[0:05] All

[0:09] right, we'll call the meeting of the San Miguel County Open Space Commission on October 28 to order at 405. And we have four members present. We have Jason Merritt, separate maples, Joanna,

[0:27] Mr. Canal and Susie St.

[0:29] Orange and Janet Kask and the doggy.

[0:34] And Rudy should be a voting member.

[0:36] Rudy, yeah.

[0:39] Rudy puts in more hours.

[0:40] Probably as many hours as Janet does.

[0:43] Yeah, no choice.

[0:45] Yeah.

[0:46] So Susie, since we are one member away from a quorum,

[0:50] we can't approve the meeting minutes from 9.23.

[0:53] But at the same time, if people have comments, edits, revisions, I had a few edits myself.

[1:01] You know, we can certainly discuss them and go over edits if people have changes.

[1:07] Anyone have any mentioned or comment about the nets?

[1:11] I was unable to open them earlier.

[1:13] So I didn't look at them because there was an issue with my software to open it.

[1:21] So yeah, I mean, my only changes were very minor just where Greg has approval of the 722 and 826

[1:31] meeting minutes. I just put in there. I like to put in like who made the motion, who seconded,

[1:37] you know, just for our records, you know, and then obviously they were both approved, but I just

[1:43] like to add in that detail. And then a bulk of the minutes were pertaining to the San Juan

[1:49] sky we've seen by way update that Angela provided. So I guess I would look to her for comments

[1:56] on that. And a couple of other things are just minor things, commas, periods, you know, more

[2:04] grammatical edits as opposed to actual content. Okay. And Angela did say she would read it. Maybe

[2:12] maybe email her and ask her to evaluate that part of it for us. Jason, did you

[2:20] have any comment about the minutes? Okay, and Joanna? I thought they were okay

[2:27] fine ready to go. I like that they were, if you did go into quite a bit of

[2:32] detail about that. Yeah. Highway thing.

[2:37] Okay, we'll move on. Valley floor parking lot and bike path. Is there some new news there? Oh, you would request that that be added to the agenda. So I didn't know what you wanted to mention about that. Okay. All right. I didn't know if that's what that was that. So, um, I was we had talked about this before and I can't remember one context, but just trying to get from the

[3:02] the San Miguel County Parking out there by the gas station.

[3:06] And then over to the Valley Floor.

[3:08] Now it's a huge bummer that you can't park

[3:11] by the Valley Floor on the highway there anymore.

[3:14] And C-DOT took that away, but we talked about a connector.

[3:19] And I was in some conversation a couple weeks ago,

[3:23] I think on a hike about asking loss and resonance

[3:29] to put in a connector trail.

[3:32] and a light bulb went on and I said well county's talked about doing that and I

[3:38] I'm aware that Lawson homeowners have a good hunk of money to do that and if

[3:47] we were going to do it anyway I mean coming from our county lot there needs to

[3:52] be a safe way for you know get on your bike when you park there I mean I've

[3:57] done that leaving my car to be fixed and then get on my bike and it'd be nice

[4:02] to have a connector path from right across from there, or

[4:07] well, there's a bridge that type of that business to connect to that.

[4:11] Oh, you mean in loss in somewhere that you don't have to get on the highway?

[4:14] Well, yeah, like where the the intercept parking is.

[4:18] Yeah, to either cross there or come over the hill, probably not.

[4:25] Cross there and have an off the road path to get to that under paths.

[4:30] I see the same. Yeah, it's a short piece. Yeah, very short. Yeah, we're we add on that.

[4:38] Well, what I was going to say is, let me check in with Rich Hamilton.

[4:44] Hang on, I'm writing and thinking and talking at the same time.

[4:48] Because Rich, not only is obviously our park supervisor and very much involved with county trail

[4:54] planning, but he's also a resident of Lawson Hill. And I know they have had

[5:00] Some recent meetings out there discussing trails and et cetera. So, let me, he's on vacation, but he does return tomorrow. So, let me just check in with him and see if he has any updates on either side of the fence. Be it through the Lawson Hill HOA or, you know, just any conversations that have been taking place. Because yeah, because we've had a whole thing going on recently, which still needs to be clarified. But, you know, there was some litigation out there.

[5:29] there as far as the trails, the Galpin Goose and that whole area and even, you know, the

[5:37] Keystone Gorge Loop Trail as far as how it relates to ESA animals and the right to have

[5:44] a service dog in that area, you know, we've had challenges in the past because there

[5:50] is a conservation easement out there with the nature conservancy and I have placed a number

[5:57] of calls to our nature conservancy rep and also our U.S. Forest Service rep just wanted

[6:02] to get their take on some of these potential plans that might be moving forward as far

[6:08] as access with dogs and how we deal with that. Because again, the conservation easement

[6:13] with the nature conservancy has always, yeah, it's focused on wildlife and you know in that

[6:23] That whole purpose is to not have dogs in that area.

[6:26] And I know in the past when we've mentioned incidents and situations, finding residents

[6:31] on the trail with dogs, they haven't been very happy about it, which is why each summer

[6:37] I test our summer wreck ranger crew with US Forest Service in educating our trail users out

[6:44] in that area about the do's and don'ts of that trail and again that whole area as it pertains

[6:50] to the conservation easement.

[6:51] And so I will take him with Rich and report back as far as this potential trail connector

[6:57] that you're talking about, Susie.

[6:58] But weren't we talking about it from our end a couple of years ago?

[7:03] We haven't talked about it, but I honestly don't recall where that led or where, you know,

[7:10] how that was left off.

[7:12] Okay.

[7:13] And there's nothing we can do about the valley for parking.

[7:15] That's just...

[7:16] Yeah.

[7:17] That's C.Dont.

[7:18] And they took that away.

