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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 06/21/2000E MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD SPECIAL MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE June 21, 2000 For Reference: Randy Fischer, NRAB Chair - 491-6303 Bill Bertschy, Council Liaison - 484-0181 Tom Shoemaker, Staff Liaison - 221-6263 Board Members Present Kelly Ohlson, Phil Murphy, Reagan Waskom, Bill Miller Board Members Absent Nate Donovan, Rick Harness, Jan Rastall, Randy Fischer, Don Rodriguez Staff Present Natural Resources Dept: Mark Sears, Terry Klahn CLRS: Marty Heffernan Park Planning: Jason Stutzman, Craig Foreman Engineering: Dean Klingner, Cam McNair Utilities: Keith Meyer Right of Way: Ron Mills Guests Sally Craig, Planning and Zoning Board Harry Kahler, Citizen Rob Home, Consultant Clara Kahler, Citizen Chuck McKee, Property Owner Patrick O'Donnell, Citizen Dena Caviness, Melody Homes Lillian McKee, Citizen Roger Hollard, Melody Homes Doug Paull, Nolte Associates Jerry Mead, Property Owner Susan Taylor, Citizen Agenda Review Ohlson: Comments and follow-up. Fort Collins Loveland Water Line at Coyote Ridge, Terry Farrell, Mike Ditullio, Fort Collins/Loveland Water District Ditullio said the Water District is charged with the responsibility of providing domestic treated water to an area from Harmony Road on the north, to 57`h Street in Loveland on the south, and, the foothills on the west to Windsor on the east. The area comprises Natural Resources Advis,-y Board June 21 Page 2 approximately sixty square miles with 8000 taps. The District has worked jointly with the City of Fort Collins on many past projects. Here tonight to talk about the location and construction of a water storage tank, designed to complement and bolster the service area, in addition to providing service to a development that was approved back in 1995. At that time the utility development plan included off -site storage facilities. Will also talk in general about some of the capital improvement programs the District is involved in. We will be dealing with the NRAB on other projects in the years to come, and will be here frequently. This project is not new to the City of Fort Collins, or the Natural Resources Department. Terry Farrell outlined some upcoming projects the District will be involved in: ❑ Moving through design issues with staff to provide a 36" water line from Old Harmony to Trilby. Eventually will extend to make connections in Loveland to provide system reliability. ❑ Water line south of County Road 32 from College Avenue to the east three miles. ❑ Provincetown Development — 16" water line, north of Robert Benson Lake. Did replacement through Red Tail Grove. Phase 2 is a continuation of replacement, roughly 4 miles west of the tracks. ❑ Fossil Creek Reservoir — Replacement of an old 27" line. There will be a number of other capital improvement projects. The master plan has been in existence in it's present state since 1994 or 1995. A number of the projects have involved natural resources and sensitive natural areas. We have completed them in a satisfactory fashion. We have been responsible and will continue to be, within reason. Ohlson: Is the Coyote Ridge project what you hope to do or what you intend to do? What we intend to do. If it's what you intend to do, why are we spending time on it? We're here to answer questions. Doug Paull, engineer with Nolte & Associates, said in the past year they have been trying to find an alignment and tank site that would work. Initially a site on Coyote Ridge was identified. This was prior to any public announcement of it being a natural area and trail. The two main reasons the site was identified was proper elevation, and the tank would not be visible from Taft Hill Road. Next we identified willing sellers of a parcel of private property that was shielded from Coyote Ridge and the neighbors. We've been working with City staff to find an alignment that would work. Craig: Is the purpose of this the Ridgewood Development? In part. It's pan of a pressure zone that will serve anything in the district of similar elevation, and provides greater back-up. Craig: Ridgewood Hills has a high elevation, why not put it in the development? The tank has to be 100 feet above the ground. Karen and Mark have identified the areas of least disturbance in the natural area. Our goal is to avoid critical areas and habitats. Murphy: Did you take a look at the option of no impact to City natural areas? Where would the pipe go? It would be the long way around, there would be extensive Natural Resources Advisory Board • June 21 Page 3 construction and road right-of-ways. They have been, and continue paving portions of Trilby. That asphalt would have to be ripped up again. • Ohlson: Are there no other ideas that are acceptable to the developer? There are other options the way I see it. This site and the proposal don't work for me in any way, shape, or