The Moffat Tunnel Improvement District was an independent entity of the

State of Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

(USA) created to build and manage the Moffat Tunnel, a railroad and water tunnel under James Peak and Rollins Pass. The district had the authority to sell bonds backed by real estate taxes in the counties served by the Denver and Salt Lake Railway, which was the original railroad tenant of the tunnel. The district was originally governed by a five-member elected commission and existed from 1922 until 1998.

Controversy and dissolution of the commission

The bonds for the tunnel were retired in December 1983. However, the district continued to collect taxes for another year, resulting in a fund of excess cash of approximately $1 million. In 1990, a group of activist commissioners were elected who proceeded to use the resources at their disposal to sue the Winter Park Resort, the

Colorado Arlberg Club Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

and the

City and County of Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unite ...

in order to represent the public interest against perceived abuses by powerful private interests. In 1991 and 1992 the commission delayed a lease to the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

for using the railroad tunnel for fiber optic cables. The commission began to agitate to recover money from Winter Park Resort to pay for land leased from the commission, known as the Evans Tract. By 1994, the commission was demanding rents and threatened to evict the ski resort and build a "Taco Bell". Eventually, the resort agreed to purchase the land for $2 million (in 1996). Because of these challenges, the railroad and the ski area join forces in 1996 to push forward a bill in the state legislature to dissolve the commission. The legislature passed the act in 1997. The bill specified that new commissioners would be named by the Governor ( Roy Romer) to handle the liquidation of the commission and the transfer of assets to the state. Before this process was set in motion, the existing commissioners defiantly threatened to vote the commission out of existence at their final meeting before the new commission would be seated. However, the motion ultimately failed to pass, perhaps because the commissioners feared being sued over the action. In January 1998, the newly seated commissioners sold the water tunnel to the Denver Water Board for $7 million and put the railroad tunnel up for sale. There were no offers, though. The railroad had the right of first refusal and to match any offer. Moreover, it had a lease lasting until 2025 that had little monetary value to the owner of the tunnel. The remaining assets of the commission were transferred to the state and the commission ceased to exist in early 1998.

References

* * {{coord missing, Colorado Special districts in Colorado