the cityis going on. Mm-Hmm .
. And , um, I'mreally excited about , um, a
number of different frontsthere. Mm-Hmm. ,
um, especially as it relates tocapital , which is my purview.
Um , primary purview here withthe city.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah. Yeah. You have a lot going on, A lot under
your hood. And , uh Mm-Hmm .
. Yeah . We'regonna , we're gonna prop open
the proverbial hood today.
Alright . Peek underneath. Yeah. Sounds great. So, a little
housekeeping, uhhuh , we've got, uh, we're here at lunch hour.
Are you are , I'm sorry thatyou're missing your lunch or
you , hopefully you've eaten orare going to so we'll

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Later. Okay,

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Good. Just wanna

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Make sure we're , get our , somewhere later.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Keep our guests fed . Yep . Thanks. Upright
and healthy. Yeah. And then ,um, I know you've got some
meetings after this and , uh,we'll , yeah. Let's get to it.
All's talk about it sounds sotr crawl . Tell us, where do
you come from?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
. So, born and raised in Sterling,
Colorado. Mm-Hmm. , um, northeast of Denver,
about 120 miles for those thathave not ventured that way
before. Um, a town of about13,000 people. Uhhuh
, and , um, wentto school at Colorado State
University. Yeah . And , um, oh, what then ? City of Los
Angeles came in and hired abouthalf of my class. And , um,

(01:54):
there wasn't a whole lot goingon there in 90, in 1990 , um,
here in the state of Coloradoor in the Rocky Mountains. They
were still kind of reeling fromthe , um, from the oil and gas
bust. Yeah . Um, about sevenyears prior. And so City of LA
had a lot of opportunities andlots of sun and , um, so , um,
ended up , um, out there forabout five years.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Go west. They said,

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Go west.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Go west, young

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Man. And it was , um, great experience that , uh,
ended up lending me. Um, uh, Igot married that same summer,
Uhhuh . And , um, so Michelleand I married , um, went out ,
um, together, not knowinganybody else out there and ,
um, so kind of sink or swim andWow. Um , anyway, five years
later she got her accountingdegree. I got a ma I picked up

(02:37):
a master's in businessadministration along the way.
Yeah . And then , um, as wellas some just great experience
with the city of Los Angeles,that was to , um, directly
applicable to , um, for jobscoming back open here in
Colorado , um, there in thebeginning of 95. And , um, so
yeah, we ended up , um, movinghere in February of 95 and been
here 29 years here a couplemonths ago.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Oh my gosh. Back to Colorado. Yeah. Did you pick up
surfing? What did you do whileyou were in California? What
did , so

Speaker 3 (03:05):
We did a lot. How did you keep yourself busy lot
. We did a lot of backpacking,a lot of bike , a lot of , um,
mountain biking. Um , that wasa mountain biking was first
starting out out Uhhuh . And so we did a
lot of that up and down thecoast. Um, um, and , um, yeah,
a lot of time on the beach ,um, studying for our very , our
couple of degrees and so forth.
Yeah . But , um, anyway, yeah,just really soaked it all up ,

(03:25):
um, there in SouthernCalifornia. And , um, anyway,
enjoyed our time there, but ,um, yeah, difficult to buy a
house. Mm-Hmm . .
And , um, so as we were lookingto start a family , uh,
definitely looking for a betterquality of life and we knew we
wanted to get back closer tofamily here in Colorado and
Yeah . And the front range. And, um, so that's how we started
looking. And , um, grandJunction had a position that

(03:46):
came open and , um, actuallythe interview process was such
that , um, we got on theinterstate after that pretty
rigorous , um, day and a halfinterview, and , um, told
Michelle that , uh, this is aplace we don't have to worry
about ever coming back, back toagain, . And by the
time we got over to somefriend's house over in
Highlands Ranch, we , um, um,city of Grand Junction had

(04:07):
already called my parents wherewe were gonna be the next
night, and then , um, up inSterling, and then they had
called my friends. And so weanswered the door there and
they said, so why would thecity of Grand Junction wanna be
talking to you? And , um,

Speaker 2 (04:22):
No. Wait , so they called your parents first, not
because they wanted to ask fortheir permission, but because
that was the era before Southphone that was

Speaker 3 (04:28):
Before cell phones .
Yes . And so they, and , andreally before email was really
, um, going there, so they knewthat's where we were headed.
Uhhuh , um, atthat point we were still based
out of , out of LA and , um, soanyway, funny. And , and so the
friends that we were stayingwith, he's a civil engineer,
she's an accountant, and theyjust thought it would be great
if we moved back to Coloradoand all worked together. Yeah .

Speaker 2 (04:49):
So you had a whole , oops . So you had a whole squad
rooting for you by the time youactually arrived at your
friend's house? We,

Speaker 3 (04:53):
We did, except for them. They were, they were not
so excited about us moving toGrand Junction, so. Got it .
They have since gone over thatover the last 29 years.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
They probably come here now to visit you. They
come

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Here and visit and love it over here. Yep . Just
like we do. Good for you guys .
Since then, we've got , um,more raised. Um , I'm born and
raised , um, three kids and ,um, they're all out and about.
Um , two are still here in thecommunity and another one's up
in Montana

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah. Contributing citizens now. And how old's
your youngest?

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Youngest is 23.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
23. Yeah . Happen to know him

Speaker 3 (05:21):
And here. Mm-Hmm .
, um, working atTimberline Bank and our
daughter's a deputy countycoroner and our oldest son is
in property management up inBozeman, big sky area.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah. Yeah. So you've got another great place
to travel to. We do. Yeah.
Keeping the family together,

Speaker 3 (05:34):
Although, yeah, they have long winters. They have
real winters here, right there.
Not like we have here that ,um, is really pretty mild and
are able to mountain bike allthe time. Yep .

Speaker 2 (05:44):
We have a soft peak of winter, don't we? That's
what we love about this place.
One of the things we love aboutthis place. Terrific . I say
we, I'm including you in that.
Yes . I assume you love thatabout this place, .