form. You come in and announce you're going to cross a natural area paid for by the citizens. I will resist by any legal means possible. It's not the job of the City of Fort Collins to impact their natural areas for up to twenty years, in order to maximize the profits of private companies. I'm totally opposed to you crossing the natural area. • Murphy: We've had presentations from other technologies. Do you have any drawings of what this think will look like? If you go to the Equine Center, there are two tanks there. It's possible to mitigate the site of the tank. Is there a graphic? It would be nice to have some kind of graphic so we can see what it looks like. We have provided something to staff, and worked extensively with staff to openly discuss the ramifications as far the District's and the community's needs. • Murphy: As a long time citizen of Fort Collins, I've seen what happens in the foothills. As a board, we're always looking at view sheds. • Sears: The tank is in a very unusual spot. If colored appropriately it would have a minimal impact from Coyote Ridge. From Taft I don't think you could pick it up. It wouldn't be as visible as the houses that are up there. • Craig: Will there be lighting? No. • Sears: This water line alignment crosses some pristine prairie, probably the least disturbed prairie we have in Fort Collins. But, the corner area is quite disturbed and non-native. It's an area we need to restore anyway. The stretch from Taft to Shields, if done on the south, will be on the McKee farm. That's wheat now, and probably will be for another 10 years. The short stretch, from Colina Mariposa is fairly decent native vegetation. The Shields area is highly disturbed, brome grass. Out of the 12,700 feet of City property, there is 3000' to 4000' of vegetation that would be impacted. By the time they replace that line, in fifty to seventy years, there would be more significant impact. • Craig: Will a 16" line last with the rate of growth what it is? Yes, we'll be putting in more tanks for more storage to service other pressure areas in the district. • Craig: What is the possibility of heading north, coming across Trilby, and dropping down? We encounter two other pipelines. It also extends the length of the line considerably. • Ohlson: Our job is not to maximize speculative profits. I'll recommend to Council they deny access across Coyote Ridge. You're not dealing with a private developer, we have an obligation to serve the citizens of Fort Collins and Larimer County. • Ohlson: It's always the natural resource values that lose. I, for one, have drawn the line in the sand, the natural resources values shouldn't always lose. It's not our job to make your job easy. You have a job to do, and so do we. • Murphy: When you build this pipeline, how long is it going to take? How long will you be out there with equipment? We can probably make 200 feet a day. How wide a chunk will you dig up? Typically we ask for seventy-five feet, average about fifty Natural Resources Advis..y Board June 21 Page 4 feet wide. It widens where the trucks turn around, in other areas we're only about thirty feet wide. • Sears: For the easements themselves, it's roughly about ten dollars a lineal foot. On top of the cost of the actual easement we look at a disturbance and impact cost. That's what we're trying to negotiate. • Craig: Once an easement, always an easement. They can show up anytime, come in and move forward. In thirty years the whole area will be pristine, the minute they go in the weeds will be back. There's no monetary value that can be placed on that. • Ohlson: There would need to be additional disturbance costs every time they go in. Inflation costs need to be factored in. It's amazing how the planning improved when they passed the road -cut charges. If that's built in, the disturbance will be only when absolutely necessary. • Miller: Who will be responsible for the re -vegetation of the area? What ever they disturb will be replaced with native vegetation. They would be required to strip the top eight inches of soil and stockpile it. When the work is completed they would bring that eight inches back. In theory, the native seed is still there and ready to go. • Waskom: This is unusual in that there have been no alternatives presented. Do you have a proposal for an alternative to mitigate the impact? • Sears: Given the tank site, the only real alternative is to go straight north, east on Trilby, then south on Shields, and at some point they have to get across from Shields to the east. It's much more costly. • Waskom: How much more? The estimate for the long way around is about 2.2 million, the proposed route is less than I million. • Ohlson: I'd like to suggest we schedule a time at the July 5 meeting to make a recommendation to Council. There won't be any attempt to delay things, that isn't how this board operates. • Waskom: What is the proposed construction schedule? Probably begin next spring. • Craig: What percent of the project is the developer of Ridgewood Hills responsible for? About 113 of the cost. South Taft Hill Road Project, John Lang, Program Manager Dean Klingner said the area we're talking about is a 3/4 mile corridor of Taft Hill Road, south of Drake to Derby Court. The detention pond in on the Spring Creek Basin. It is intended for flood control in that basin. The Spring Creek trail connection is the missing link of the trail. As far as the road goes, this section is a bottle -neck. It's two lanes of pavement, with no center turn lane. The project is to widen it to four lanes. Currently there are long traffic delays, and no bike, pedestrian or bus facilities. We're working to get a cross section that works in the corridor. The arterial standard is 115' wide. The input from residents was that was too wide, so it was reduced to 108'. Ohlson: How wide is the recommendation from you folks? 108 feet. Ohlson: What would be an equivalent road in Fort Collins? Drake is 100' wide. There hasn't been a continuous capital project with the new standards. It will be Natural Resources Advisory Board • June 21 Page 5 similar to the Shields project from Horsetooth to Harmony. There will be transitions. That's why we felt like a compromise of the current standard was essential. Currently there are over 20,000 vehicles per day through here. It's projected to go over 30,000. There are many safety issues. From a natural resource value we're looking at the existing trees. What do we take, how do we take fewer? We'll identify trees and come up with a mitigation plan. Most are species the forester doesn't consider as valuable. The residents like the trees, valuable or not. They provide screening, there's another side to it than just the natural resource value. Ohlson: When you go in can we really make a huge net gain on the trees. Can we go in and spend the extra money to actually have more and bigger trees to mitigate the impacts? The City should be a leader. When we have to impact neighborhoods they should go for higher standards. We can do better than the standard. That's a good comment, definitely a design point. It's something we can consider. Keith Meyer, Utililties, said they're working on a regional detention pond south of Drake Road and west of Taft Hill. After they 1997 flood the City adopted new rainfall standards. If we maximize the detention here, we can take a step toward solving problems where the mobile home site was. The design elements of the pond are unique. The pond is designed to contain a one -hundred year flood event. Any overflow will flow through the bike tunnel, the roadway would still be dry and open to traffic. • Ohlson: When these are constructed, will they be maintained like a park, with bluegrass, fertilizers and pesticides? This is designed to have a buffer, the rest would be natural grass, short native grass that would not be mowed. • Sears: NRD has offered to help. There will be meetings with the natural areas staff to provide pictures of an un-mowed, native grass stand. The perception of most people is unkept and buggy. The compromise may be we'll mow adjacent to their back fences. • Ohlson: Is this viewed as the most environmentally responsible of the alternatives? Yes, for that piece of land. There's another site we've walked with the NRD staff that we would like to buy if he's a willing seller. The area has a large pond on it. From a natural resources point it has little value, completely restored it would have greater value. • Sears: The site is heavily wooded, and there are lots of shrubs. Most plantings are not native, and do not support wildlife. It would be a short-term negative, but a big long- term gain. Meyers said they are trying to save most of the trees in the large grove in the bottom area of the pond. There are a number of trees along the road slated for removal. Most of these are siberian elms, russian olives or boxelders. What we heard from the public was to save as many trees as possible. There are screening issues from the roadway. Natural Resources AdvisL y Board June 21 Page 6 With the construction and raising of the roadway, we will have to relocate Spring Creek back seventy to eighty feet to the west. One of the features we're trying to incorporate is an overflow channel, with a terracing effect. The entire area could be replanted and turned into a new wetland area. • Ohlson: Where in here did it say we're relocating Spring Creek? Has NRD weighed in? Is this something that can be an environmental gain, habitat and wildlife gain? • Sears: Right now it's up against a private drive and Taft Hill. On the south and east side of Spring Creek there is virtually no wildlife habitat. They're proposing moving it back away from the roadway. In the short-term there is a loss of trees and removal of native vegetation along the creek. In the long-term (five years) there will be a net gain. • Miller: Right now it's very deeply incised. When the creek is