At the November 28th Special Meeting, following dual executive sessions, the trustees heard requests for several right of way vacations.

The first request was for Old King Road and Forest Rail Road, submitted by Cornerstone Winter Park Holdings LLC. Clark Lipscomb told the trustees the road had been a right of way dating back to the 1920’s. Lipscomb told them the request was “a clean up to get rid of a right of way that doesn’t physically connect to anything”, adding “there is no reason to have it hanging out there on the maps”.

Lipscomb told the trustees that the Grand Park Drive Railroad Underpass is completed, that they were finishing up with the railroad. They are in the process of grading and finishing the tie-in to the underpass and may be done this summer.

The request is to vacate the roads within Fraser town limits and Lipscomb said there is nothing preventing the town of Winter Park from building a connecting road. “They have the designs to build a right of way, that’s in their camp”, said Lipscomb.

During the public hearing, Dan Harvey, with the legal firm representing the town of Winter Park as town attorney stated that he wanted to alert the town of the letter they had submitted, which was added to the record. Harvey said the town does not oppose the request, but they feel there are a number of unresolved issues, from a legal standpoint. There are easement and boundary questions they have and want to look into them and discuss the results of their investigation with the town. Harvey asked for more time before the board makes a decision.

Lipscomb said he had no objection to a continuance and the hearing was continued to the January 23, 2019 meeting.

The next request was a right of way vacation for John’s Dr. The road had originally been designed to run along the meadow behind Bank of the West, but had never been developed. Cornerstone had recently acquired Ski Broker and pursued the request to vacate the right of way. “It is a dead-end road and serves no purpose”, said Lipscomb.

A new road had been constructed over the summer which services Old Victory Road and County Road 72. The town has a use agreement in place to utilize the road for transportation. Road plowing is done jointly with the town.

“The connection with Bank of the West will never happen”, said Lipscomb. The town’s .28 acre utility easement and the existing water and sewer under the road will remain. This request is to help with clearing lot lines and will provide more parking at Ski Broker.

Mayor Pro-tem, Eileen Waldow said “What bothers me is that the owner gave the property to the town for use to the public forever. It seems like we are giving away the land”.

Lipscomb replied, saying “It serves no purpose to the citizens of Fraser. In the bigger plan, you’ll get a more useable road that actually goes somewhere”, and will be paved at some point in the future. “This is the first step in a multi step process.”

The trustees approved the Johns Drive right of way vacation, with Mayor Pro-tem Waldow casting a dissenting vote.

The last request was for a vacation of an easement in Rendezvous East Mountain Filing 11. Town Planner, Catherine Trotter explained that Rendezvous recently processed Filing 11. When looking at the preliminary plat, they discovered that the titlework had not been processed. The easement, located within the boundaries of Filing 11, was never vacated. When Rendezvous had done a property swap with St John’s Church, “way back when”, the easement was the property line between Rendezvous and the church. It was also the location of the sewer outfall pipe which was relocated before it was put in the ground. Trotter told the trustees that there has been titlework that shows the initial easement from when the outfall was relocated, but the easement still needed to be vacated. They could not run concurrent with the East Mountain 11 filing, which has not been recorded yet. They would like to vacate the easement prior to recording the filing. With no concerns expressed, the board approved the vacation unanimously.

On December 5th, the meeting opened with approval of the Consent Agenda, which included the meeting minutes from the November 28th meeting, resolutions for a contract with NWCCOG for GIS services; the Booth Lease agreement; the Rees Lease agreement, the FVMRD lease agreement, Sharky’s License agreement, Rendezvous License agreement, Three Mile Plan, MOU with Headwaters Trails Alliance, the Attainable Housing Plant Investment Fee Incentive Program, and, named Chief Glen Trainor as the town’s Emergency Response Authority. Trustee Miller had recused himself from the vote, since he had a conflict with the Attainable Housing PIF Incentive Program, and the remaining trustees approved the consent agenda unanimously.

Fraser approves 2019 Budget

The third and final budget hearing was held, and, with no public comment, the trustees discussed the final version of the budget. As a result of discussions at the meeting on November 28th, several items had been revised. These revisions included a marketing budget of $20,000, down from the originally proposed amount of $50,000, which they agreed to be a good starting point. The water expenditures had also been reduced from $750,000 to $650,000, and, the town will fulfill the repairs on Doc Susie Avenue internally.

The trustees moved on to discuss the Cozens Ranch Open Space (CROS) budget. $250,000 will be transferred from the town’s general fund to this new account. The budget allocates expenditures of $31,250 each to the amphitheatre, bike park, landscape, parking, playground, restrooms, trails, and utilities. Town Manager, Jeff Durbin, told the trustees that it does not necessarily apply specifically to each expenditure and will be used on projects as prioritized.

The trustees agreed installation of a restroom and utilities as well as ground cover/landscaping was most important, so people can start using the open space. The funds will also help with grant leveraging opportunities.

The 2019 budget and expenditures was approved unanimously.

The trustees next appointed Ronald W Carlson to the Municipal Judge position, which will be vacated soon by retiring judge, Georgia Noriyuki. The town of Winter Park had also just appointed Carlson, a Summit County resident and municipal judge, who came highly recommended.

Ordinance 467, which gives town officials the option to waive compensation, was also approved unanimously. The money that would have been paid to the official will be placed in a fund for use by the town when a request for funding from a worthy cause comes in.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. For more information, visit: frasercolorado.com.