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yes , absolutely.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
So many of us do.
Yeah. The opportunity for yearround recreation and it and ,
and when you arrived in GrandJunction, what did you It was
1995, you

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Said? 1995. Okay .
And so there was not a lot of ,um, housing stock to choose
from. Yeah. I mean we had , um,uh, GaN Ridge going in and we
had Fountainhead going in , andthat was about the only new
product that had been built inan over 10 years. And , um, so
not, anyway, it served itspurpose. Those, those
properties did. But , um,definitely not the great deals

(06:22):
that we thought we would get,you know, leaving the
California market Mm-Hmm .
where we justabout spent $150,000 on a one
bedroom , one bath condo. Wow.
Um , and instead , um, got hereand , and got into , um, just a
screaming deal out here on theRedlands Mm-Hmm.
, um, right there at about sixmonths after we got here.
Great.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
So , great. Yep .
Yeah. Describe Grand Junctionwhen you arrived. Other than,
you know, the, the newdevelopments that were going
in.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
So things were moving, I mean, it was starting
to, starting to come out of therecession, Uhhuh
. Um , there were a little bitthe , the oil and gas bust of
83, so , Mm-Hmm . . I mean, it's still, still
lingering, you know, 12, 13years later. Um, but yeah,
definitely a lot. Um , moreenergy. I think I was the third
project engineer they had hired, um, um, to expand their

(07:06):
engineering capability there.
And , um, um, and so yeah,good, good effort towards some
street reconstructions and soforth is what I was hired for
originally. And then a lotgoing on with sewer and water
infrastructure as well. But ,um, but yeah, still pretty slow
and sleepy. Mm-Hmm .
compared to wherewe were just a few years after

(07:28):
that, you know , going into ,um, into the.com era there in
the late nineties, early twothousands , um, um, and so
forth. And then you get into2003 and voters approved , um,
the Riverside Parkway justright behind you . Right?

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
And , um, and so that , um, took me out of city
hall and, and down to work onthat particular project for a
couple of years. And then , um,and then we ended up opening
that in about August of 2008.
And that's just proven to be areally big boon. Mm-Hmm .
really popularfor the, for the community as
well. Mm-Hmm. . Um,

Speaker 2 (08:02):
I was driving on the parkway coming in today, and I
thought, oh, she should havecalled it the Riverside
Speedway. . Yeah .

Speaker 3 (08:07):
Well, there , there are definitely some that , um,
that, that take it a littlefaster than what we have posted
out there.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah . Yep . Yeah .
So ,

Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah. Um, so anyway, so at that that point, things
are definitely booming. Mm-Hmm.
. Um , there are, by 2006, seven and eight and
, um, on a number of frontswe've got , um, going on , um,
there. And then , um,everything slowed down Mm-Hmm .
at that point. Uh, a little bit of a down ,
quite a bit of a downsize therefor the city as far as staff,
early retirements, and , um,and a few layoffs. Then at that

(08:36):
point

Speaker 2 (08:37):
You're talking about what era, what ,

Speaker 3 (08:39):
Um , so that would've been 2010, really .
10. Yeah . You know, we were alittle bit late getting into
the 2008 bust. Yeah . We

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Had the

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Tail , it really didn't impact . Yeah . We had a
pretty good tail . Mm-Hmm.
. And then inlate 2009, early 2010 is when ,
um, we had to start , um,looking at our, our finances
really tight. Mm-Hmm .
and , um, basedon what was happening in the
other 3,800 count counties inthe United States.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah. Time to get really resourceful.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yep , exactly. So , Mm-Hmm . . Anyway
, um, um, So yeah, we've been ,uh, a number of different
projects , um, you know,through all those, through all
those years in advance , uh, ornot advance, but as well as,
you know, the Riverside Parkwayand rolling into , um, some
vertical construction as well,such as , um, the Lincoln Park

(09:25):
Tower Mm-Hmm. ,um, the Avalon, you know , redo
, which , which was justamazing. Um, and then you just
keep adding, you know, moreprojects onto that, the public
safety, you know, initiativethere with new PD and, and fire
station remodels. And then youkeep rolling , um, on into ,
um, gosh, what else?
Amphitheater here in , in LasColonus and starting to get

(09:48):
some energy, you know, goingdown here along the river front
. Yeah. And then , um, 2016 ,um, there in June, July, I
think is right when Greg Catoncame on board with us Mm-Hmm .
, and he startedputting some other pieces and
parts together and , um, yeah.
By January of 2017, that was ,um, when Las Colonus , you know
, I'm walking down the hall,just heading to the bathroom,

(10:11):
minding my own business. Greg'scoming the opposite direction.
. He goes , tr I've gota project we need to talk
about. And so I , we call thosehallway projects. I love it.
They weren't on any capitalimprovement plan, they weren't
on , on anybody's agenda priorto , um, prior to that
conversation right there. And ,um, all of a sudden that was
born. And, and he had all the,or , or the community, I mean,

(10:31):
between the DDA and citycouncil and um, um, and then
Greg and our finance departmentand so forth, we had everything
financed within about fourmonths.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Amazing . It was all DDA downtown development
authority

Speaker 3 (10:44):
Going . Yes. Yes .
My apologies on the acronymthere, but yes. Downtown
Development Authority,authority was , um, critical in
, in that as well. But yeah .
Um , and that's where Gregreally excelled was, was
pulling a lot of differentpieces and parts of the
community and relationships ,um, throughout the community
and, and , um, getting thingsmoving. Yeah. But , um, yeah ,
definitely one of the signatureprojects in my career , um,

(11:04):
here was definitely with LasColonus and then following up
there with Do Rios. Oh , doRios . Just a couple of years ,
um, right after that.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah. Yeah. That's , uh, that's right about when, I
think it was maybe October of2016 when I , um, I had started
to talk with a couple people oncity council and , and then
Greg had just been hired andthen coming to you guys maybe
that October, I think it wasMm-Hmm . Was our first meeting.
Mm-Hmm. and , uh,off we went with Do Rios. Yep .
Yeah . The rest is history. Yep. It sure is a lot . A lot of
meetings. Yeah . A lot ofsaddle time.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
Uh , absolutely.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yes. Yes. That's how it's amazing how things are
born. It's , uh, a lot of, youknow, it's like building
icebergs in the desert, a lotof things happening behind the
scenes and in, you know, notnecessarily closed room
environments, but just ithappens with, you know,
conversations down the hallwayor at the trail head or , um,
but, you know, even even phonecalls after hours trying to get
this, get stuff figured out.
Mm-Hmm. . GSDMm-Hmm. get done.