[7:20] and they can't cut in there because of the conservation easement so yeah we yeah we've got a few

[7:26] challenges in that area okay should be a pretty quick agenda here galloping goose update future

[7:32] plans for the galloping goose and the gg park yes so I wanted to just bring you guys into the

[7:41] conversation so the galloping goose park which is what we call it which is the pocket park right here

[7:47] between the Mier Monty building and the historic courthouse.

[7:53] I've been meeting with the Telluride Volunteer Fire District

[7:57] over the train because the train, Galpincus number four,

[8:01] it didn't come back at all this year.

[8:04] And it's been down in Ridgeway and if any of you go down to Ridgeway on a weekend,

[8:09] typically you can get a ride on it on a Saturday.

[8:13] So the Telluride Volunteer Fire District,

[8:16] They are going to retain ownership of that train, but they're going to keep it in Ridgeway because and I understand their argument and honestly I totally agree with it. I mean, they've made a huge investment in the train itself.

[8:31] Engine repairs, structural repairs and the train is up and running and they'd like to keep it that way.

[8:38] And, you know, we both agree, I haven't discussed this yet with the Historical Commission because

[8:42] this literally just came about last Thursday, but, you know, they figure that people can

[8:49] more appreciate its historical significance by actually getting a ride on it and truly

[8:53] enjoying it as opposed to it just being parked in between the two buildings here on Main Street.

[9:00] So we have a couple of options, you know, one thing that the Fire District had recommended

[9:05] or offered, they said, well, you know, we can just leave the tracks in place and maybe

[9:10] you can find another train. But, you know, to find a train that has local historic significance,

[9:18] I think, is probably not possible. Sure, I can probably call, you know, Durango Silverton

[9:24] and get a caboose or something. But these train, yeah, the train is not going to have any relevance

[9:30] technically to Orb Town, and it's expensive. I think the fire district paid, I don't know,

[9:39] is $7,000 or $10,000 each time they move that train. So the one thing, and again, this

[9:45] literally just came about last Thursday, so Greg and I were having some preliminary conversations,

[9:50] and again, I do want to engage Parks and Open Space staff along with the Historical Commission,

[9:55] but it's just maybe we just have the tracks removed.

[10:00] Let me down with it and then just make it the wonderful park that it already is, but I had issued an RFP a couple of years ago just to revamp the entire park. Get more landscaping in there, leave the picnic tables there full time, maybe add some benches, some additional plantings. Yes, another project that Greg and I are working on is the ADA accessible handicap lift for the courthouse, which is going to be on that side of the building, the west side.

[10:29] but we are not going forward with a ramp. We're actually going forward with a lift.

[10:35] So it's less intrusive to the actual site and will be more focused on just where the current stair is, the stairway.

[10:43] So, you know, I unfortunately had to remove one of the trees already out there

[10:48] and we are working on the state with this as far as meeting the ADA compliance accessibility guidelines.

[10:56] But at the same time, you know, we want to we're going to redo the walkway and just, you know, make it more of a welcoming park because even just putting the picnic tables out there, people eat lunch out there every day.

[11:10] So I think if we added more to it, it would just be utilized more because, you know, the train takes up a lot of space.

[11:17] The only caveat is that the county is working with the town for a potential development

[11:25] of the food and building as far as residential, commercial, you know, again, the affordable

[11:31] housing mix.

[11:33] So one of the historic sheds that are currently parked behind the food bank or parked position

[11:39] behind the food bank would most likely have to be relocated to the Gallup and Goose Park.

[11:44] But again, if we look at an overall conceptual plan for that site, I think we can figure out a nice location for one of the Sheds and still make that park site more amenable to everybody for more public usage.

[12:04] So that's the background. I don't know if you guys have comments or thoughts one way or the other.

[12:09] I need thoughts about the Gallup and Goose. I did the train or the park.

[12:18] I saw it up and running. It looked, it was super cute this summer, you know. I mean, it seems like it is sad to see it not be here, but I I can see that making a lot of sense.

[12:29] It's also parked and covered, right? Like it looks like it's pretty protected and all that.

[12:34] Exactly. Yeah, because the one thing before the volunteer fire district decided to keep it in Ridgeway,

[12:41] full-time. One thing they had requested of me was potentially to build sort of like a structure

[12:48] over it while it was in the park here which would really take away from the entire park site

[12:54] because then that would just be a structure and we wouldn't know how big the train actually is

[12:59] because a lot of the snow that comes off of the roof of the mere money building would bury the train

[13:05] and it would literally be as high as the train itself. So that was one of the major reasons why it

[13:11] was moved to Ridgeway, was just the milder winter, less snow, and the fact that it is covered

[13:18] and protected.

[13:21] Welcome, Roger.

[13:22] Good to see you.

[13:25] I mean, we don't see you.

[13:26] Good to have you.

[13:28] Sephora, were you going to go on?

[13:29] It's just going to say, if you guys haven't seen it, they have other trains that I didn't see

[13:34] any of the other trains up and running, but it's pretty cute, and did you say it's free?

[13:41] Yeah, and they have on Saturdays. I think it might just be the Galpin goose number four that's running, but they do a rail fest in the fall, and it's either in September, October, and when they do the rail fest, which is an entire weekend like extravaganza, all the trains are running.

[14:00] So I've written on every train that is parked underneath that shelter in that protected structure.

[14:08] I took my son down there one day and I was like we're not going until we ride him home and we did so checking it off your bucket. Exactly. That's my simple bucket list.

[14:19] I do have a thought on this. I see all the reasons for taking it out of there and I think that makes sense to kind of revamp that part.

[14:27] But historically, I mean the significance of these were that they used a truck body or.

[14:34] It was like a converted a converted truck body not a train body in order to fit the narrow gauge

[14:42] And I think you know a lot of that was for being coming up here and coming through

[14:47] William and making that grade and all that. I think that historic commission should really weigh in on this and maybe

[14:54] Oh, and I will take an active role about making sure that Ridgeway has

[15:00] As the history of the significance of that and also the significance of coming through LAM and making that, because it is significant to hear, not Ridgeway so much, although I'm sure it rode through Ridgeway. Yeah. So, just so that the historical commission is at and the museum. Have some input into making sure that that history is told.

