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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand Conservation And Stewardship Board - Minutes - 09/10/2008MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS LAND CONSERVATION & STEWARDSHIP BOARD Regular Meeting September 10, 2008 DATE: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 LOCATION: 215 N Mason Street, Conference Room 1-A TIME: 6:00 p.m. For Reference: Linda Stanley - 491-7377 Mayor Doug Hutchinson - 416-2154 John Stokes, Staff Liaison - 221-6263 Board Members Present Raymond Boyd, Linsey DeBell, Michelle Grooms, Trudy Haines, Vicky McLane, Karyl Ting Board Members Excused Linda Stanley, Chris Gaughan Council Liaison Mayor, Doug Hutchinson Staff Present Natural Resources / Natural Areas Department: Daylan Figgs, Geri Kidawski, Mark Sears, John Stokes Guests Dan Moore — City of Greeley Mike Dahl — Platt River Power Authority Stephen Yurash - Citizen Public Comments Agenda Review Review and Approval of Minutes Ting moved to approve the August 13, 2008 meeting minutes as written. Haines second. It was unanimously approved. Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Page 2 of 5 Greeley Waterline Easement — Dry Creek Stormwater Wetland Excerpt • Figgs: The City of Greeley is in the process of building a 30 mile, 60 inch pipeline that will provide water from their Bellvue water treatment plant located northwest of the City of Fort Collins to the residents of the City of Greeley and surrounding towns. As part of this project, the City of Greeley is proposing to construct a portion of the new waterline across a parcel known as the Dry Creek Stormwater Wetland property, which is co -owned by the Natural Areas Program and Utilities. No negative financial impact is expected from this action. Pursuant to the requirements of the City of Fort Collins Natural Area and Open Lands Easement Policy and Natural Areas General Resource Protection and Restoration Standards, the applicant has paid the initial application fee of S500 and will be required to compensate the City Natural Areas Program $1,500 for the grant of the non- exclusive easement based on current land values as determined by Real Estate Services. In addition, the applicant will be required to compensate the City Natural Areas Program $400 for the grant of the temporary construction easement and $2762.50 in restoration fees. • Haines: Is this pipe above ground? • Figgs: It is below ground. • Haines: Would this preclude the rails to trail? • Moore: No • McLane: Why is Natural Areas getting involved in this property? • Sears: It's along the Dry Creek channel, and the Natural Areas looked at it as a nice riparian wetland area, and it was a fairly inexpensive purchase. • Ting: This lease is at will? • Figgs: Yes, most of our leases are at will. • Boyd: How long will it take to complete construction? • Moore: Less than a week depending on the time of the year. We prefer to do it during the winter because it is less of an impact on agriculture. • Haines: Where is the water coming from and why is it needed? • Moore: The water will be coming from our Bellvue treatment plant, and it's needed to support the growth of Greeley. • Grooms: Is there any other way you can carry the pipe without cutting across natural areas? • Moore: We worked with Lloyd Goff at the Air Park, and this would parallel with a future road way that he is planning. As we exit this property we are going between two parcels of property that he has. We've tried to coordinate with property at the Dry Creek project that has a culvert for future use. It would be costly, but we could go around the Natural Area. However, we felt that we could reasonably restore the Natural Area land that we would be crossing. • Grooms: What's the likelihood of you having to, in the future, come in and update the pipe line? • Moore: Extremely rare because it is a steel pipe and it is not high pressure. • Grooms: How long do you expect this pipe to last? • Moore: Approximately 100 years. Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Page 3 of 5 • DeBell: What is the long term plan for this parcel? • Sears: We are hoping that when the Dry Creek channel got developed there could be a corridor along the Dry Creek channel that would provide wild life habitat or a trail corridor or both. • Figgs: The real potential of the property lies in the future and what we can mitigate from other projects. Even with that it will be very limited in size. • DeBell: Would this project change the value of the property? • Figgs: We have a chance to enhance some of the habitat values in a small way. • DeBell: Will Greeley do the restoration or would the City of Fort Collins? • Figgs: Greeley would do the restoration according to our guidelines and specifications. They will pay us $2,762.50 and we will manage it going forward. • Grooms: It seems like the easiest way across something is through a Natural Area. This is one of my pet -peeves; however this project seems to have minimal risk to the Natural Area. Boyd motioned for the Land Conservation and Stewardship Board to recommend that City Council approve: 1. The conveyance of a 50 foot utility easement consisting of 0.449 acres across a parcel known as the Dry Creek Stormwater Wetlands property to the City of Greeley. 