(11:56):
Mm-Hmm . Yep . How do we do it?
Exactly. Greg was such a great, um, he , he was a , a , a
great ally Mm-Hmm.
between kind ofthat connector of public,
private , and nonprofit .
Mm-Hmm. . Right .
That , um, yeah . He was a , agreat connector. You have a lot
of that too. You have so manydifferent , um, if I may, just
knowing you and our kids havegrown up together. Mm-Hmm .
. So it's beenreally fun to, you know, we run

(12:17):
into each other at restaurantsand Mm-Hmm .
grocery store and, you know,you at the Trailhead and , um,
and you having so many hobbiesand so many passions and
pursuits as an outdoors , um, I, I would imagine that a lot of
things cross paths with you,your personal and your
professional life and , andwhere those conversations take
place. Mm-Hmm . .

Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yeah. They sure do.
On and off the clock. On andoff the clock. Yes. Um ,
running into folks, you know,as we run up and down the
rivers Yeah . Um , throughoutWestern Colorado. And , um,
there's a definitely a prettygood network , um, there and,
and not a huge network, but ,um, definitely a growing
network there. That's been alot of fun , um, catching up
with folks over that. Um,obviously the riverfront Mm-Hmm

(12:54):
. has been a ,um, an area of emphasis ever
since, but even before I gothere , um, I think that all
started about in 1988 mm-Hmm .
with some of thewestern portions here of, of ,
um, of Las Colonus , uh, whatis now Las Colonus , and of
course do Rios as well. Yeah.
And , um, um, and just some ofthat, you know, vision that,
you know, happened all alongthe riverfront there. And then

(13:16):
we've got , um, you know, themountain biking community with,
with Cop moba and , um, andclose ties there with the
Bureau of Land Management.
Right . And , um, ColoradoParks and Wildlife with
everything we're working onright now. Um , which is one of
the projects I did want to talkabout was , um, our efforts
with Colorado Parks andWildlife and Mesa County Mm-Hmm
. on , onfinishing up this last mile and

(13:37):
a half in between the DY and 29Road Yes. And , um, here , um,
just east of Los Colonials .
Yes . And so we

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yes . Recreation enthusiast want to hear this.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
Absolutely, yes. And , um, yeah, we're really
excited about progress thatwe're making there with the
last remaining property owner ,um, um, there that we hope to
have that closed here by theend of June, 1st of July,
somewhere in that timeframe.
End of

Speaker 2 (13:59):
June, 1st of July this year, 2024. So

Speaker 3 (14:02):
That's as far as breaking news right . Of way
acquisition and then movingforward , um, from that would
be , um, uh, going for a GOCOgrant later on this year.
Mm-Hmm . . Andthen the plan would be for
construction then next year.
And , um, um, of course that'sall contingent on , um, some
city and county , um, and CPW ,um, boards coming together for,

(14:24):
for all of that. Yeah .
Fantastic. But we spend lots ofexcitement about the riverfront
Trail for, for many, manyyears. And , um, and so yeah,
we're excited to hopefullybring that to fruition here in
the next 18 months. Beautiful.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Beautiful. And the riverfront Trail for those that
are outside of our valleylistening in , uh, it's one of
our crown jewels of the, of the, uh, of , of our valley, of
the Grand Junction area. It's ,um, started as the string of
pearls and connecting all ofthe , the jewels along the
Colorado riverfront through ourvalley , um, kind of in the
center of which is, is theconfluence. And , um, that's,

(14:55):
what is it now? Is it 34 milesstem to stern? 30? I'm putting
you on the spot. 30 something,32, 34, 36, 4 20,

Speaker 3 (15:06):
Probably 24, 25. We go out to 33 and a quarter
road. Uhhuh . .
But you start there in Loma, sowhatever Loma is Yeah. I think
that's about exit 10, somethinglike that. So,

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Or Yeah . Okay .

Speaker 3 (15:17):
10 road, something like that.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
So , right. So you, and , and there are spur trails
all along the Spur trail up tothe lunch loot parking lot to
the tab watch trail head , um,and then you've got the, and it
goes all the way out to , uh,to the co capelli trailhead out
in Loma. Yes,

Speaker 3 (15:31):
It sure does.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
It's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah . With that ,
with that final gap Mm-Hmm .
to connect thedots. Mm-Hmm. .
Yeah. Yeah. The riverfront andthe , and how that has , um,
spurred so much activity, notonly from the recreation
corridor , but uh , uh,awareness of the riverfront
and, you know, what was so longhidden by Tam risk and , um,
private land Mm-Hmm .
and junk cars,and , um, just completely

(15:54):
turned this valley around.
Right.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah. Dos Rios had 8,500 cars , um, waiting to be
demolished, salvaged , um,there in the , or the mid
nineties Mm-Hmm. . And , um, and so yeah, that
transformation there with allthe work that Department of
Energy , um, did , um, incleaning up a lot of the mill
tailings and so forth. And ,but they had to move all those

(16:17):
cars off, and their plan was tobring it back after washing up
all those cars, clean up allthe mill tailings that weren't
uranium mill tailings that wereunderneath all that. And
luckily we had some , um, the ,the Lions Club was involved,
and then our, our predecessorsthere with one riverfront
Mm-Hmm . , um,being such strong community
advocates about this is what wewant for our community long

(16:37):
term Mm-Hmm . And so

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Don't bring the cars back,

Speaker 3 (16:39):
Don't bring the cars back , anything but cars. And
so they backed that up and, and, um, actually arranged for the
purchase of that. And so , um,as both of those uranium
projects , um, came to an endboth here at Las Colonials
Mm-Hmm. , thecity was deeded , um, um, was
deeded possession of, of this140 acres or so. Mm-Hmm .

(16:59):
. And then wewere also deeded the , the 55
acres over there at Do Rios.
And so , um, yeah, again,under, under Greg's , um,
leadership and, and councilsand DDAs and so forth
involvement , um, both of thoseprojects are now to the point
where , um, are just waiting togo vertical. Waiting

Speaker 2 (17:17):
To go vertical. Yeah . Yeah . We , we know a little
bit about that. Yeah . I can, Ican speak a little bit to that
too. It's , uh, yeah. And , andinteresting, you know, as we
bounce from past, present tofuture, you've got your hands
in all, how many years have youbeen with the city then? Since
1995. Yep .

Speaker 3 (17:31):
So 29 years. Oh ,

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah. Amazing.
Mm-Hmm . Yeah . Great legacy.
And, and then , um, where weare right now, we're in the
Bonsai building at Las Colonas. Mm-Hmm. , um,
this is the first, this was thefirst structure, or was it
Rocky mounts?

