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Carbondale likely to receive $45,000 grant for garden

John Colson
Post Independent
Aspen, CO Colorado

CARBONDALE – The town of Carbondale is expected to soon receive a grant from Great Outdoors Colorado, known as GOCO, to build a community garden at the south end of the town-owned Third Street Center property.

The $45,000 grant would be issued by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, which oversees the distribution of GOCO funds.

If approved, the grant will not formally be announced until June 19, when the commission’s board of directors considers a list of six proposed grants passed along by the commission’s local government committee.



But according to Carbondale Recreation Director Jeff Jackel, who wrote the grant application, Carbondale is at the top of the list of projects recommended for approval.

If approved, the grant would provide three-quarters of the $60,000 needed to build the garden, according to Jackel.




The remainder of the funding is to come from fundraising efforts, from the town, and from the Aspen Skiing Co. Environment Foundation, Jackel said.

The most expensive part of the project, Jackel continued, will be to build an irrigation system for the garden.

He said the project will bring a 1,000-foot water line to the garden from the town’s ditch at the corner of Weant Boulevard and Highway 133, and then send lateral lines to distribute the water to the garden plots.

Jackel said his goal is to install the irrigation system this summer. Construction of the garden is not expected to take place until spring 2013.

According to an email from Jake Houston, local government and planning programs coordinator for GOCO, Carbondale’s grant is the biggest of the spring 2012 grant cycle.

The money behind the grants comes from the Colorado Lottery, which was created by a statewide vote in 1992.

According to Houston, there were a total of 13 applications in this cycle, seeking approximately $460,000 in grant money for projects in various towns.

The committee recommended six grants for approval totalling $207,435 for projects in Olathe, Hot Sulphur Springs, Cheyenne Wells, Lyons, Pritchett and Carbondale.

jcolson@postindependent.com