[15:28] Is all I care about. I guess.

[15:31] doesn't have to be here, but I'm glad it's getting more use there and people are writing

[15:36] it, but I'm sure they have some interpretive signs, but just the import of that.

[15:42] How that galloping goose train is so different than any other train, I guess, I think they

[15:47] were doing that elsewhere in the world too, but...

[15:50] Yeah, there's still what they call it, the flock, because out of the geese, I think there are

[15:56] six or seven that remain. There's one up in Dolores. I know one is privately owned in California and in the past, so when Ridgeway does their rail fest event each year, you know, they try to gather the geese, the flock, so to speak.

[16:11] There's always one missing. And again, I think it's the one out in California, but for the most part, you know, and I think one is was destroyed somewhere along the line.

[16:20] But, you know, they do try to get them all together and just, you know, enjoy that historic, yeah.

[16:29] Oh, it is.

[16:30] Sure, did you kind of hear what we're talking about here at the Galloping Goose?

[16:35] I don't know when you logged on, but okay, in the other comments about the Galloping Goose.

[16:43] So I think that's a good idea to go ahead on the revamping of the park.

[16:48] but who has to officially decide that?

[16:52] You're just gathering input at this point?

[16:54] Well, I mean, the train isn't coming back period.

[16:58] So we have no say on that, but it's sort of

[16:59] when we look at alternatives, be it a replacement train

[17:03] or just having the tracks removed

[17:07] and then just going forward with it as a park.

[17:10] And then just making the most of that space

[17:13] and just, again, leaving the picnic tables there full time

[17:17] because those are the picnic tables are from our county fairgrounds up in

[17:23] Norwood so each year they go back to the fairgrounds because each year we never

[17:33] knew for sure as a train coming back or isn't it but now that we know for sure it

[17:38] isn't you know I will leave the picnic tables out there and not return them to

[17:42] the fairgrounds. But again, it'd be nice to just utilize that space to its full potential.

[17:48] And it's the tell your right fire department that owns it. Yes, they always have the volunteer

[17:53] fire department. So what were you saying about the food pantry out there? That has to relocate?

[17:59] I got a little confused. So behind the food pantry, we have two historic sheds that belong to the

[18:05] county and one of them the second chance uses for storage and then CSU or 4-H

[18:15] program divides that up and then in the other one the county we use it for

[18:20] storage and also the farmers market so both Sheds we divvy up that space but

[18:27] the county is looking to develop potentially develop the fruit and lot with

[18:33] the town and you know yes and the food bank most likely would have to be relocated or you know

[18:39] it's probably going to be mixed use commercial residential to see how that breaks out but we would

[18:46] you know build out the lot so one of those sheds would have to be moved and one of them would go

[18:52] into the park itself okay well there's a handy housing spot yeah yeah yeah yeah no I don't mean the

[19:03] I mean, a lot. Oh, yeah. And that would be the purpose. You know, it's all part of the affordable housing.

[19:08] You know, sort of like another collaborative project between the county and the town.

[19:12] But I think it factors into the town's current master plan.

[19:17] And there are a number of options that are being discussed with associated costs.

[19:23] So I don't know which option they're going to settle on.

[19:26] But depending on which one it is, you know, that should might have to move.

[19:30] and if it does, it'll end up in the park.

[19:33] Okay, without getting a sidetrack too much,

[19:36] I just wanted to say Bravo.

[19:38] And thank you, the Mill Creek Park looks great.

[19:43] I like to see it too.

[19:44] I walked out on it.

[19:46] It just felt great.

[19:47] And we'll see that separate.

[19:50] The Mill Creek Park.

[19:52] Yeah.

[19:53] I mean, I thought it was perfect.

[19:56] The picnic tables and whatever.

[19:58] Yeah, no, thank you.

[20:00] Yeah, Rich and our crew. They built the bridge and Greg and Tom. Yeah, they built the bridge. They put the picnic tables out there. We have a port of potty and we have a trash receptacle. And again, you know, my whole thought was just to provide some community benefit in the interim while the county commissioners still think about what may or may not be utilized on that site. And then, you know, maybe in 2025, I budgeted for us to go forward with the full

[20:29] blown plans, but I need to revisit that topic with County Commissioners, but for now we're just

[20:36] utilizing it as best we can with the approvals that I received. So yeah, I think it's a nice

[20:43] space and we had it excavated and there was a rebedged planting which was successful. We took

[20:49] advantage of all the the day loose of the rain in August and timing worked well.

[20:53] Did we have Suzanne photo and oh Suzanne's already done the full blown media blitz it was all over

[21:02] social media a couple of weeks ago and you know and on a county website okay okay leopard creek

[21:13] signage yeah I didn't know where leopard creek is okay and on that note so no if you're if you're

[21:24] You're going down 145 and you make the right heading towards Ridgeway.

[21:28] The Impsum property, excuse me, is that large pullout on the left and on your right is

[21:35] leopard creek and that is BLM land and there's a little trail down there, BLM trail.

[21:42] So years ago, Linda Luther, my predecessor, she had had these large placards, these panels

[21:51] prepared. I emailed around the details to all of you and you know and at that

[21:57] time I was working with BLM staff and then they had some internal staffing

[22:02] changes and as I mentioned in my email you know it sort of fell off the radar

[22:06] but BLM has a new regional rep this gentleman Dan Ben Horon who Greg and I met

[22:13] with recently and anyway we were meeting with him about another topic which

[22:18] I'll go into a little later, but he, I mentioned these panels to him and said, you know what?

[22:25] These have been sitting in my office forever.

[22:28] You know, we need to do something with them.

[22:30] So he offered up a kiosk, which is very nice because kiosk can be thousands of dollars.

[22:38] And then looking at these panels, you know, there's some things that are not completely accurate.

