Hello,
I am asking that this communication be forwarded to both the legal affairs Dept. of Colorado Springs Utilities, and the Dept. that has oversight on the Manitou Incline.
This is my contribution for Citizen's Discussion for Tuesday's City Council Meeting.
Good morning,
The City is beginning construction on a trail on the land that it illegally acquired in the land swap.
The land swap had a legal requirement to have a Conservation Easement for Strawberry Fields. The deal could not close without it. I am told that the problem is that the Conservation Easement required a one year process to be complete. The land swap was approved by the City Council on May 24th 2016, so the Conservation Easement would be ready on May 24th 2017. Somehow the City closed that deal on December 30th 2016. The document attached claiming to have a Conservation Easement could not be legitimate, therefore the closing of the deal is invalid. The deal would have to be refiled with a Conservation Easement dated on or after May 24th 2017.
I don't see how the City Attorney's office could have been so confused as to make such a mistake.
Has any City Official been told by the District Attorney that the City has to return that land to the Cog Railway, and that they may not modify this land in any way?
During the Public Comment Process for the land swap the City claimed that owning that land would make an alternate route down from the Incline more feasible. I did not understand, why would the Cog Railway not just grant an easement for a trail?
A legitimate alternate route down from the Incline is not feasible, but because the City owns this land they can build a substandard trail that does not meet the normal standards for drainage and other issues.
The trail being built now is only a bailout point, intersecting the Incline half way up. How many people does the City estimate will use this trail each day?
Phase two of this project will connect to the top of the Incline which is on Forest Service land. A NEPA proceSs is required before that trail is built. Is the Forest Service telling the City that their proposed trail will be approved?
The people own the land that was acquired in the land swap. We have a right to participate in the planning of any changes to this land. I have been asking questions over and over and the City has refused to provide me with any information. I would go so far as to say that the City has been keeping their plans secret. You make a public announcement on Friday before construction begins on Tuesday? This obstructs public comment and oversight.
Are any members of our local trails community now crying foul because the terrain on this land is not suitable for an ecologically sound trail?
Sources had told me in the past that a complete rebuild of the Incline was specifically forbidden by the special use permit. I thought that this meant that the restriction was spelled out in so many words. So the stage three repairs violated and invalidated the permit.
Did the forest service define the Incline in such a specific manner so as to make a complete rebuild impossible? Did the city understand this?
Does the Incline, as it is defined in the Special Use Permit no longer exist? I asked to see the actual wording in the Permit that defines the Incline. Where is that now?
I am told that it says something along the lines of this: The Manitou Incline is an abandoned railbed built by the Cog Railway in or around 1907 which consists of old railroad ties.
The stage three repairs removed all of the original ties. The abandoned railbed built by the Cog Railway no longer exists on the upper third of the Incline which is the section owned by the Forest Service.
I would like to hear from the Forest Service, the City of Colorado Springs, the City of Manitou Springs and CSU on this legal question.
Is the Special Use Permit still valid?
I assume that the Forest Service knew that the Incline would not hold up without the rails on the ties, and did not want it legally opened. Perhaps some kind of political pressure forced them to go along with it so they wrote the definition this way so that the Incline would run its natural course, and then have to close.
Is this correct?
Has any authority told the City recently that the Incline has to be closed? Is there some reason why this fact would be kept from the public?
Why would the City begin construction of a new trail for the Incline now? Let's delay construction until we have an agreement with all entities that the Incline can continue to operate over the long term.
Thank you, Carl Strow