Hello,

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

Good morning,

In my eyes the land swap between the city and the Broadmoor in 2016 is riddled with legal problems.

I do not believe that the conservation easement for Strawberry Fields is valid because we were told that it was the type that could not exist for one year to the day after the land swap was approved by the city council.

The city council approved the land swap on May 24th, 2016, and the city announced that the conservation easement was complete, and the land swap deal had closed on December 30th, 2016.

If no valid conservation easement existed on December 30th, 2016, the land swap is invalid.

I do not believe that the public comment process conducted by the city for the land swap is valid because the city refused to answer all questions.

I also believe that the city may have instructed Mr. Skorman, who was President of Save Cheyenne, to quietly tell people that Mr. Strow was not of sound mind and that they had researched his questions and had found them to have no value.

The city made claims during the public comment process that were untrue or questionable.

They claimed that if the city owned the land that has part of the Manitou Incline on it they would be able to build an alternate route down from the top of the Incline.

They claimed that if the Cog Railway were ever sold the new owner might close the Barr Trail.

Does that claim have some kind of a hidden and malicious intent?

Why did they not say that a new owner of the Cog Railway could close the Manitou Incline?

Was one of the fundamental motivations behind the land swap to strip the Cog Railway of their revocable license for the Manitou Incline out of fear that a new owner would close the Incline?

I believe that the appraisal that was submitted by the Broadmoor for the land that was owned by the Cog Railway is in valid because that land was in need of at least one million dollars of repairs and this information was not provided to the appraiser.

Even if the Broadmoor was not fully aware that the land needed a million dollars in repairs, that appraisal is still invalid.

Either the condition of that land was suppressed or the city failed to research that issue adequately.

The city's refusal to answer my questions for the last nine years is another issue on its own.

This is beyond suspicious.

The entire process for the land swap has to be transparent.

I have raised reasonable questions, the city may not refuse to answer.

Does the city have an estimate for the cost of the repairs needed on the land that was owned by the Cog Railway that was prepared by Rocky Mountain Field Institute?

Please tell me the estimated cost of those repairs.

Thank you, Carl Strow