Hello,

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

Good morning,

My name is Carl Strow and I am a local activist who is questioning the land swap between the city and the Broadmoor Hotel that the City Council approved in May of 2016.

I am asking one simple question:

What is the estimated cost of all needed repairs to the land that the city acquired from the Cog Railway?

The city has confirmed to me that RMFI has been doing approximately $40,000 a year of work on that section of the Barr Trail since 2013.

That work is funded by the City of Manitou Springs using some of the parking fees they collect in the Barr Trail parking lot.

I began asking this one question during the public comment process, my communications with the city are documented on a Facebook page that I manage titled "COS Land Swap".

I also have a petition on Change.org titled "Force Colorado Springs to Repair the Barr Trail".

The city refused to answer my question during the public comment process.

I asked for relevant financial information and the city refused to provide it.

Therefore, the public comment process is invalid.

The appraisal that was submitted by the Broadmoor for that land is also invalid because the cost of the needed repairs was not provided to the appraisers.

That land was appraised at $1.3 million, and RMFI has done somewhere around $400,000 in repairs on that land since 2013.

Some in our trail community are still saying that this section of the Barr Trail is beyond repair and that it should be replaced.

The Gazette printed an interview with the President of Friends of the Peak on the subject in the fall of 2021.

The public has a right to contribute to the discussion on the fate of the trail, and to do so I have a right to learn how much it will cost to repair the existing trail.

The city is still refusing to provide me with this information.

Shockingly, some are saying that the section of the Barr Trail that we acquired in the land swap is beyond repair.

This land was appraised at $1.3 million, and we traded away strawberry Fields to get it.

Yet no one has realized the relevance of this fact and how it relates to the land swap.

We acquired a Lemon.

I asked about the condition of the trail during the public comment process because I hiked the trail often and knew that the trail was in terrible condition. The trail's state of deterioration was not disclosed.

We acquired a Lemon.

The problems with the trail are drainage issues. The trail was built close to 100 years ago and at that time drainage issues were not understood.

Some people have claimed that the condition of the trail is caused by overuse from people coming down from the Manitou Incline, but that claim is false.

If anyone claims that the trail has damage from too many people hiking down from the Incline, ask them to describe what that specific type of damage looks like.

The damage on the trail is caused by water running on the trail, in the trail and across the trail.

This section of the Barr Trail is composed of tight switchbacks. Nearly all other trails of this type in our nation have already been closed.

RMFI is forced to constantly repair new damage on the trail. A drainage study must be done by a professional firm to design the drainage improvements.

Then the drainage work can be done.

The city is negligent in its stewardship of the trail. Many erosion ravines all over that steep hillside cannot be repaired until the drainage is improved.

Even if that section of the trail is replaced a drainage study will still have to be done and the erosion damage will have to be repaired.

Please tell me the estimated cost of all needed repairs.

Thank you, Carl Strow