[22:45] it. I mean the history remains a history that doesn't change but you know like the logos have

[22:50] changed and some other minor details and yes I'm also going to share this with the Historical Commission

[22:56] but you know they thought that maybe this tied in with the whole San Juan Skyway scenic byway

[23:03] topic so again I emailed it to everybody I guess you know I'm looking for Angela to comment as well

[23:11] but these are just panels that, you know, we can either do nothing or update these with the proper logo and get them posted.

[23:20] Again, I'm going to chat with the Historical Commission, but I don't know if anybody had any comments when way the other.

[23:28] And when you think of it, yeah, I mean, two, yeah, all right, well, three of the panels, well, yeah, I guess all the panels have the logos on them. So yeah, regardless, they'd have to be updated.

[23:38] when did you?

[23:41] This morning? Oh yeah. No, I had asked Greg to send it out last Thursday, Friday,

[23:49] but so I just wanted everybody to get a copy of that. But again, you know, you can, you don't have

[23:55] to comment at this moment. You know, you can take time to read it. I mean, the panels are pretty

[24:00] wordy. So I comment, I think that there's just too much. I don't know if people would read

[24:08] the whole thing. People's attention span these days are very low. So I would just like have it

[24:16] less words, but still say them same topics and all, but it's very very wordy and busy and I don't

[24:30] One key off thing at the beginning of the trail with three panels on it so you can get a whole sort of lay of the land

[24:36] Yeah, it would be on the left side so at the pull out itself and then and these would be yeah, and these would be four large panels

[24:45] They would be over at the M.son parking lot

[24:48] Yeah, well, that's where it was initially planned, but but again if you know in working with the BLM if they say you know

[24:55] This is going to actually be better down on the trail itself.

[24:58] Totally fine.

[24:59] I mean.

[25:00] I am open to whatever they're open to. But, you know, I just want to just share the panel details with you so that, you know, if you did have comments. Here's the galloping goose on there. I think it kind of makes sense to be over at the imps and pull out because so many cars, you know, might pull over and read it, whereas hardly anybody hikes that leopard creek trail. I love it. It does kind of just fade out though. Is that a BLM trailers? Yes, it's BLM.

[25:28] Yeah, I wonder if BLM could, well, a lot of people don't even know it exists because it's tough down. I thought you were talking about a sign to announce that there's a little trailer. Right. That's what I thought that would make sense. So people know that this is the place that you can go like for. Yeah, it's as what is it like a mile. I think it's, yeah, it's very short.

[25:48] two or three cars there maybe. I think that would, can BLM put a little?

[25:55] Oh, I can certainly recommend it. That trail because it's sort of just dead-ins in the bushes.

[26:01] So these panels are what you already have though, correct? These are already made. They're just sitting

[26:08] there waiting for a home. It's kind of what I'm talking about. Yes. Yeah, they're in my office and they're

[26:14] Yeah, but they were again they were made years ago. This was something, you know, my predecessor had made and then just passed them on to me.

[26:24] So, but again, you know, this was something that, you know, we tried getting installed at the time, but then our, like I said, our local BLM reps changed and then, you know, their priorities changed and then, you know, these panels have just been sitting there.

[26:37] So now that we have a new proactive regional gentleman with the BLM, you know, he's more open to getting things done.

[26:47] And so it was just sort of like getting caught up.

[26:50] And then also just, you know, he was seeing them for the first time and just getting his thoughts on them as well.

[26:56] So he's supportive, but you know, just wanted like the minor details as far as logos and things like that updated.

[27:01] But I thought before we make a full blown effort to reprint these things.

[27:05] And again, you know, I might be able to just be able to do stickers too with the updated logos because you know, we do that a lot with our trail signage.

[27:14] You know, we just put a county sticker on it if it's a pre-existing trail sign as opposed to just reprinting the whole sign just for the sake of updating a logo.

[27:24] I think this goes great with the whole skyway by the way thing if it's going to be over there.

[27:30] Yeah, they're pretty neat. I mean, they look really informative and it is a lot of information, but I think people do stop and read that stuff.

[27:39] People are just out here. I mean, it's practically got the sky way on their gateway.

[27:46] So Laura's got the whole sky way over there.

[27:50] Yeah, I'd say go for it.

[27:52] Any other comments?

[27:54] Yeah,

[27:57] let the BLM put a little energy in there.

[27:59] That's great.

[28:00] Yeah, well, especially since they're offering up a kiosk,

[28:03] which like I said, they alone, you know, the steel and the glass.

[28:07] I mean, they can be thousands of dollars.

[28:10] So, you know, the fact that they're willing to do sort of like this collaborative project.

[28:14] I'd love to take them up on that any other comments yeah can I ask when you say the ifson pull out you

[28:26] mean the larger or can area across the highway from the trail correct yes and is that county or

[28:33] BLM's property it's BLM land it is there wasn't illegal

[28:40] go. She haven't on there? House on there? Well the history. Yeah, that and the history of that site,

[28:49] there was at least one or two gas stations there. There was an auto body shop because I actually

[28:57] with the EPA grant that I got that I'm working with the EPA with. I actually had the EPA and the BLM

[29:06] Meet at that site just to discuss some options, but you know the EPA grant itself is federal money, and I can't use it on federally owned land.

[30:00] We had been contacted by some constituents who expressed concern about potential contamination because there's a lot of shotgun shells up there. Somebody dumped furniture. I mean, I've been up there with my staff. You know, there was like a mannequin and some other things that are being used as target practice. And so my staff, we were going to clean it up. And I met with the BLM on site again with the EPA reps. And I mentioned that we were going to clean it up.

[30:29] And I had a day set aside October 8th and on October 7th the BLM contacted me and requested

[30:38] we not do that because they said, you know, based on potential contamination even though

[30:43] they assured us that the water was fine and that shotgun shells and whatever else existed

[30:48] on the site were not contaminating the water.