Speaker 3 (17:45):
Rocky Mounts was first

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Was, first was second , and then

Speaker 3 (17:47):
This was second.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Okay, got it. Mm-Hmm . . And, and this
is the site of the, what , whatwas the climax? Mine, the
uranium mine.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Um, not so much the, the , the mine, but the
processing had happened furtherto the north and west of us .
Okay. And then where we're atright now is where a lot of the
tailings tailing have beenstored. Yes. Um , so uranium's
a very small percentage of theore that's mined, and so they,
they harvest that out, and thenthey toss off the, the , what
they call tailings. Mm-Hmm .
off to the side .

(18:15):
Mm-Hmm . . Somillions of cubic yards were,
were stockpiled here. And then, um, and then yeah, through
doe , uh, department of Energyefforts , um, all of those were
hauled out in the lateeighties, early nineties , um,
to a repository here south oftown.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Got it. That clarifies something for me. I
learned something. Thank youfor that. Yeah. And this was,
this was, you know, as thestory goes, the a hundred foot
tall pile of mill tailings, andyou could back your truck up
the city, the land owners ,anybody a homeowner could. And
, and it made a great bindingagent, as we understand in
Mm-Hmm . in , uh,concrete and cement.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yep . It was a great, great material to have
underneath your sidewalks,uhhuh underneath your roads,
around your pipes , um, and,and underneath foundations and
so forth. So instead of miningother aggregates around Mm-Hmm
. , um, peoplewould use that for a structural
field just to kind of smooththings out and then pour the
concrete on top of that. And soit's part of doe's cleanup
efforts in the eighties. Yes.
They went through and saw, cutout everyone's , um, basement's

(19:10):
floors, slab floors, took outall the mill tailings, put new
material in Yeah. Report allthat. And then, you know,
refinished everyone's homesYeah . That ,

Speaker 2 (19:20):
That , those that opted in part

Speaker 3 (19:21):
Of that , those that opted in . Right .

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Exactly. We deal with that every day in real
estate. That's, we pull a milltillings report whether there
has ever been a structure onthis land or not, or, you know,
new or old, it doesn't matter.
We pull it every day . It'ssuch a nuance about our valley.
So Yeah. It's great. It's partof our history. Um, yeah. So
let's talk about , uh, some ofthe things that have got , so
the Las colonies to do , Rioscomprises about a two mile

(19:43):
stretch. Mm-Hmm . , is that right? Yes, that's
correct. Along the Coloradoriverfront of downtown. It
really extends our, ourdowntown sector. We're , we're
about a half a mile as the crowflies from, from downtown Main
Street. Mm-Hmm . . And , um, one of the big
conversations that's been onthe , um, in a lot of meetings
and, and just casualconversation on the, on the
sidewalk has been how do we getmore people from downtown to

(20:06):
the riverfront Mm-Hmm .
. And as we talkabout transportation corridors,
can you speak a little bitabout that? What's already in
place and what might perhapsone day be in place?

Speaker 3 (20:15):
You bet. The, on the , on Seventh Street, we've
already got, you know, from wayback in, I wanna say like 19
88, 89 , um, is when seventhStreet was improved. Mm-Hmm .
to what we callnow a , a complete street,
which included curb gutters,sidewalks , um, um, planting
strips to help buffer thesidewalks and so forth. But we
also have bike lanes. Mm-Hmm.

(20:36):
. And so that wasclear back in 1988. We didn't
even know what complete streetswere at that point, that that
term hadn't even been , um,been coined yet. That didn't
happen until about 2006. And ,um, so anyway, we were starting
to do the right things then.
And that was state of the art ,um, then to tie Main Street to
the, into the riverfrontMm-Hmm. . And so
, um, so that was all completedas part of the seventh Street ,

(21:00):
um, project way back then. Isit the way we build it today ?
No , not necessarily. We'd havelittle wider bike lanes, which
we have retried since weoriginally built that. Um, in
the concrete on the sides.
Could probably use a little ofattention Uhhuh , um, as well
to , um, to help improve that.
You know, ideally, you know,you would've a detached path

(21:20):
altogether, 10 foot widedetached path running up the
corridor. Um, that would justbe a lot more comfortable for a
wider range of users, you know,all the way down to seven,
8-year-old kids, you know, allthe way up into, into seniors
in their, you know, seventiesand eighties. Mm-Hmm.
. And , um, and sowith a bike lane, those two
groups , uh, in particular maynot be quite as comfortable,

(21:41):
you know, with the corridor. Soas we look at that's existing.
And then as part of , um, thedowntown development
authorities , um, plan ofdevelopment , um, um, that they
completed back in 20 19, 1 ofthe other corridors that they
looked at was ninth Street.
Yes. And so ninth Street beingable to, I mean , it , it
hasn't been improved. It's justasphalt. Um, and then serves,

(22:04):
you know, the commercialdevelopments, you know, on
either side there, commercialslash industrial developments
on both sides there. Andideally , um, that would have a
more significant detached , um,a multimodal facility that that
serves, you know, not onlypedestrians, but also bikes and
, um, scooters could be up onthat as well. And , um, um, so

(22:27):
forth down that ninth Streetcorridor, we don't have that ,
um, budgeted just yet, butthat, that is really the, the
one that could , um, couldreally be the kind of the
springboard for that. And thenyou have the lights at , at ,
um, um, the signals there on I70 B mm-Hmm . at
Pick and Ute right there atEmerson Park, where the brand
new skate park is underconstruction right now. Yes.

