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HomeMy WebLinkAboutpitco.ost.min.reg.11012001 . . . Minutes OPEN SPACE AND TRAILS BOARD MEETING OF NOVEMBER 1, 2001 Aspen Firehouse Conference Room Board Members Present: Tom Cardamone, Rick Neiley, Bill Fales, Hawk Greenway Others Present: Dale Will, Barb Hogan, Tom Oken, Miles Stotts, Temple Glassier, Jonathan Lowsky, Brian Pettet, Chuck Vidal, Reid Haughey Hawk Greenway called the meeting to order at approximately 9:13 a.m. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Minutes of October 18, 2001 Regular Session were approved as amended. STAFF COMMENTS Rio Grande Trail Fence Miles stated that, when he spoke on behalf of Jonathan at the last meeting, he did not realize that he did not have that authority in this situation. He asked the Board to give consideration to Jonathan's proposal put forth in his memo, which proposed a mesh fence only six inches shorter than what was agreed on last meeting. Miles added that the resolution approving the 1041 review for the trail called for a dog ban from December 30th to May 1 'to It was noted that the ban was requested because it was assumed that there would not be a barrier fence. Jonathan added that he suggested starting with this proposed modified fence, and if there are any problems with dogs, then an extra six inches could be added to the height of the fence in the future. Taller fence posts could be used during installation so that increasing the height of the fence would be less of an expense. Hawk referred to the option of a dog ban. Temple commented that it would be harder to regulate a dog prohibition than it would be to enforce trespassing with this fence in place. Other possible modifications were discussed. The Board and the County Wildlife Biologist agreed to placing a 42 inch fence on Billy Grange's property and to trying a fence on Reno Cerise's property that alternates between 42 inch and 36 inch. Temple noted that there is no budget for a fence on Billy Grange's property. She told Dale that she would get an estimate to him. The Board authorized Dale to approve bids for the fence at his discretion. Temple gave the Board an update on the trail construction. The trail up to Reno's property (from the High School) is complete. The Wingo Junction section will be complete next week. She can begin construction on Reno's right away and can have the trail complete except for the underpass in a couple of weeks. The underpass has been surveyed, but there may be a big "hump" due to the height of the underpass. She may need for the underpass to be low enough that it will not accommodate mounted equestrians. It was noted that equestrians would have to dismount to open a fence (the alternative to going through the underpass), so accommodating them would not be essential. Temple added that the underpass will be 30 ft. wide, so it will have to be pre-fabricated off site. She told the Board that that she has a bid on the trestle for $121,000, and, if the Board approves, she can begin work on that. She added that that bid does not include plowing snow if the project goes into winter weather, so beginning soon is important. The Board approved accepting the bid and moving forward with the project. Temple said that she is working on getting bids for the overpass fabrication and that it would be 3-4 months before work on installing that could begin. She noted that Dale wanted to wait on that phase of 1 . the project, because he would like to go for a State Trails grant. The Board agreed with waiting to apply for grant money to assist the project. Hawk suggested contacting the landowner of a small parcel near the Wingo Junction bridge that could be used as a staging area for construction and a trailhead for the trail. Emma Management Plan Dale informed the Board that the current management plan for Emma was drafted and distributed to GOCO and RFC in the spring, in order to comply with deadlines in the GOCO grant agreement. However, this draft has not yet been formally adopted by the OSTB or presented to the BOCC. Dale added that, since there are no new regulations created by this management plan, only those in Title IX, the plan does not need to be adopted by ordinance. Hawk commented that that there was only one sentence on the agricultural management of the property. It was clarified that the section Hawk was referring to gave direction on agricultural leases, and that the current lease on the property could be added as an appendix. Furthermore, other sections of the plan which discussed the property's agricultural use and irrigation were identified. Rick questioned that accuracy of the map, noting that he thought the Pitkin County and Eagle County parcels were contiguous. Staff will look at the surveys and work with GIS to correct the map. Hawk requested that the conservation easement be added to the appendix. The rest ofthe Board concurred. The Board approved the draft management plan. EXECUTIVE SESSION The Board voted unanimously to move into Executive Session at 10: 15 a.m., in accordance with CRS 24-6-402(4)(a), for the purpose of discussing acquisitions. The Board adjourned Executive Session at 11:30p.m. . REGULAR SESSION 2002 Proposed Budget Tom Oken presented the Board with an Open Space and Trails Fund Projection worksheet, which projected program revenues and known expenditures through the sunset ofthe program. He walked the Board through the worksheet, including cumulative totals by program and projected costs of operating the program, and costs of slated projects and financial commitments. Costs center allocations were also reviewed. Dale noted that, with the current maintenance budget, the program will exceed its maintenance revenue from its current 5% allocation ofthe program's total revenue. He pointed out that the maintenance budget has increased dramatically over the past few years, in correlation with the program's increase in properties and maintenance activities. He added that, this year, the maintenance budget was faced with two increases: ajump from 3% to 8% of Public Works costs in the cost center allocation from that department, and; the addition of 15% of Miles salary for his new position as Natural Resources Director. Dale noted that Miles has done a great job in that position, but questioned this double increase. He added that currently, there are four positions that are partially funded by OST at various estimated percentages of their total salaries, but that the program has difficulty controlling the actual percentage of those positions that it gets charged with. . Bill questioned Brian about why the Public Works' costs allocation was in creased from 3% to 8%. Brian responded that Stan Berryman reported to him that the allocation was low compared to the actual service that the program received from Public Works. Brian cited increase in staff, office space, and storage as other reasons for the hike in the costs center allocation. Bill noted that part of the cost center covered Brian's services and felt that by paying 15% of Miles' salary that the program was 2 . . . being charged twice for this administrative service. Dale asked Miles ifhe could do this job in 15% of his time. Miles replied that he hoped it would get the point where he could accomplish this task in just 15% of his time eventually, but that not it would not happen right away. Dale stated that at this level, either labor or projects or both will need to be cut from the maintenance budget, or funds will need to be diverted from either open space acquisition or trails. He cautioned against raising the maintenance allocation unless there is confidence that the increase is really needed, noting that there may be needs for further increases in the future. The Board agreed that the budget needs to be carefully analyzed to see ifthere are any savings for the proposed 2002 budget, before discussing a diversion of funds. The Board looked at other aspects of the proposed budget, including administrative services costs. It was noted that the administrative costs for the program at approximately 6% ofthe total revenue, annually. The Board agreed that this percentage was good for meeting the program's administrative needs. The Board requested further details for costs presented in the 2002 proposed budget for the next meeting. ADJOURN The OSTB meeting was adjourned at approximately 12:30 p.m. Approved Attest ~/ ~r^ Chair 3