At Tuesday night’s meeting, during the Town Hall meeting, council received an update from Old Town representative, Gigi Dominguez. She had just done a walk through the neighborhood with Town Manager Keith Riesberg and Public Works Director Gerry Vernon “so we are on the same page on what needs to be done still, as it relates to the streetscape and bus shelter.” She said she felt they will have good communication moving forward.

Dominguez also commented on activity at Wolf Park this summer. She noted that people who had reserved the park were not abiding by the rules. Things like exceeding the maximum group size of 25, parking outside the dedicated parking area and events going past the 8 pm cut-off have been a nuisance to surrounding neighbors.

Councilman Mike Periolat said, “It has been excessive this year. It’s getting a little overrun.” He added, “we have talked about adding some more parking by tennis courts.”

“We’re doing the budget here in a few months, let us see what we can do,” said councilman Chris Seeman.

Winter Park resident, John Becker, also asked about adding pickleball courts to Wolf Park.

Ski Idlewild Road paving

Winter Park resident, Kathleen Wheeler, asked about the completion of Ski Idlewild Road. “When is that going to happen? When is it going to be paved?”

“Not this year, for sure,” said Community Development Director, James Shockey. “It is dependent on the developers to trigger the improvements.” 

No fire restrictions

East Grand Fire Protection District No 4 Chief, Todd Holzwarth, said, “We have had no significant moisture in the last week. We don’t have any concerns and don’t foresee any fire restrictions at this time.” He said they had a fire up on Cub Creek, which was probably caused by machinery, but nothing else was coming up. “Summer’s wrapping up. Things aren’t looking too bad right now, but the fire at Church’s Park didn’t start until last October, so we are not done yet.”

Special Use Permit for rock crushing approved 

Jeremy Straley, of Mountain States Snowcats, had applied for a SUP on behalf of property owner, Fraser River Development Co LLC, to operate a rock crusher at 2 sites located on the Roam property. The crusher will be used to reduce the size of existing rock, 6” or larger, which will be used for structural fill. An on-site rock crushing operation, located right at the piles of existing rock, would reduce the amount of truck traffic, eliminating several hundred truckloads of rock that would otherwise need to be transported. The SUP would be in effect through November 15, 2019.

The Winter Park Planning Department had approved the application, with the following conditions:

  1. The Special Use Permit is valid until November 15, 2019. The Town shall have the right to suspend the Special Use Permit at any time upon investigation of complaints or non-compliance with the conditions of the Special Use Permit.
  2. The applicant shall be required to obtain any State permits and shall abide by their requirements.
  3. Hours of operation shall be Monday – Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. Equipment shall not be turned on prior to 8 am and must be shut down prior to 5 pm. No work is permitted on weekends or holidays.
  4. Work shall only occur on days when site and environmental conditions are appropriate. Wind direction, precipitation, air and ground temperature, and other site conditions shall be monitored to mitigate impacts of the rock crushing operation on neighboring properties and businesses.
  5. A Dust Mitigation Plan shall be provided to the Town prior to operation. The plan shall identify steps that will be taken to mitigate potential fugitive dust during the operation.
  6. If excess material is left from this operation, the applicant shall be responsible for removing it or providing a plan to store the material onsite. Any material being stored shall be revegetated in conformance with Town Standards within one year of site disturbance.
  7. Screening shall be placed along any property lines adjacent to public sidewalks/trails to shield operations from the public.
  8. The location of the rock crushing operation shall be central to the project to minimize impact to surrounding properties.
  9. Failure to comply with the conditions listed above may result in revocation of the special use permit as described in Section 7-9-6 of the Winter Park Town Code.
  10. Failure to comply with the conditions listed above shall constitute a zoning violation as described in Section 7-10-6 of the Winter Park Town Code. Penalties as outlined in Section 7-10-7 of the Winter Park Town Code shall be applicable. Each day during which a violation occurs shall be deemed a separate offense.

Town Planner, Mara Owen, told council that the Sitzmark South, Headwaters Center and Arrow developments had utilized crushing operations. The method is less impactful than the alternative of trucking the rocks out. Owen told council that no complaints had been lodged during any of the other operations.

7 residents of nearby Snowblaze condominiums, located across US 40 from the proposed site, had submitted comments regarding the project via email. During the public hearing, several town residents also expressed concern with the overall operation and construction, noise and dust. Some comments were related to the Rendezvous construction project on the site of the former visitor center and were not applicable to the SUP application.

After discussion, Council approved Resolution 1717, the Special Use Permit for a rock crushing operation on the Roam property unanimously.

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