(22:48):
Very exciting. And , um, yep .
Very exciting there. Sexy

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Dirt being thrown there. It'll be a skate park
for downtown. Yep . Great.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
And so transitioning across that over to 10th
Street, and then 10th Streetgets you all the way up to ,
um, CMU. Yes. And that'salready a designated , um,
preferred , um, psychopath aswell. Mm-Hmm. . So
, um, so really that's how we,you know, envisioned long term
to be able to help give morefolks, you know, down here. But
the city recently completed a ,um, our pedestrian bicycle

(23:17):
plan, and , um, they kind oflooked at the entire city and
kind of laid out corridorsthat, that need some attention
and so forth. And so one of thecorridors that we're getting
ready to, to study in moredetail is the seventh Street
Corridor, all the way fromStruthers all the way up to
Horizon Drive, uhhuh . And ,um, and so being able to tie
into the system that, that then, um, the bike path, the

(23:39):
existing bike path there, that, um, goes all the way up to
the airport. Got it. So , wow.
Anyway, so excited

Speaker 2 (23:45):
As you fun of stuff.
Does your mind work like agiant , um, pictograph? Like is
it just, is everything kind ofin a hierarchy of patterns and
grids and, and , uh, this wholevalley is imprinted in your
mind? You know , I ,

Speaker 3 (23:57):
In such a way

Speaker 2 (23:58):
That it ,

Speaker 3 (23:59):
It is, but you know, I , you know, unlike most
careers, at least with civilengineering, you're able to ,
um, look at my work, Uhhuh , and I go to
other communities and look ateverybody else's work. 'cause
it's all on stage, everybody'sroads, how good a condition
they are. And of course , curb, gutters, sidewalks,
streetlights , um, how they ,how they maintain the
landscaping, how they getpeople around and, and their

(24:20):
cycle tracks and bike pack andanyway, all of that. Yes. Um ,
it's all on stage. Whereas, youknow, you can't really go to
another community and take alook at a realtor's , um,
realtor's work and, and seeexactly what, you know, behind
the scenes there. But, youknow, for us as civil
engineers, we get to drive thatall the time. Yes . And so,
even on how cool , um, duringthe winter, we do a lot of what

(24:42):
we call trail inspections, andthat's where I grab a couple
other , um, engineers and we goout and take a look at the, the
concrete infrastructure that wehave on bikes and , um, go for
a bike ride over lunch. And ,um, but yeah, those are our
trail inspections and, andtwofold to see how things are
all tying together and see ifanything needs any maintenance.
Wow.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
Oh, that's great. So yeah, your , your , your office
is , uh, is , is ever in frontof you, no matter where you're
going, what you're doing, howlate or how early you are
arriving, you're alwayschecking it out. Yeah .

Speaker 3 (25:12):
And my wife gets , um, tired. We share, share a
Google account, and so whatpictures I take show up on that
and what pictures she takesshows up on that as well. And ,
um, so we're out on trips and ,um, all of a sudden she's gotta
wade through , um, about 15pictures worth of a , of cycle
cycle track somewhere, or asidewalk concrete or an
intersection or street lightsor stuff like that. So. Oh,

(25:34):
that's great.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Anyway , I love

Speaker 3 (25:36):
It . Appreciate , appreciate her patience with
me.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
So , yeah. Oh, how fun. How fun. That's so
engaging too. I love that. Thatand going to other communities,
right. And seeing what , uh,how inspiring that must be, and
also what , uh, what feedbackthat must be for you to feel
like we're doing. We're doingpretty well. Mm-Hmm .
. Yeah. Andthinking about the growth and
the, the expansion of GrandJunction as we look into 2050,

(25:59):
just listening to Nathan Perrythe other day and how exciting
that is. Are we on par forearly demographic , um,
forecasts, or are we off par,off track ? Do you know what,
how, in terms of, and how thatrelates to transportation? And
just making sure that we'restaying on top of that to keep
the flow of our

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Value . So we work very closely with our regional
Mesa County RegionalTransportation Planning office.
Mm-Hmm. . And,and so every five years, the
federal government requires usto update our regional
transportation plan. And so wework very closely with our,
with the state demographers,with our long range planners ,
and , um, um, in coming up withwhat's gonna develop next, what

(26:39):
land is left to develop, whatland's gonna redevelop, and
then that , um, that thenprojects onto , um, our
transportation network. Andthen we're able to take a look
and see where those hotspotsare gonna be coming up, you
know, whether Patterson and 29Road is gonna gonna fail here
in the next 20 years. And byfailure, I mean that you got
gridlock. Yeah . It's takingyou multiple cycles to, to get

(27:02):
through a , a particularintersection or signal. Right.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
Which you hear people start to talk about Now,
they , we old timers that havelived in the valley for a long
time, yes.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Mm-Hmm .
that is, that isaccurate. Mm-Hmm.
. And , um, and yes, if youwant gridlock, it's , um,
generally you'll find it , um,in other communities Mm-Hmm .
, um, largercommunities such as Salt Lake
or in Denver and so forth.
Yeah. But we do have a , a fairamount of folks that get
stressed out , um, here with usas well, and , and share that
with us. So, Mm-Hmm.
. 'cause um,every time you get your
driver's license, or anyone whohas a driver's license is also

(27:32):
a transportation engineer.
Uhhuh .

Speaker 2 (27:34):
Got it .

Speaker 3 (27:34):
And , um, and so they're , um, never short on
providing feedback for us.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
It's your five minutes of critical acclaim.
Yep .

Speaker 3 (27:41):
. Yep .
Exactly. So anyway , um, so, soall that modeling goes in and ,
and helps drive, you know, the,you know, like our 24 road, you
know, expansion G Road, youknow, they're in front of
community hospital. A lot ofthat was driven by what was
showing in the models there,you know, 15, 20 years ago.
Mm-Hmm. . And ,um, but yeah, I , I can , I can

(28:02):
share as far as getting to yourquestion as far as are we on
par with the demographics?
Mm-Hmm. . So allof that changes. Mm-Hmm .
2008, we'rebooming 6, 7, 8, and we're
working on our 2030 plan atthat point. Um, maybe 20, 35
plan at that point. And we areprojecting out to be 272,000
people here in the valley. Wow.

(28:22):
And it's like, ouch. You know,and we've got gridlock
everywhere. I mean, we need sixlanes on Patterson, on I 70 B.
Wow. Um , highway 50 , um, andall that. And now we're
projecting for about 2050, Ibelieve the number is, is right
around 225,000 Mm-Hmm.
. So , and that'sjust all based on, you know,
varying growth rates.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
And we're at , you

Speaker 3 (28:43):
Apply to that one 60 , we're just a little over one
60 right now. Okay . In thecounty. In

Speaker 2 (28:47):
The county, yes. So , okay . Yep . Got it.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
And , um, so got it . 2 25 here in the next 25
years or so. Mm-Hmm .
. And , um, um,again, that's all subject to
change. Um ,

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Every five years or so,

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Reevaluate every five years we revisit that.
Okay. And , um, but yeah, afterthat 2008 study that said we
were gonna be at 2 72, wedidn't grow again, you know,
for another, what, six, sevenyears.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yeah. So that puts some pause on the forecast. It
did. Yeah. You are the, you're, you're kind of the minister
of flow, the farmer of flow forthe valley as we look at all
that. So

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah . There's a lot of others involved.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yes, of course, of course. Yeah. But you're the,
you're, yeah. Uh , I started tocall you the high priest of
that, so .

Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah .

Speaker 2 (29:29):
So , um, going back to do Rios, going back to
getting people from downtown tothe riverfront, the , the
bridge, the pedestrian bridge.
Mm-Hmm . , isthat still on the table? Is
that still a topic?

Speaker 3 (29:38):
That is , that is still on the table, but it is,
you know, we had originallyincluded that , uh, we had a
couple of grant requests backin 20 17, 18 when we first
started talking to US Rios. And, um, and people were going,
Trent, you know, that's thebridge to nowhere. Mm-Hmm .
. And it's like ,um, um, and I was arguing more,
it's not the bridge too far.
It's the bridge too soon.

(29:59):
Mm-Hmm . . And wejust need more , um, vertical
infrastructure to be going .
That means all the buildings,all the commercial, all the
retail, the 300 plus units ofresidential Yeah. You know ,
going there to help drive thatdemand. Yep . And , and the
whole idea behind the vision ofthat, the bridge that would ,
um, essentially start therenear the depot Mm-Hmm .
on the northside, and then come over and
then , um, run through theheart of Dos Rios right down to

(30:21):
the Colorado River. Um , thewhole vision there is that
you'd be able to be perhaps atthe convention center , um,
there on Main Street, and, andwithin about a 15 to 16 minute
walk you're sitting along thewaterfront , um, in cool space.
Yes . I mean , with, with , um,um, with all that commercial
outdoor space, the beach isthe, the , the splash park that

(30:43):
is currently underway. The, the, um, the , the park work that
, um, our parks and recdepartment is already put
together down there. Um, it'llbe a , a special , um, special
place for sure. One of those,one of those jewels are the
gems there on one of thepearls, I guess. There we go.
Along the riverfront trail. Yep. That was a vision envisioned
Clear back in the lateeighties.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yep . Yep . And we'll bounce back to Dos Rios
in a minute, but , um, tell meanother question that I hear a
lot of conversation about, andYI was gone, I stepped out of
the valley, I was traveled fora little bit , um, for about a
year and a half there, and ,uh, came back and, and I'm
still catching up on some ofthe hot topics . Mm-Hmm .
. So this is onethat I wanna hear directly from
you. Tell us about the 29 Roadinterchange with I 70.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
So I 70 and 29 Road , um, interchange has been ,
um, in the works, it was, itwas originally contemplated
when I 70 was built, you know,back there in the, in the late
fifties and early sixties. Um,and they decided probably a
little too soon. Mm-Hmm.
. And , um, and soit has been talked about pretty
much since I, I got here 29years ago. Mm-Hmm.

(31:44):
. Um, and finallyhere in 2 20 19 , um, we
decided to advance a lot ofwhat we are hearing as far as
grant funding availability onthat. Um, um, and financing
there is that you need to havea match. Mm-Hmm .
for one , two, you gotta haveat least through the
environmental, you know,analysis and have permission

(32:06):
from , um, permission from CDOTand from the Federal Highway
Administration as well. Right.
And so , um, so that's whatwe've been working on since
about 2019. 2020. We had a ,what we called our , um, um,
planning and environmentallinkages study, which is the
first part of a much morerigorous study. We got to that

(32:26):
and had agreement that Yep .
Interchange is needed , um, andwarranted , um, let's move
forward. And so that's whatwe've been working on since
then. And so now we are workingon, on , on that on one front
is finishing that up andhopefully be , um, with that
project before the StateTransportation Commission here
in , um, um, late summer Julyand August. Okay . Is the

(32:49):
timeframe that we're looking onthere. Um, and then here in
November we'd be , um, um,we're contemplating , um,
another bond initiative , um,where we would seek voter
approval. Um, you know, beingable to represent that, hey,
we've got the state's , um,state approval, we've got the
Federal Highway administrationapproval, and , um, therefore

(33:10):
we're just needing funding herethat we'd be able to then apply
for, you know, the variousgrants and so forth across ,
um, that'd be available. Butyou gotta have the match, you
gotta show the match, you gottashow all that, all the other
approvals. And so that's whatwe're working on , um, right
now. In fact, we've got ameeting here this evening with
, um, a couple of our councilmembers and a commissioner and

(33:30):
, um, administrator and soforth on, on kind of laying
that path out , um, here as ,um, well as our state
transportation commissionerthat represents , um, our
region here. So anyway . Wow .
So lots moving on there. Thebenefit of, of that, of that ,
um, corridor is it takes offsome of the load of , um, of
what happens at Horizon Drive,as well as what happens over

(33:52):
there at Clifton extends thelife of both of those
facilities. Mm-Hmm .
, um, as well asprovide some connectivity, you
know, for us. And , um, I mean,right there in the center part
of the valley that'll serve,match it , that'll serve the
entire 29 road corridor all theway down to Highway 50. And
this is all part of , um, um,master plan that was, you know,
created back in the latenineties, Uhhuh early two

(34:14):
thousands. And , and the cityand the county have been
working on , um, jointlyfunding their respective pieces
, um, coming up and over, youknow, starting on Highway 50.
The , the county built thatcoming up 29 Road across
Orchard. Mesa built the bridgebuilt up to D Road, and then we
jointly funded from D Road upand over , um, I 70 B and then
, um, down into North Avenue.

