Hello,
This is my contribution for Citizen's Discussion at Tuesday's City Council meeting:
Good morning,
During the public comment process for the land swap I spoke at public meetings and I asked the city how much the needed repairs to the section of the Barr Trail that the City wanted to acquire would cost.
Did Mr. Skorman and Save Cheyenne tell people that they checked out my claims, and that they were of no use.
Did they tell people that I was lacking in soundness of mind?
Has the City Council ever told anyone those things?
Did any City Official instruct Mr. Skorman to make those claims to discredit me?
This is the only semi meaningful answer that the City has ever given me as to the estimated cost of repairs. It was sent to me by Britt Haley of our Parks Dept.
“Rocky Mountain Field Institute (RMFI) estimates annual maintenance to the section of Barr Trail impacted by Incline return traffic to be approximately $40,000.”
How could a section of trail that is less than 2 and one half miles long need $40,000 in annual maintenance?
Are there any other trails in our area that require $40,000 in annual maintenance?
Why not?
What is so special about this trail?
Anyone who hikes up the Barr Trail these days can see that it is deteriorating.
Even $40,000 of work per year is not enough.
This is because it was not built in accord with modern drainage standards. This is because the trail was built nearly 100 years ago.
The trail will continue to deteriorate until a drainage study is done, and the necessary drainage improvements are implemented.
In truth, that is only the beginning because experts recommend that this type of trail be closed, and that a new trail be constructed.
The trail will always need annual work because the drainage cannot ever be completely right.
If we build a new trail would the Manitou Incline become inaccessible?
Last summer we were told that the NEPA process for the proposed alternate route down from the Incline would begin by the end of the year.
Has that been put on hold for some reason?
Did the City want to acquire that land because the USFS does not really approve of the Incline, and would gladly leave it out of the plan for a new trail?
Why have the City and the USFS not responded to my questions about the legal opening of the Incline. I sent them last summer.
This is from an email I sent on June 21st 2020:
I have been doing research on the Incline by studying both the Site Development and Management Plan that was produced by the Manitou Incline Task Force, and the IGA (intergovernmental agreement) between the City of Colorado Springs and the City of Manitou Springs.
I found several problems, the worst of which is the fact that those documents required that significant repairs, including tie stabilization, be substantially completed before the legal opening of the Incline.
The tie stabilization was finally completed only a few years ago. This means that the Forest Service erred in issuing the Special Use Permit. The conditions that were required for the legal opening of the Incline had not been met. Because those conditions had not been fulfilled on the date that the permit was issued, the permit is invalid.
This is the same principle that makes the closing of the land swap invalid because on the date shown on the paperwork no valid conservation easement existed.
I have included some screenshots of the sections I refer to.
First is a table from page V – 11 of the Management Plan titled “Actions Required prior to legal opening in 2011”.
#10 - Safety repairs to Incline including:
“debris and hazardous rebar removal and tie stabilization. Incline will be closed during work”.
The chart allots 3 and one half months for that work to be done. They had an army of experts on the Task Force, how could they have been so unrealistic?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xc8pr0HemQFY8Q5FwKSoa4m9hkLf7i6E/view?usp=sharing
Next is a section from the IGA. Note “C” saying that the Incline will not open legally until the 13 steps laid out in the above document are substantially completed.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U2ZeJ5NpbYWiSseYudZhrS8s_2yFSBhf/view?usp=sharing
The City acquired grants from far and wide to be able to conduct repairs to the Manitou Incline, why do they refuse to simply tell me the estimated cost of the needed repairs to the “section of the Barr Trail impacted by Incline return traffic”?
Britt Haley told me that the City has consulted with Rocky Mountain Field Institute about the condition of this section of the Barr Trail.
The claim that “$40,000 of annual maintenance” is all that RMFI told the City is not believable.
Please disclose to the public all that the City has learned.
Thank you, Carl Strow