2. The conveyance of a 75 foot temporary construction easement consisting of 0.656 acres across Dry Creek Stormwater Wetlands to the City of Greeley. Grooms second. It was unanimously approved. Platte River Power Authority Underground Utility Easement — Fossil Creek Wetlands Natural Area • Dahl: Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) is constructing a new transmission line in southeast Fort Collins to support a request from the City for a new substation at Trilby Road and Portner Street. The new transmission line, referred to as the Harmony-Portner-Boyd 230kV transmission line, will cross the Fossil Creek Wetlands Natural Area. The transmission line will be constructed using a direct drilling procedure that will not result in any surface disturbance within the permanent easement, with the exception of the equipment staging area. Prior to the initiation of the project, Natural Area staff will continue to monitor the site and if key species or habitat is documented, the project will be modified as outlined in the RPS. No negative financial impact is expected from this action. The applicant will be required to compensate the City Natural Areas Program $6,160 for the grant of the non-exclusive easement based on current land values as determined by Real Estate Services. In addition, the applicant will be required to compensate the City Natural Areas Program $986 for the grant of the temporary construction easement. 0 Grooms: Where is it starting? Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Page 4 of 5 • Dahl: It starts at Prospect and Timberline. • Grooms: The lines are underground? • Dahl: All lines are overhead. • Grooms: The line will go through the Homeowners Association? • Dahl: We are going across the City's property and curving out toward the street and the balance of the route is in the asphalt of the street all the way to the substation. • Haines: Will all the wires eventually be buried? • Dahl: The distance from Fort Collins to Loveland to bury the wire would be costly. • Yurash: After all the digging is done what will remain above ground next to the Natural Area. Dahl, referring to the handout, pointed out that there will be two new poles and the pole by the street will be removed. The two new poles will be the transmission poles. • Yurash: What type of protection do you need around the cable coming out of the ground? • Dahl: There is a steel shield put around the bottom twenty feet from the ground UP. • Yurash: Is it near any trail? • Dahl: No • Grooms: You are going through the Natural Areas, because there isn't enough room on the easement? • Dahl: There is not enough room on the easement. • Grooms: What would we do if there were houses where the Natural Areas is? • Dahl: It is a complex issue. When trying to site these facilities to support the community, people that own homes or properties do not want it near them. • Grooms: I don't want it on the Natural Areas either. I'm a steward of the land and I represent the Natural Areas. • Dahl: In an effort to provide public services to the community there is always going to be a conflict. • Sears: When we own 8-10 thousand acres within the urban growth area of the City of Fort Collins, which is about 50,000 acres, we are a huge land owner with many parcels. Fortunately and unfortunately, these Natural Areas are amongst areas that are still developing or re -developing, and we find ourselves in the path of these requests. • Haines: Who pays the 10 million? • Dahl: All projects that we do are owned by Fort Collins, Loveland and Longmont at this point. All of our capital projects are financed by Platte River and the annual financial cost of the project is included in the rates that we charge the four cities for electricity. • Haines: What is driving this project? • Dahl: The City of Fort Collins annexed property about a mile square southwest of the City limits. There is no access to a substation in that part of the City, so the City Electric staff would like to add one to the system. Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Page 5 of 5 Boyd motioned for the Land Conservation and Stewardship Board to recommend that City Council approve: 1. The Conveyance of an underground utility easement consisting of 0.616 acres along the north boundary of Fossil Creek Wetlands to Platte River Power Authority. 2. The conveyance of a temporary construction easement consisting of 0.493 acres along the north boundary of the Fossil Creek Wetlands to Platte River Power Authority. Ting second. It was unanimously approved. Land Conservation Executive Session New Business: No new business. Announcements: • Sears: Updating Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, we have successfully contracted with the contractor to build the picnic shelters, entrance station and kiosks. They will begin within the next week. The Natural Areas office put together a compilation of their programs in one Program Guide. A copy of the Fall Program Guide was given to each Board member. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 8:20p.m. Submitted by Geri Kidawski Administrative Secretary Approved '40-y*i ULZ