(34:35):
But prior to that, we hadjointly funded everything
between North Avenue andPatterson. So now we've got
left from Patterson up to theinterstate. Got it. And then ,
um, and then the interchangeitself up there, and there's
about a oh , couple hundredacres worth of developable land
that's not tied up with , um,the airport authority and so
forth up there. Okay. Sothere's some development

(34:56):
potential there, but reallyit's for, for connectivity for
us, you know, throughout the,throughout the Valley and
regionally to be able to getoff there. You have
Independence Academy, that'sMm-Hmm . , um,
um, it's a charter school that,that draws from all over the
Valley. Mm-Hmm. ,um, not just that immediate
area, but all over the valley.
Yeah . And so that'll reallyopen , um, their commuters, you

(35:17):
know, up rather than having tofunnel everything through 29
Road and Patterson. Absolutely.
And Match Park going in MagicPark going in. Yeah. Really
excited about the , thecommunity resource, or sorry,
community rec center. Yes . Um, going in there clapping and ,
um, really excited about that$82 million, you know,
investment there, that parks ,um, and again, council and, and

(35:37):
um, and credit to the , um, allthe voters and so forth that ,
that voted that in. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah. So a thoughtful process, I would say
. Absolutely . It took a while.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
It , that one took a while as well. It

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Took a while . Yes .
Yeah. Yeah. Very excited .
What, and , and so going backto the 29 road interchange, is
there a, is there a target onthe board that in the next five
years, seven years,understanding that It depends
on quite a few factors cominginto play, but Right.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
So if there was a , a positive vote here yet this
fall Mm-Hmm. ,uh, we would be looking at ,
um, um, uh, you know, applyingfor grants after that, but
we'll still have, you know, afair amount of work to do as
far as , um, finishing up the ,what we call 30% set of plans.
Mm-Hmm . , um,engineering plans. And then
from that we're able to build,or we're able to go out and

(36:22):
acquire the necessary right ofway , um, and easements for all
the various utilities. And ,and for, you know , 29 road
right now is just 22 feet ofasphalt. Yeah . And , um, and
this thing, this will grow to ,um, about five lanes , um, two
lanes each direction, centerturn lane with medians and then
detached paths and um, um, bikelanes and Got it . And so forth

(36:44):
, um, along that corridor. Andso it'll take, you know, a much
more ride of way than what wehave right now, but we are, you
know, working within thatexisting context to try to
minimize the adjacent , um,property impacts. Mm-Hmm.
, but , um, butyet still maximize the , the
benefit long term for thecommunity coming in and out of
there. So yeah. Really excitedabout that. So to answer your

(37:04):
question, Uhhuh is , um, so the right of way
acquisition would probably takeus about a year to year to 15
months, and then we'd be underconstruction for about 22
months, 22

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Months. So it could,

Speaker 3 (37:14):
Five years, could be as soon as 26, 27 amazing . Is
what we'll be looking at. Wow.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Wow. So many steps.
Do you ever just get exhausted,

Speaker 3 (37:22):
Um , just keep plugging away? You just keep
plug . You've got so manydifferent projects that are all
moving and some move fasterthan others at times. Yeah .
And, and , um, yeah . Um ,sometimes it feels a little
more like herd cats, but we tryto keep 'em more like sheep and
kind of keep 'em all corralledand moving forward. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
and creative solution problem
solving I'm sure as well. Yep .
The , uh, I've been in meetingswith you and I've seen you walk
in with your caddy of files.
You're just a mobile office.
Yes . You carry everything withyou and it's Yes.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Uhhuh . Yeah. And , and some of
that's cultural. Um, you know,one is we don't like to be on
our screens Mm-Hmm .
in a meeting. Wewanna be face to face with
folks. Um, and , um, so, but ifyou are hiding behind a laptop,
you know, and so forth , uh,not too cool. And so , um, and
then also scrolling through,oh, I know where that file is.
Mm-Hmm. scrollingthrough all that can be rather

(38:12):
, um, clunky as well. Andthey're going, well, are they
paying attention to me? Arethey responding to some email
they got right before this orone that just came in? And ,
um, so just kind ofdisrespectful that way. Yeah .
I wanna maximize our time withthe, I mean, in that meeting
and not have to schedule yetanother meeting. Well, let me
go look that up and if , ifI've got the information and

(38:32):
I've got it right there at myfingertips, I can scroll
through it really quickly, pullthat out. No , this is what was
decided on this date, and, andyes, this was the path forward
and , um, um, so forth . Sothat's where I, you know,
especially with Dos Rios. Yes.
I had a very large Yes. Um ,filing, filing system for that
that I brought to mostmeetings, but

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Impressive. Um ,

Speaker 3 (38:54):
Um, anyway, but yeah. Fun stuff.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Mm-Hmm .
anything elsethat we we're coming up on? And
, um, again, being a time kit ,we already broke some rules.
We've already thrown theheadsets away and done all
that, but we're not gonna breakthe rule of, of how much time
we have. Um, anything else thatis pertinent that's on top of
your, your radar that you wannamake sure the public knows
about or, you know , excitingto share?

Speaker 3 (39:14):
You know, we're just really excited about , um, you
know, the, the , the growth anddevelopment that's coming here
and us, you know, being ableto, you know, manage that as
best we can. Mm-Hmm.
. Um, so we'reworking through, you know, our
new zoning and developmentcode, our new, you know,
transportation engineeringdesign standards and so forth.
But, but really the projectsthat were , that were approved
by voters back in 2019,November, 2019, we had 10 of

(39:35):
those. Um , we're still , um,working on those. The first of
that was 24 Road and G Road,the intersection there, the
widening of 24 Road , theimprovement of G Road in
between 23 and a half and 24and a half . But we have a
number of others that justbroke ground . They're on f and
a half Parkway. Okay . Inbetween 24 and 24 and a half .
Um, second phase of that willbe out later this year, awarded

(39:57):
beginning of next year. Um ,that'll, that'll continue that
on down towards theintersection of 25 Road and
Patterson and provide a , a , agreat alternative route, you
know, to get folks up to whatwill be the oid of growth. Um,
here for the next, you know,next 20 years as you know, is ,
is , you know, you get Costcothat comes in on the northeast
corner up there and you've gota number of other, you know,

(40:19):
very large parcels, you know,that develop of which, you
know, community hospital. Yeah. Um , was one of the first
ones, you know, out there. Andthen of course , um, um, cap
Rock , you know , academy overthere and then , you know, the
, and then the ever , um,community favorite there at
Canyon View Park. Yes. So we'vegot those, we've got , um,
improvements coming at , um, GRoad 27 and a half , and

(40:40):
Horizon Drive. We've got a newroundabout there. Then we've
got some other projects on Band a half road , um, in
between 29 and 29 andThreequarter Road. That'll be
kind of a safe route to schoolto the benefit of Lincoln Om ,
um, on d and a half Road. We'vegot from 29 and a quarter over
to over to 30 to the benefit ofPear Park Elementary. And then
, um, yeah, 26 and a half roadgoing out to Paradise Hills.

(41:04):
And I'm finally getting folksafter 50 years that they've
been out there, finally get 'emsomething else to come to work
on or come to work and come tothe community on, other than,
you know, the 22 feet ofasphalt that's been there,

Speaker 2 (41:15):
My . So that was like a speed round of
everything . I'm just, I keepbumping the microphone 'cause
I'm leaning in listening.

