HomeMy WebLinkAbout131 - 09/02/2025 - MAKING SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS OF GRANT FUNDS FROM COLORADO PARKS AND WILDLIFE FOR THE SOAPSTONEORDINANCE NO. 131, 2025
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
MAKING SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS OF GRANT
FUNDS FROM COLORADO PARKS AND WILDLIFE FOR THE
SOAPSTONE PRAIRIE HEADWATERS RESTORATION
PROJECT
A.The City's Natural Areas Department ("NAD") has undertaken the
Soapstone Prairie Headwaters Restoration Project to restore ecological function and
improve habitat in a one-mile reach of stream and wetland complex at Soapstone Prairie
Natural Area.
B.This project includes the installation of beaver dam analog ("BDA")
structures to support breeding and overwintering habitat for the Northern Leopard Frog,
a species of greatest conservation need, as well as implementation of wildlife-friendly
grazing enclosures and native willow plantings in partnership with Indigenous community
members.
C.NAD has completed the project's design, permitting, construction, and
community engagement phases, and now seeks to complete the final adaptive
management phase, including post-construction wetland delineation, pool depth
monitoring, and preparation of as-built drawings.
D.Colorado Parks and Wildlife ("CPW') has awarded a $25,500 Wetlands for
Wildlife grant to the City to fund this final phase of the project.
E.The grant requires no cash match and will be supported by a $47,253 in-
kind contribution of staff time funded from the existing appropriations in the Natural Areas
Fund (Fund 272).
F.This appropriation will allow the NAD to complete required monitoring and
reporting obligations under the grant and support the long-term ecological success of the
restoration project.
G.This appropriation benefits the public health, safety, and welfare of the
residents of Fort Collins and serves the public purpose of enhancing wetland and riparian
ecosystems; supporting biodiversity and habitat for species of conservation concern,
including the Northern Leopard Frog; fostering climate resilience through nature-based
restoration; and engaging local communities in stewardship of public natural areas.
H.Article V, Section 9 of the City Charter permits the City Council, upon
recommendation of the City Manager, to make a supplemental appropriation by ordinance
at any time during the fiscal year, provided that the total amount of such supplemental
appropriation, in combination with all previous appropriations for that fiscal year, do not
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exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated reven ues and all other funds to be
received during the fiscal year.
I.The City Manager has recommended the appropriation described herein
and determined that the funds to be appropriated are available and previously
unappropriated from the Natural Areas Fund and that this appropriation will not cause the
total amount appropriated in the Natural Areas Fund to exceed the current estimate of
actual and anticipated revenues and all other funds to be received in this Fund during this
fiscal year.
J.Article V, Section 11 of the City Charter authorizes the City Council to
designate in an ordinance appropriating funds from a federal, state, or private grant or
donation that such appropriation shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal year in which the
appropriation is made, but instead continue until the earlier of the expiration of the grant
or the City's expenditure of all funds received therefrom.
K.The City Council wishes to designate the appropriation herein for the
Soapstone Prairie Headwaters Restoration Grant Project as one that shall not lapse until
the earlier of the expiration of the grant or the expenditure of all funds received from such
grant.
In light of the foregoing recitals, which the Council hereby makes and adopts as
determinations and findings, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
FORT COLLINS as follows:
Section 1. There is hereby appropriated from new revenue or other funds in the
Natural Areas Fund the sum of TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS
($25 ,500 ) to be expended in the Natural Areas Fund for Colorado Parks and Wildlife for
the Soapstone Prairie Headwaters Restoration Grant Project.
Section 2. The appropriation herein for Colorado Parks and Wildlife for the
Soapstone Prairie Headwaters Restoration Grant Project is hereby designated, as
authorized in Article V, Section 11 of the City Charter, as an appropriation that shall not
lapse at the end of this fiscal year but continue until the earlier of the expiration of the
grant or the City's expenditure of all funds received from such grant.
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Introduced, considered favorably on first reading on August 19, 2025, and
approved on second reading for final passage on September 2, 2025.
ATTEST:
Effective Date: September 12, 2025
Approving Attorney: April Silva
Exhibit: None
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