Hello,

This is my contribution to Citizen's Discussion at Tuesday's City Council meeting:

Our Parks Dept. told me that the section of the Barr Trail that we acquired in the land swap needs $40,000 in annual maintenance.

I have never heard of any trail needing $40,000 in annual maintenance.

I asked how much work this trail needed during the public comment process for the land swap. The city ignored my questioning as if my issue were not relevant.

The fact that this trail needs so much work every year is proof that this section of the trail is badly damaged or has some extreme flaw. That fact should have been disclosed during the public comment process.

We were not told of any downside to this land, or that it had some extreme and unusual liability.

How much will it cost to do all needed repairs on this land?

The city told us that we were getting land that was worth $3.3 million in exchange for land that was worth $2.2 million.

If the land that was owned by the Cog Railway needed $1 million in repairs that would have had to have been disclosed during the public comment process.

Did the city make a terrible mistake in its analysis of that land?

Did the Broadmoor withhold relevant financial information from the appraiser or the public?

I asked for the total cost of the needed repairs to that land during the public comment process.

The city told me nothing.

Then, in 2018 Kurt Schroeder told me that over $200,000 had been spent on that land since 2013.

In 2019 Britt Haley told me that the land needs $40,000 in annual maintenance.

Did the city not know about these issues until after the land swap was approved?

The public has a right to know about this problem.

If the city and the Broadmoor both made honest mistakes that fact must be disclosed to the public.

I am convinced that the land in question needed one million dollars or more in repairs at the time of the public comment process.

That fact discredits the claim that we were getting land that was worth $3.3 million.

There was great opposition to the land swap before it was approved. If they had been aware of these facts, they would have used this information to try to sway more City Council members against the land swap.

They would have used this information to motivate more citizens to oppose the land swap.

By failing to provide this information, for whatever reason, the city hindered the opposition.

We now know that the public comment process was badly flawed.

I am sure that many citizens in our city will be very interested in this issue. Please answer my question and bring the public up to date.

Thank you, Carl Strow