Hello,
This is my contribution for Citizen's Discussion at Tuesday's City Council meeting:
Good morning,
Is the alternate route down from the Manitou Incline on hold?
I was watching Manitou Springs City Council meetings on Zoom last summer and Karen Palus said at one meeting that the city would initiate a NEPA process for the upper section of the alternate route down in the fall or winter.
Why has that process not begun yet?
I only withdrew my opposition to the legal opening of the Incline because we were promised an alternate route down.
I waited for years, so long in fact that I no longer believed that an alternate route down was possible.
Finally the city moved forward last summer.
The public needs an explanation. Will there be an alternate route down from the Incline, and if so when does the city expect it to be available?
Last summer the city made “improvements” to an old trail that is at least partly on the land they acquired from the Cog Railway in the land swap.
This was for the lower section of the alternate route down.
One problem with this is that the city does not legitimately own that land.
The city's refusal to answer my questions about the needed repairs to the Barr Trail for over five years is an admission of guilt.
Therefore any modifications to that land are illegal.
The other problem is that modifying an old trail is problematic if a professional study and trail design is not performed to deal with drainage issues.
Also, since last summer I have been asking about the legal status of the connecting trail that goes from the top of the Incline to the Barr Trail.
The Management Plan mentions the possibility of an “expedited NEPA process” to legitimatize the existing social trail there.
I can't imagine that any such thing would be legal.
Was any legal process ever conducted to legitimatize the social trail?
It would not be legal to simply integrate this social trail into the Special Use Permit, and then perform upgrades to the trail.
What has the city found?
Today I am asking three simple questions:
Why is the NEPA process for the upper section of the alternate route down from the Incline not being done?
If there is a problem, the public has a right and a need to know.
What is the estimated cost for the total needed repairs for the section of the Barr Trail that is on the land that the city acquired in the land swap?
Is the modified social trail that connects the top of the Incline to the Barr Trail legal?
Thank you, Carl Strow