Hello,

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

Good morning,

I have been challenging the validity of the appraisal that was submitted by the Broadmoor for the land owned by the Cog Railway since 2016.

Surely the City Attorney's office has done a review of this appraisal by now.

Did the Broadmoor furnish the appraiser with the estimated cost of all needed repairs to the Barr Trail and that land overall?

The only meaningful answer that the city has given me so far concerning the total cost of the needed repairs is that the land requires $40,000 in annual maintenance.

That is a red flag.

No other trail in our area that I am aware of requires $40,000 in repairs each year.

Reading between the lines I will claim that the city is saying that because the trail needs a drainage study and drainage improvements the trail is suffering major damage every year.

Those tasks cannot be achieved with $40,000.

The land in question was appraised at $1.3 million.

Did the Broadmoor inform the appraiser that over the next ten years the land will require $400,000 in repairs?

Or that over the next 20 years the land will need $800,000 in repairs?

The appraisal that was submitted by the Broadmoor is on record as part of the multimillion-dollar land swap.

Is the total estimated cost of those repairs close to one million dollars?

Did the Broadmoor fail to provide the appraiser with the cost of the needed repairs?

Is the city considering closing this section of the trail and building an alternate route?

I do not believe that a new trail is the best option for this land.

If such a plan is being considered I have a right to look at the numbers and contribute my opinion in the process.
Others in the public and the trails community have a right and a need to see the numbers and contribute to the decision.

Even if the city were to build a new trail the drainage still must be fixed and the erosion damage still has to be repaired.

The city appears to have a conflict of interest because the cost of the repairs proves a flaw in the land swap.

Does the city feel that if they close the existing trail and build a reroute, they will not ever have to disclose the cost of the needed repairs?

The cost of those repairs is a fundamental fact that is necessary for anyone to consider the fate of the Barr Trail.

Because of the flaw in the land swap, the city is not the rightful legal owner of that land, and you may not close the trail or build a reroute.

Why is the city refusing to discuss the cost of those repairs?

The city may not make decisions of this sort in secret while suppressing requested facts.

Last winter I believed that I read in the Gazette that someone was recommending that a new trail be built to replace the section of the Barr Trail that the city owns.

Then I was informed that I was mistaken.

No one from the City Council had anything to say about that matter.

Did I imagine the article, or was such a recommendation made?

Why has the Gazette not printed a retraction?

Is the city now acting on such a recommendation?

Is the city considering a reroute of the Barr Trail?

The city must tell me if they are considering a major change to the Barr Trail.

Thank you, Carl Strow