Speaker 3 (41:21):
Yep . So we've got amazing that going on. And then
we've got Crosby Avenue down ,um, connecting West Main over
to where the rail yard ,Walmart , the Rim Rock Shopping
Center. Yep . Um , and soforth. So we're excited about
that. We've got a large , um,grant in participation with ,
um, with cdot , um, to a tuneof about a million dollars for
that two and a half milliondollar project. Um, so

(41:42):
significant investment therefrom , um, from a program
called the Revitalizing MainStreets . So we're excited
about that. Mm-Hmm .
multimodal path ,um, you know , um, definitely
kid friendly, senior friendly ,um, um, path to get you in
between Main Street and there.
And as we have that , um, theBig Rich Mark project, you
know, right there at the OldCity market site at first
Maine, 256 new apartment unitsgoing up there, they'll be able

(42:05):
to get out to, you know , thegrocery opportunities , um, out
there at Rim Rock . Um , justthat , that easier, that much
easier than Yeah . Than , um,what they could now. Beautiful.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
So anyway.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
Beautiful. That's awesome. Fourth fifth Street
downtown. Um, that'll be agreat , um, repurpose of some
space, existing space downthere that we're gonna pilot ,
um, there with a cycle trackMm-Hmm . there
and some parallel parking and,and so forth. And that'll , um,
come here before council herein May , um, for, for award .
And so that's some of the workin through the downtown , um,

(42:38):
there , coming up here in June,July.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
Exciting to time, exciting time to live and be a
part of all the work and all ofthe , um, you know, the , the
shifting that has taken placedecade by decade to be in Grand
Junction in the Grand Junctionarea right now. And then
looking forward another, evenjust five, 10 years, and how we
have really kind of found ourskin it seems Mm-Hmm .

(43:01):
more than everbefore. Mm-Hmm .
, I think we're always the bestversion of what we can be.
Every, I I continually saythat, just continually proud of
where we live. Mm-Hmm .
and, and haveinvested. I've been here since
93. You've been here since 95.
Mm-Hmm . . And ,uh, we've seen so many changes
and , um, they've beenthoughtful changes and, and ,
uh, by design with intentionand , uh, and our leadership

(43:23):
has really grabbed hold of thatand taken it and , and now
we're, we're making thingshappen. Yep ,

Speaker 3 (43:29):
Sure

Speaker 2 (43:29):
Are . It's exciting.
Yep .

Speaker 3 (43:31):
Yeah. And just all the collaborative relationships
here that we have to rely on. Imean, for, for me it's cdot , I
mean, it's Army Corps ofEngineers, US Fish and
Wildlife. It's , um, ColoradoParks and Wildlife. It's , um,
Mesa County, you know, is oneof our close partners on so
many different projects and theDowntown Development Authority,
the Horizon Drive , businessImprovement District, and then,
you know , um, one Riverfrontand Rivers Edge West and

(43:54):
Colorado West Land Trust andall of those. And it is just,
it's just a smile. All thedifferent relationships that we
have here that then crossedpaths , um, when we're out on
the trails, out on the river orat various social events has
just been awesome at

Speaker 2 (44:06):
The grocery store, et cetera, et cetera . Yeah .
And then you , and then theprivate sector and those
individuals that really carrythe passion into to really
infuse and, and , uh, and , andmake things possible. You guys,
you know , I understood, I notto, I'm gonna wrap us up, but
I, I was listening in , um,this is back when we were
working on do Rios Mm-Hmm .
. And , uh, and I, I listened to , uh, a member
of the , uh, a municipalitydifferent from Grand Junction

(44:28):
that talked about, you know,really , um, the , the, the
bureaucracy of a municipalityis really designed to protect
and , um, make sure thatthey're keeping the pace of the
community at large andde-risking Mm-Hmm .
, um, factors and, you know, a lot of
mitigation, right? Mm-Hmm.
. But it's the,it's the passion of the private
sector when that comes intoplay, and then triangulating

(44:49):
that with, with nonprofits tomake sure that the community as
a whole is represented. But,but when that call it an
individual or a group ofindividuals that come in from
the private sector, that, thatbring that passion and then
carry it through to work withthe city to then bring
something, a new vision tofruition and how beautiful that
process is. That's notnecessarily the city's job. The

(45:10):
city's job is to , is to , um,find possibility and find
solution. Mm-Hmm .
keeping itscommunity at large in mind and
making sure that it does notpresent new risk for them.
Mm-Hmm . . Andit's, it was really , um, it
kind of , it helped me pivot alittle bit and really
understand the importance of,of the individual in that, in
that formula as well. Mm-Hmm.
. And , uh, we allhave a responsibility here. Yep

(45:31):
. We sure do.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
Citizenship. Yes.
Right .

Speaker 2 (45:33):
Absolutely. Yeah. On that note. Yep . All right .
Trent Paul , when are youhitting the river? Next?

Speaker 3 (45:39):
Uh , not until this weekend. Okay.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
Well, that's, you've got a few days only because

Speaker 3 (45:42):
I've got night meetings, otherwise we'd be out
there this evening, so.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
Understood. Anyway.
Understood. Yep . Well, we'llsee you out on the trails.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
All right . Sounds great. Okay.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
High five , buddy, . Thanks. Thanks Trent.
Yep . Alright . This was JenTaylor and Trenton pr , the
director of Public works forthe City of Grand Junction. I
don't think I've formallyintroduced you as your title in
the beginning, but now We'll ,yeah. The, the cliffhanger has
now been , uh, revealed , um,with the City of Grand
Junction. This has been areally wonderful time to sit
with you and really listenfirsthand to what's happening

(46:10):
and, and how things came to beand , uh, yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
Really appreciate the interest. Yeah . We lot ,
we had a great story , um, hereover my last 29 years has , um,
definitely been , um, been ajoy. Mm-hmm . So ,

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Yep . Good stuff.
Well, we, we , under yourleadership and guidance, we, we
are very appreciative, sothanks. We're a lucky
community. All right . We'resigning out. This is Jen Taylor
with the Kristi Reese Group.
Thanks for joining us andTrent, we'll see you on the
trail. Yep .

Speaker 3 (46:34):
Thanks again, Trent.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
Ciao .

Speaker 1 (46:36):
Thanks for listening. This is Kristi Reese
signing out from the FullCircle Podcast.