{"id":3418,"date":"2026-07-09T13:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3418"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:04:08","slug":"mayor-coffman-seeing-red-over-green-aurora-school-district-lawns-amid-sustained-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3418","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Coffman seeing red over green Aurora school district lawns amid sustained drought"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

AURORA<\/strong> | Green lawns at some Aurora schools have provoked threats of a water shut-off from Mayor Mike Coffman.<\/p>\n

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Coffman accused Aurora Public Schools of violating drought restrictions to irrigate school properties and having to pay fines for the alleged violations. Coffman said he is considering shutting off water for outdoor irrigation for the district if it continues to violate restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile driving past Rangeview High School, I noticed that all of their lawns were very green meaning that they were being watered in defiance of Aurora\u2019s current Stage I drought water restrictions,\u201d Coffman\u2019s post says. \u201cThe following morning, I drove by six other schools in the Aurora Public School system, and their lawns were also all very green.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coffman said he plans to meet with Aurora Public Schools Superintendent Michael Giles on Friday and will seek a commitment from the district to comply or else \u201cimmediately shut off supplying all water, used for outside irrigation, to the school district until all drought restrictions are lifted.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

However, the school district pushed back against Coffman\u2019s claims. A district spokesperson said APS has a specific irrigation plan that was approved by Aurora Water and which reduces the district\u2019s annual water usage by 20% and limits outdoor watering to two days per week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take the ongoing drought very seriously, and know that we, like all Aurora organizations and residents, must wisely use our limited water resources,\u201d said APS spokesperson Corey Christiansen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Christiansen said the district has not received or paid any fines for violations. He said the district learned of Coffman\u2019s concerns on Monday and plans to continue working with Aurora Water to comply with restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to emphasize that one photo from one school site does not represent our district\u2019s overall water usage,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are proud of our extremely dedicated maintenance team that works hard to keep our school grounds in the best shape possible for our community. We look forward to continuing to work with Aurora Water as engaged environmental stewards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shonnie Cline, deputy director of Aurora Water, confirmed the school district is part of the irrigation user variance program, which allows large water users more flexibility in when they can irrigate, while still limiting irrigation to two times per week and not during 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can pick any day of the week they want to water on, but they can\u2019t water any single zone more than two days a week,\u201d Cline said.<\/p>\n

The variance program also sets irrigation performance efficiency standards and requires an overall 20% reduction in annual demand.<\/p>\n

Cline also confirmed that the school district has not been fined nor received warnings, though the district does have nine properties, including Rangeview High School, which Coffman called out, that are increasing in water use and at risk of noncompliance. Cline said water department staff are working with the district to bring the sites back into compliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those nine sites, (the district) is getting notified \u2026 and what will happen is, once they\u2019re outside of the variance program, they\u2019ll receive a warning and they\u2019ll have three days to correct it, and if they don\u2019t make the corrections then they will be subject to a violation and fines,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other sites include William Smith High School, East Middle School, an elementary school, Aurora Academy, Vista Peak Prep and three administrative buildings. The district has 61 total sites on its account.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cline said the district has been a good partner and she believes they will address the issue swiftly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not concerned that they won\u2019t address it,\u201d Cline said. \u201cAll things are pointing to that they are eager to be able to get those systems back into compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

In general, violations of drought restrictions first trigger a warning that residential users have seven days to address, while multi-family and commercial users have three days. If the issue is not resolved, then violators face an escalating series of fines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For multifamily and commercial users, fines start at $250 and go up to $2000. Residential fines range from $125 to $500.<\/p>\n

For persistent violations, Cline said the city can shut off the water supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means we have absolutely gone through every possible option to get them into compliance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cline said Colorado\u2019s water supply situation is \u201cbad,\u201d but officials are hoping to avoid increasing drought restrictions, though it requires \u201ceverybody doing every single possible thing that they can to conserve water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking it so seriously because we don\u2019t know what the future holds,\u201d Cline said.<\/p>\n

Read more Colorado to restore financial aid tracking tool for high school counselors<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Read more Maine Democrats plan convention to replace Platner: What to know about Senate race<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Read more US launches new airstrikes on Iran, with Tehran firing back at 3 Gulf Arab states<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AURORA | Green lawns at some Aurora schools have provoked threats of a water shut-off from Mayor Mike Coffman. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Coffman accused Aurora Public Schools of violating drought restrictions to irrigate school properties and having to pay fines for the alleged violations. Coffman said he is considering shutting off water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[526,1071,5510,908,228,5511],"class_list":["post-3418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro","tag-aurora-public-schools","tag-aurora-water","tag-corey-christiansen","tag-mayor-mike-coffman","tag-rangeview-high-school","tag-shonnie-cline"],"yoast_head":"\nMayor Coffman seeing red over green Aurora school district lawns amid sustained drought - Denver Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3418\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mayor Coffman seeing red over green Aurora school district lawns amid sustained drought - Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AURORA | Green lawns at some Aurora schools have provoked threats of a water shut-off from Mayor Mike Coffman. 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