Hello,

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

Good morning,

Our current City Council has been seated for a year or more now, and I have been asking the same question over and over.

I would like to know how much it will cost to perform all needed repairs to the section of the Barr Trail that the city acquired from the Cog Railway in the land swap.

This includes removing the existing fence and building a new one, repairing the erosion damage on hillside, making all necessary drainage improvements, performing all needed stability work, etc., etc.

The city has owned this land for over 7 years.

The President of Friends of the Peak stated that he feels that this section of the Barr Trail is in such bad condition that it should be closed and a reroute built.

Our Parks Dept. is involved in the discernment process on this issue, are they not?

How much has Rocky Mountain Field Institute, who has been doing work on this section of the trail annually since 2013, told the city that it would cost to repair the existing trail?

Have they told the city that it is not worth it to repair the existing trail?

How much do they estimate it would cost to close this trail and build a reroute?

I believe that the cost of repairing this section of the trail is so great that it renders the appraisal that the Broadmoor submitted for the land swap invalid.

This possibility must concern the city council.

Even if the Broadmoor's appraisal is somehow legitimate, the cost of the repairs was a relevant consideration in the public comment process, and the public was deprived of this information.

The land swap was approved by the City Council on May 24th, 2016.

I asked this same question many times during the public comment process and the City Council refused to answer.

Information was withheld during the public comment process.

The public was not told that $40,000 a year was being spent doing repairs on the trail on that land.

The public was told that the trail on that land had drainage problems and erosion damage, but the city refused to tell me how much it would cost to fix those problems.

I began asking this question in late February 2016, nearly three months before the land swap was approved.

I spoke at public meetings, before the City Council in person, and in many emails before the land swap was approved.

Mr. Jack Damioli of the Broadmoor, also President of the Cog Railway at the time, heard me speak multiple times, did he not know that $40,000 in repairs were being done every year?

Karen Palus, then Director of city Parks Dept. heard me ask this specific question many times, why did she refuse to provide me with the answer?

Did she know that RMFI was doing $40,000 a year in repairs on that land?

The city's failure to disclose this information during the public comment process is very disturbing.

The city's refusal to answer the same question to this day is also very disturbing.

This City Council must provide me with the answers and resolve these issues once and for all.

Questions of this nature cannot be left hanging; the issues must be resolved.

Thank you, Carl Strow