moved to the west the land will slope down to it. Have tried to balance public concern with NRD concerns. • Craig: What is west of there right now? You'll have to impact something. It's empty field. We'll be preserving the big trees. • Miller: Will the area west of the bike trail be detention area? The entire area will be detention area. The comments from the open house is don't make the pond so engineered. We did compromise some detention volume. • Miller: From a safety aspect, how does staff feel about this design? We lost about 7/10 of an acre foot. In the big scheme of things, it not that big of an impact. Jason Stutzman, Park Planning and Development, said most of the citizen input is on the location of the trail. A lot of folks were unhappy with how close the trail is to their backyard. We are working with Utilities to find the location that works the best for the pond, and for us. What we intend to do is meet with residents to present this trail alignment. We want to please the neighborhood, but there are many needs. We have to also consider the 100 foot buffer. • Ohlson: The City needs to not violate their own policies. We have to walk the talk. • Miller: Given that we have the opportunity to improve the habitat, we may even want to shy off a bit more there. If we put the bike trail closer to the habitat, their chances are reduced considerably. This is our preferred alignment through the pond. Hopefully the trail has been pulled away enough so it works. • Ohlson: You guys did a good job presenting this project. It's great that you guys are taking the values that are now the community values as far as protecting the resources. The one hundred foot buffer is always the minimum. In the next five to seven years that policy will probably change. I hope the costs are not borne just by the NRD. There are other folks who should factor that into their costs too. Everyone should pay their fair share. Citizen Input Charles McKee — All of the residents are looking forward to and welcome the widening of the road. My concern is the 108' width. What I would like to see is to get rid of the parkways, and get rid of the 19 foot raised median, and put in a 12 foot left turn lane. Natural Resources Advisory Board • June 21 Page 7 We've got 49 mailboxes that are affected by the raised median. We expect to have left turn lanes provided. We're pushing for the 86 foot vs. the 108 foot. The 86 foot plan will also save a lot of trees along there. A lot of people made renovations based on a much smaller road than 108 feet, that will be impacted by this. Pat O'Donnel — I have lived here for thirty years. I bought 6.5 acres, today I have 5.1 acres due to public takings, eminent domain. My big concern is how high you need to raise the road. It will go up about 5 or 6 feet. When that goes up, you need to disperse that force, and it will go to my property. With the slope easement I'll lose all the Chinese elm. There will have to be a retaining wall. I would like some consideration, Susan Taylor — I bought my property three years ago. I use the trails, and love the natural areas, view of the mountains. With the widening of Taft Hill it is bigger, closer and noisier. There are many trees that will be removed. Originally the trail was right in my back yard. This is coming at me from three sides. I hate to see any trees come out that don't have to. There are deer in the field, and lots of wildlife around. I have written a letter to John Lang with suggestions on how to keep the area as natural as possible. The concept of undesirable trees is strange to me. Fort Collins is great, but it is so groomed in the parks. We've lost a lot of natural space. • Miller: How many trees are proposed to be moved? All of trees being removed are in the slope of the road. We can't save those. • Ohlson: I'd like to have the natural areas/trails committee have a quick walk. Would like to see the land. Cam McNair said Council asked that there be recommendations from Boards and Commissions when this comes to them. Ohlson suggested getting the recommendation in the packet for the July 25 study session. Parks Management Plan, Craig Foreman, Marty Heffernan, Park Planning & Development Heffernan said that when the Parks and Recreation Policy Plan was adopted in 1996 it recommended that staff develop individual plans for the City's community parks. This is our first attempt at doing a management plan. It's not an overall policy plan. We looked at plans for state and national parks as a starting point, and developed our own way of doing it. We're taking a look at existing parks to see how we can make them better. Environmentally the sensitivity has changed. We analyze how well they function, develop action items, and prioritize the action items. We're frequently bombarded with requests. Sometimes we would have the sense it wasn't appropriate, but didn't have a good reason. What the management plan has done is caused us to understand there are places in