A group of Cascade homeowners has reached a stalemate with El Paso County and state officials over a project to fix their flood-damaged private road – a delay that could mean the road won’t be fixed.

The project’s contractor, the non-profit Coalition for the Upper South Platte, suggested that a quick-fix be made to the get the homeowners through the winter, an option that the county supported. But residents are worried that funding a short-term fix will hurt their chances of paying for a permanent one.

Their refusal to allow a temporary solution could mean that the project will never get done, said Dave Rose, a spokesman for the county.

“Nothing can happen without homeowner approval up there,” said Rose on Thursday.

For nine months, Kathy Stults and her neighbors in a small group of homes north of U.S. 24 have been climbing a hill to reach their homes since flood waters off the Waldo Canyon fire burn scar gouged their road into a canyon. The residents couldn’t afford to pay to fix it.

This year, the neighborhood was offered hope in the form of Emergency Watershed Protection funds, or EWP, a federal grant for the Natural Resources Conservation Service that covers 75 percent of a project’s costs if locals and the state cover the remaining 25 percent. In August, $150,000 project to fix the Cascade road was secured. That EWP money is special because it is used to fund projects on private land that, if not repaired, could affect public infrastructure.

Yet the work was delayed, and Stults says the homeowners have not been offered a clear reason why.

The county says it was not able to secure the grant funding quickly due to the time it takes to create a watershed collaborative – one of the requirements put on counties by the state to receive their share of the EWP funds.

Still, residents say they’re being treated unfairly by the county.

El Paso County routinely refuses to help fund EWP projects on private land, and has refused to fund fixes on the Cascade road. Since the county won’t help fund the project, the homeowners must agree to cover a year’s worth of maintenance on the road, a requirement to secure the federal money.

That’s something Stults and her neighbors aren’t willing to do.

Rose countered that the residents’ decision could cause them to lose their federal funding.

“The funding won’t be approved (without that),” said Rose. “And the project won’t go ahead.”

Meanwhile, concerns about the long-term problems with the damaged road have started to catch the attention of a state lawmaker.

In an email provided to The Gazette, state Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, shared his concerns that the road’s damage could shift to U.S. 24.

“One of my biggest concerns is that very close proximity to U.S. 24 … could cause more safety risks from erosion or flooding to the main roadway,” Lambert wrote in an email to Chris Sturm with the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the state agency overseeing the project. “I would request your immediate help to look into this status of this long-overdue problem.”