[30:50] The soil itself and the site itself were considered contaminated so they are now hiring a private

[30:56] firm to handle that cleanup. So they have requested that the county not do anything on the site,

[31:04] but so they're going to handle that. And one another positive that has come out of this is that

[31:13] the sheriff's office has been involved in the conversation because they feel that people need a

[31:18] place to shoot and they also need a place to shoot for their deputies as far as training. I mean,

[31:24] They're not using this site for training, but we're now working with the BLM to find a more appropriate site within the county that the Sheriff's Department can use for their deputies for training and that it can be open to the public for target shooting as well.

[31:42] So these are things that are in the mix right now. The site will be cleaned up. The BLM has a shortest of that. They are handling it.

[31:49] They do not want the county to handle that and you know, we will find a more appropriate site for shooting and the BLM said that one thing they are looking at is blocking off that entrance at the bottom.

[32:03] Either the gate or boulders, I mean, we would like boulders because that's a more natural item or element just to prevent people from being able to drive all the way up.

[32:13] dump furniture and carts of mannequins up there.

[32:18] So it will be more of a legitimate shooting range?

[32:27] No, no. So we would relocate.

[32:31] We would find another site for shooting range because when you think of BLM land,

[32:35] I mean, it's public land. It is open for any use.

[32:38] So if you guys wanted to go up there and have a picnic,

[32:40] You are welcome to have a picnic, but obviously knowing people are shooting, you're not going to have a picnic.

[32:47] So yeah, hearing it.

[32:50] Oh, it is.

[32:51] I think if it's like a kind of rogue shooting, not really monitored.

[32:59] You don't even know who's up there.

[33:01] Well, if they are should be shooting have a gun, they're allowed to have a gun and all these things.

[33:06] That's what I think.

[33:07] when I hear it going off, I'm like, I hope that person isn't like good to go off and come down

[33:11] here to the trail. So if it is taken to the next step and now is a more official thing, it seems

[33:22] like there should be some more regulation as to. Well, yeah, because we're looking, well again,

[33:28] it's BLM land. So yes, people can go up there and shoot, but what we want to, for the BLM to establish

[33:34] is a more appropriate site, not near homes and also a better managed site, you know,

[33:45] and a monitored site. And we have the Sheriff's Office involved. So we're going to work collaboratively

[33:51] together to identify a parcel that's more appropriate. That'll suit everybody's needs.

[33:57] Here's a question. Is anyone allowed to go shoot anywhere on BLM land wherever they walk whenever they feel like?

[34:04] Well, again, the LM land is public land and it's open for use so I don't know how their website works if you go on a certain parcel and see what's approved for that site but my understanding is if you want to use it, you can use it.

[34:22] Hmm. I think the sheriff's and marshals have used that target. I don't know. Some they might have, but we're looking for a more appropriate site that would be officially deemed like they are training location.

[34:36] I think that's great. Move it away from there. There are the official one in Ridgeway across from Corvus also. I believe so. Yeah. I believe so. I was told there. Yeah. There's something in Nucle. I believe Montrose and then in Ridgeway.

[34:51] Yeah, it'd be important to put it away from anybody's house or anybody's.

[34:55] Well, just so people don't have to hear that when they're hiking.

[35:00] These, yeah, these are Greg's notes.

[35:05] Looks like the materials here. Yes. As Greg says, platform at

[35:11] Browell Falls experience a delay because there was an issue with procuring the steel ibeams needed to

[35:16] secure the platform to the drilled holes in the rock, R&B oilfield, which is the contractor that was

[35:22] awarded the contract. They received their material and they estimate the work will resume this week and

[35:29] and we'll continue until the 31st,

[35:31] which was the deadline that we stipulated in their contract.

[35:35] So good news.

[35:38] And then do we plan to have any kind of official opening?

[35:42] We certainly can.

[35:44] I don't know, I might look to time that more for the spring

[35:47] because we've got snow coming this week

[35:50] and we officially closed the trail December 1st.

[35:54] So I don't want to get people hyped up and excited

[35:56] about something where, yes, I call.

[35:58] Well, use it now because we're closing it down, so.

[36:02] Maybe we should all vote there.

[36:06] Sure.

[36:07] Our little group.

[36:09] Yeah, we should go do it as I walk.

[36:11] But I think yeah, to do it when it's not a touristy time.

[36:17] Right early in the spring, but then now soon can we get up there?

[36:21] Okay, that's good news.

[36:22] Anybody have anything else on that?

[36:25] Checking it up here.

[36:26] Iterado Legacy Trail cleanup.

[36:29] Yeah, so the Iterado Legacy Trail, which is at the east end of the county here, as most

[36:37] of you know, we had the day loser brain and mudslides and that trail has been out of

[36:44] commission for a while.

[36:45] So we did issue an RFP and we just awarded the contract and we have a contractor, Earth

[36:51] work excavation. And there are a schedule to start in this project next week. They estimated

[36:58] it'll only take them a week. So we're excited about that. This is something where, you

[37:05] know, like the county doesn't really have any emergency funds set in place for something

[37:09] like this. I mean, the county has emergency funding set in place for wildfires, but not

[37:13] necessarily mudslides. So I had to meet with county commissioners and get their official

[37:19] go ahead that we could proceed forward with this project and we sort of kind of were sitting

[37:24] back a bit because you know we just wanted to make sure we weren't going to have any more mudslides

[37:29] this season so before we invested dollars in a cleanup we wanted to make sure that you know

[37:36] that the rain had stopped and we could move forward.

[37:42] I'm wondering about where the tailings,

[37:44] these additional tailings have gone. Where are the tailings up there from the valley floor?

[37:50] The tailings from the valley. That's a town thing. I don't know what they're doing there.

[37:55] Well, they remember they spent two or that last summer moving a truckload after truckload up

[38:01] to be that area. And then this summer when they put in the bridge, they found more tailings.