the parks that should have natural features, people places. We came up with the concept of zoning the parks. We can zone out different functions and purposes. We did that by interviewing people using the park, finding out what people are doing at different times of the day, and year. We wanted to find out if the park is serving their needs. Natural Resources Advis__y Board June 21 Page 8 Future management plans will be developed for Martinez, City Park and Rolland Moore park. Discussion • Ohlson: On page twelve it says that Spring Creek Trail works well, but might be moved away from the homes that are on the north. Is that because we're now negatively impacting natural resources to protect existing homes. It's the section of the park when you're coming past the BMX track on the west end. The trail is within five feet of a persons backyard. There's a second piece in the lake itself. We need to go through a process to take out the dam and let Spring Creek go through like it used to. Craig: If you take out the lake and put in the creek it's important to get back to the Land Use Code. You don't want to get wrapped up in protecting rentals, and they are mostly rentals. Ohlson: Is there any plan to add flowers? I know there's cost and maintenance. How about little tables for journaling, and chess. Tables for two people. Is that the kind of thing we can start introducing in parks? My goal as the director is to enhance those aspects in our parks. Now I'm in a position where I can bring those divisions together. We're in the business of building beautiful, fun places. We need to enhance the aesthetic. Parks Maintenance has hired a horticulturist. These are extra things we're starting to put in the parks. It does take time. Ohlson: There's never any intent to eliminate ball fields, but there's been an over- emphasis on sports. I'd like to see clusters of three or four trees. Ohlson: When do I get to weigh in as a citizen on the overall maintenance and the way parks are maintained? As you know, Boulder is lessening the manicuring of parks. It's time to go to the next level. Everything is not a golf course, we get locked into the way it's been done for the last twenty years. There has been progression, a shift in the way park maintenance looks at things. Maintenance is very customer oriented, the customers are the ones who like the manicured look. Ohlson: You guys are two of the three main hitters in the department. They need to hear that someone who lives next to the park wants policies changed so the look is not so manicured. The management plans really help. They will identify zones, by purpose and function. It's something we intend to be there. Cottonwood Glen has areas like that. Ohlson: I'm not trying to turn parks into natural areas. I'm talking about governmental values, and dollars. It enhances the park, and uses less water and chemicals. I'm not trying to create wilderness, just more interesting place. I'd prefer that be in this plan. When we talked about what to put in, it was determined to be unnecessary to put that in. In the action items it says we'll work with NRD to enhance certain areas. Craig Foreman said there's always been a separation of the two areas, Planning and Maintenance. With Marty in as the director the separation is lessening. Our parks system is functional, and in some places that's where we stop. Natural Resources Advisory Board • June 21 Page 9 • Ohlson: Can bring in a lot of varied groups. People want parks. • Miller: Consider an "Adopt A Park", or get a park association. • Craig: I think HOA's would get into this too. I'd love to, it will also help curb vandalism, to draw people in, and get them invested. • Murphy: Where it talks about moving nine holes east, are you talking about hardware. Yes, vandalism and disc golf cause the worst damage to trees. • Ohlson: I'd like to see the parts that you agree with the board on that aren't in here to be included. I've seen players change. Maybe we can add a paragraph or two. • Waskom: The woman who was here (Susan Taylor) really articulated what people are feeling. Make the parks more interesting. One of our favorite places is at City Park. It takes the park and enhances the richness of it. • Miller: Will we have an opportunity to make recommendations on the other reports? The way we look at these is for the most part they're internal management documents. We didn't design a public process. Sometimes there are areas of special concern we've identified as needing special attention. • Miller: Martinez will be of interest to this board. Committee Reports None Announcements Postponed to July 5, 2000 meeting. Review Action/Tickler Log Postponed to July 5, 2000 meeting. Review Future Agenda Items July 5, 2000: Schaaf Conservation Easement Nix Maintenance Center & Alternate Sites Kelly Ohlson said there's no need for another presentation from the Loveland/Fort Collins Water District. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 9:30.