[38:07] So there was a thing in the paper that they were... Oh yeah, that they were going to be hauling

[38:10] through town wondering where that is related to where we get the flows and stuff.

[38:17] Yeah, I mean they might have worked out a deal with Iterado for dumping. I mean the mud and debris

[38:24] that's being removed from the Iterado legacy trail is actually going to the pull out on 145

[38:30] between mile markers. I believe 56 and 57. So C.Dot has given us approval for the dirt and

[38:38] rock debris to be distributed on their pullout area. So we're not going east, we're going west.

[38:48] Well, I just wondered where that does flow. This is because of a mudslide.

[38:53] Yep. That came down from a rayer gulch. Yeah. And this is second one.

[38:59] Yeah. We had two concurrent mudslides there. Yeah. And this is, yeah, part of the, I don't even know.

[39:04] So yeah, this has, this is our second time within two years and, you know, first they

[39:12] refer to it as like a 500 year flood and 100 year flood, but obviously it's happening

[39:16] every other year.

[39:17] So too often for our liking, but, you know, we're dealing with it as best we can.

[39:23] Okay.

[39:24] Any other comments about this?

[39:28] Any other things for the agenda?

[39:31] Yeah.

[39:31] So I just have a couple of other quick updates.

[39:33] So one thing I just wanted to mention when it comes to Mill Creek Park is I'm still working with the town with Zoe Donald the town.

[39:43] I mean, this is a conversation I started with Scott Robson two years ago.

[39:48] So finally, town council is going to hear our request for an official tap fee waiver for us to tap into the town's waterline.

[40:00] Which is more in line with their needs for the loss in hill community and some other housing areas. So we're going to be able to take advantage of that. And then just pay for our portion of our electricity needs for the Mill Creek Park site. But some preparing a letter right now that for the county commissioners to officially submit to the town council to make that request official for the tap fee.

[40:29] waiver. Excellent. And yes, some of the commissioners get to use it for housing. They will have a tap.

[40:41] That's right. They'll have a water fountain. So that will be probably approved and moved forward.

[40:49] Yes. And the town's timeline is next spring. So fairly soon. Spring 2025 is when they would do that

[40:57] project and that installation. Good timing, wait and manifest that. So that's to water our pollinators.

[41:05] Yes. And yeah, and yeah, and we'll have our pollinators, we'll port parties out there, and then we'll

[41:13] have our bottle refill, water bottle refilling station. So that's what that is for. And then I just

[41:21] wanted to mention on another note when it comes to the down valley connector trail.

[41:27] Feasibility Study, you know, the one thing I'd mention to everyone is that, you know, we were pursuing the engineering and design for segments one and five.

[41:34] So I submitted a concept paper for a GoCo grant last week.

[41:39] So how that works is, I mean, I've been working with our local GoCo rep and you submit a concept paper, bury them with details and then hope to be invited to the actual grant application process.

[41:51] us. So concepts were due last week. Applications will be invited November 14th. Applications are due December 16th with grants awarded March of 2025.

[42:04] So our local go-go rep, just preliminary conversation and comments, he said everything looked great, but I won't know for a while on that or at least a couple of weeks.

[42:17] I will keep you guys in the loop, but fingers crossed that we can get something going with that.

[42:22] Wow, that's big news. So that was sections one and five.

[42:26] Yes, engineering and design. Engineering and design.

[42:29] Right. And then two other quick things I just wanted to mention with our PES program.

[42:36] So I met with county commissioners and we're going to be renewing the contracts for Chris Hayes and of the Terraform.

[42:43] and also the Chavano Conservation District to continue with our PES program in our

[42:48] soil health studies. And I'm going to scan these in, but the Chavano Conservation District has

[42:58] two events coming up, one in November, one in January, both in Montrose, a farm in ranch,

[43:06] innovation expo, and then a soil health food and farm forum. So I will scan these in and email them to you

[43:15] and I'm also going to share them with the Fairboard and the Ag community up in Norwood.

[43:22] And then I just thought of something else. Now I'm drawing a blank.

[43:34] Okay, any questions on that?

[43:40] When is that such a renewed crisis contract?

[43:45] Oh, no, there will both be renewable as of January 1st and go through till December 31st.

[43:51] So typically what we do is I give them both annual contract renewals and then we meet

[43:55] with county commissioners each year, provide an update.

[43:58] I allocate funding for the following year and then we renew.

[44:02] Great.

[44:02] Oh, and one thing I want to mention too is Greg and I were up at the OA Gregor Parcel

[44:10] on Friday with Star Jamison, our Director of Natural Resources, and the Western Wildfire

[44:18] Council, West Region Wildfire Council, just to talk about Forest Health, and then the

[44:26] OA Gregor Parcel itself, and just we have some standing dead trees from Beetlekill.

[45:00] Funding set aside for that. But, you know, we're talking about wildfire mitigation versus forest health versus our Gunnison sage grass population, because we do have our Zedic structures up there. We do have our Gunnison sage grass population, which has been steadily growing and improving. So that's just something that, again, we were just up there on Friday. And we're going to wait to hear back as far as recommendations and suggestions that they have.

[45:29] for the parcel because, you know, our thought, too, is opening it up for usage and camping

[45:36] and overnight stays, you know, yes, we can designate areas where we feel it's safest for

[45:43] people to camp. But, you know, we are aware of the situation with some of these trees that,

[45:49] you know, could potentially blow down. And, you know, we want to be proactive as opposed

[45:55] to reactiv. So I will keep everybody apprised of developments with that. And we do fund

[46:02] Jason, Dr. Jason C. Bold each year from our community support funding through the Parks

[46:08] and Open Space Department for his forest health studies. But his focus has primarily been

[46:14] on the east end with Bear Creek. But I've always been trying to lobby for more focus on

[46:23] the west end, but I realize that the east end is where we are heavily populated, and

[46:28] God forbid we have a wildfire. This is where the concern is going to lie, but we will

[46:33] see where that leads.

[46:35] So, did you say earlier that there is money budgeted for wildfire, however?

[46:41] Well, there are emergency funds that the county commissioners set aside each year. I do

[46:47] not know the amount but for you know like emergency needs that are tied in with wildfire.

[46:55] I think this would fit that especially if we get Jason Syville to say so as long as with

[47:00] the wildfire council yeah say that would be no now there's a helicopter and they're doing a lot of

[47:07] removal of standing dead in mountain village apparently I've heard mountain village has a kind of

[47:14] more modern advance, you know, open space, not open space, but land use codes about the fire and

[47:25] the standing dead that we, I've heard, should be adopting here in Teleride. The similar land use

[47:34] codes to that. Have we talked, I don't know if that's something that the planning department would

[47:40] handle so I'd have to consult with them. Yeah, I mean, because I know we're

[47:44] looking at lazy use codes for the mining, maybe it should be actually reviewed

[47:48] to concerns for a wildfire here and mitigation. I mean, there that's

[47:53] expensive work they're doing with helicopter single. Oh, it's very expensive.

[47:57] Once they feel like it's worth it, because you know, it would it's going to stop

[48:01] any massive spread of a fire that might break out. So now I know which has a full

[48:07] time. They have a full-time forestry person whereas the county does not. And they're very connected with

[48:14] the whole tribal forest study and they've been really proactive and spend a lot of money on their

[48:21] trees up there and ask for what they did here. But that's a good idea. I think that we could just

[48:28] to revisit it as we have a plan. Yeah, future while while fire

[48:32] with the game. If there's budget for that. Because it seems

[48:38] like if you guys have noticed on this side of this hill, there's

[48:40] just more and more dead, um, standing dead to some side of

[48:45] Bear Creek, um, and it's getting a little concerning. Well,

[48:50] and a big concern too, is that, you know, from the Valley

[48:54] floor up that hillside to those homes that exist at the top, you know, they've given estimates

[49:00] that God forbid there was a wildfire on the valley floor. I think they've given a time frame of

[49:05] five or ten minutes with which that fire would move up that hillside and take out those houses.

[49:11] So yeah, it's being proactive as opposed to reactive while we can, you know, anybody can go on the

[49:18] county website and find our horse health study and Jason Cybel has. There's maps on there,

[49:25] there's a great interactive map and where you can, you know, pull the bar along and see the forest

[49:33] in this area from the past into the future. And yeah, Jason's just blown away that we haven't had

[49:41] any problems yet because it's right over the hill there. With the, you know, beetle, beetle kelp.

[49:47] Yeah. Um, which is just like, and then Hillary has said from studying with Jason that in the future, we won't have maybe dead for here would be the only ever green lap that.

[50:00] We're preparing ourselves that it's going to be gone. I mean, maybe not in our election, I said. Well, and that's why we do our fair amount packs, our p-pack deployment each, you know, spring, you know, and yeah, we've been focusing primarily on the Douglas firs, but yeah, there are other species out there that are all targeted and vulnerable, especially with the drought. But the reason the Doug for were hard is because they're the ones that are most likely to survive. Exactly.

[50:26] They're I don't know if they're heartier or or drought resistant. I don't know that they're that's why we're trying to save the Doug for.

[50:34] So it's a whole big story. I think it's a great story.

[50:38] Yeah.

[50:39] What this county's trying to do in the town and the forest service and spend a long, a long while, but that I think it's worth going on because it's.

[50:48] There's a lot of really cool science and maps and study on forced health on the only website

[50:57] with that.

[50:58] Exactly.

[50:58] Yeah, and I believe we updated that too.

[51:03] So yeah, check that out because it's under natural resources.

[51:08] It's not under parks and open space, but you'll see the forest health studies.

[51:12] And like Susie said, Jason Sebel's comments.

[51:17] So I have a question about this. Is it 1B or 2B? That's the open space housing open space commission's budget to go to housing on the election right now?

[51:29] Oh, I honestly don't know the ballot measure number.

[51:32] Can you want to lay or something like that? Anyway, that's the one I'm talking about is that I've gotten a good handful of people calling and asking.

[51:41] And what do I think about this?

[51:44] And I said, well, we have extra money in the budget

[51:46] and it's been determined that there's so much

[51:49] that we can afford to give up the amount

[51:52] that they've determined.

[51:54] So I'm advising people to vote, yes, but I wonder,

[51:58] I mean, I kind of wish we would have had,

[52:00] we could have put something in the paper from the open

[52:04] because it's coming from our budget that we could have.

[52:07] Well, was there something to educate people about this and how the budget works and how we can we've had surplus money and all that?

[52:18] Well, it's interesting because, you know, we all got our blue ballot measure booklet, you know, with all the state and the federal and, you know, everything in there, but, you know, the local county ballot measures were not included.

[52:30] And again, I don't know if they ever are, but there was a good article on the planet

[52:35] last week, which kind of gave a lot of detail as far as the measure itself.

[52:41] What the county's outreach has been, I honestly don't know if they've posted things on the

[52:46] website.

[52:47] I know that Commissioner Brown and Brown has talked about these topics in her meetings with

[52:55] like the Democratic women's caucus and some of the other meetings where the candidates

[53:01] up for election are discussing these items and initiatives, but in looking at the

[53:10] park's fund balance, we do, as I mentioned at the previous meeting, we have had a healthy

[53:17] fund balance in the previous years.

[53:21] So when you look at how much might be allocated towards affordable housing, it's not something

[53:29] that's going to threaten the operations of the Parks and Open Space Department or any

[53:35] of the divisions that we have or any of our project initiatives because as I mentioned at our

[53:39] last meeting. You know, we went forward with a regular budget. I mean, I did not remove

[53:47] anything based on this ballot initiative effort. I still highlighted all of our current

[53:55] active future proposed projects funding that would be allocated for it. Potential grants

[54:02] and some pursuing match and fund requirements.

[54:05] So as I said at our last meeting,

[54:08] I am moving forward business as usual, so to speak,

[54:12] and not changing anything as far as what our plans are

[54:18] on the horizon, be it for projects, be it for staffing.

[54:24] So, I mean, we'll see, again, it's in the voter's hands,

[54:27] we'll see what happens, but I don't feel

[54:31] that having some of that funding set aside for a housing effort is going to

[54:37] jeopardize the Parks and Urban Space Department or any of our projects moving

[54:42] forward. Yeah, that wasn't really thinking that. Did anybody else get asked about

[54:57] Okay, well they're like I said and you can

[55:00] Daily Planet had a pretty good article last week that really delved into details as far as how the funding breaks out and percentages for this, percentages for that. And, I mean, it was an all-inclusive article, not just focused on this, but it did provide some helpful details for those who might not understand. Yeah. That's good. Okay. So I was thinking about inviting some people that were the original.

[55:26] you know, uh, involve people in the high country zone for an upcoming meeting to be able to explain it all to us and get the history of it.

[55:36] Is that sound like something people might be interested in?

[55:40] Because I know the tell your eye open space is also interested in possibly that.

[55:45] So if I do get April Montgomery would be the one because she's.

[55:49] I was just going to say it was the one. Yeah, who would you invite?

[55:52] Yeah, Garrett, maybe Gary Hifox and April Montgomery and maybe Lance. I don't know. I think Lance was around for that.

[56:00] It was actually, I don't know, it was one of the first things the Open Space Commission did.

[56:08] So I'll proceed that a little bit and then I would also just ask our commission to

[56:13] look at our work plan, which is our checklist.

[56:17] Look it over and see kind of what things we have accomplished and

[56:22] and what things we want to put on the next couple of genders.

[56:26] And we will be needing to update that work plan again.

[56:30] Yes.

[56:31] What's happening?

[56:31] Whatever you are.

[56:34] Roger, are you OK?

[56:41] Yeah, and also, I mentioned this at the last meeting.

[56:44] I'll also check in with Case Simonson,

[56:46] because I know everybody wanted to receive an update

[56:49] on as far as the lane use codes and certain things

[56:54] being proposed. She said she'd be ready in the fall. So she didn't have anything for tonight,

[57:00] but I'll check in with her because our next meeting is November 18th. So I'll see if she's going to

[57:06] have anything to present to us at that time. Great. And I think, Joanne, I think your idea of the

[57:14] land use code for fire, that is, I mean, we're looking in the future because I'm thinking of a couple

[57:18] things right now. One is that if if our budget is shortened, if we don't have money to go to

[57:27] something like that. I mean, we don't know what we're going to encounter in the future.

[57:31] Well then, it fires one of them. I think I'm just, I'm not sound in any alarms. I'm just saying

[57:39] between the land use code, looking at that and comparing what mountain village is doing.

[57:43] Right. And then I'll also look back into it.

[57:47] And that would be a larger initiative, so that wouldn't come from our budget.

[57:53] Okay, Roger, are you okay? We heard a little bang there.

[58:00] Are you okay?

[58:02] I'm hearing noises. Are you guys hearing that?

[58:05] I don't hear anything now.

[58:09] Roger?

[58:10] Well, he is on mute down there. Yeah, he's on mute.

[58:19] We'll get him a call.

[58:21] Okay, well, if there's no further... Roger, are you okay? I see you're in muted now.

[58:26] Oh, he was for a second.

[58:28] You okay Roger?

[58:31] Yeah,

[58:34] I'm awful.

[58:37] Yeah, he has a root.

[58:40] Okay, so yeah, as mentioned, our next meeting is Monday, November 18th at four o'clock.

[58:46] That is the week before Thanksgiving.

[58:54] So thanks for your time tonight.

[58:56] Good to see everybody.

[58:57] And yeah, if anybody has any comments about anything we discussed or didn't discuss of course, well, let me know because I realize it's a lot to digest with information and details.

[59:08] So don't hesitate to reach out before we adjourn with Roger. We do have a form of corn now.

[59:16] We have a form now. We have a form. We actually do.

[59:20] Roger can hear us. Roger we're going to vote on the minutes of 923 and so you're unmuted from Roger we're going to sorry I could not get my audio.

[59:31] Okay well you could communicate that way.

[59:34] Did you get a chance to see the minutes of 923 we have a few edits and revisions on that so anybody have a motion to approve those minutes with those stated.

[59:52] I

[59:56] can move to approve the minutes from.

[1:00:05] And Roger, if you could text us your vote on that,

[1:00:10] we saw your text come up on the screen. Yeah, in the chat box. Oh, in the chat box.

[1:00:21] What do we do here now?

[1:00:25] Oh,

[1:00:28] Roger, you could just put a thumbs up on that little thing. Yeah, you can raise your hand, and we can consider the thumbs up.

[1:00:37] Oh hang on hang on chat. I could not get my audio so Roger we were able to see your chat right in

[1:00:46] that. Yeah.

[1:00:52] Okay well why don't we put a tentative yes.

[1:00:56] And otherwise I can't even read that with my

[1:01:00] glasses. Do you approve of the nine to my three minutes? Okay perfect. Put that in. Oh I just

[1:01:06] just take that. It's a Roger. Okay. Yeah, Roger, I just, uh, I responded to you in

[1:01:14] the chat box. So if you want to respond back with a yay RNA, let us know. Oh, this modern

[1:01:22] world.

[1:01:27] Otherwise, you can follow up with an email tube. Okay. All right. Well, without

[1:01:32] for the review. We'll figure this out later. I will, it's five oh four less than an hour

[1:01:42] meeting. We are efficient, a well-oiled machine. Thanks all for coming. We'll see you in November.

[1:01:52] Yeah, thanks everyone. Have a good night. I guess. I care. Bye.

OSC Recording 10/28/24

Agenda

Transcript