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CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION A 1-3
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Meeting Date: July 21, 1998 Cl_7''item #:
70c�LOR �.�o
Subject: Sandstone Ranch Master Plan
Type of Item: Special Presentation & Report Time for Presentation: 30 mins
Presented by: Paula Fitzgerald, Parks & Recreation Project Manager
Donald Bessler, CLP, Director of Parks & Recreation
Dan Wolford, Chair of the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board
Paul Kuhn, Winston & Associates
Phil DelVecchio, Director of Community Development 0.L(--
Suggestion Action: Approve the proposed Preliminary Master Plan.
Background: As Council is aware over the past 24 months, staff has been working at
Council's direction to acquire the Sandstone Ranch property. The Sandstone Ranch purchase
is a 313 acre parcel of property located approximately 1 mile east of County Line Road and
south of Highway 119. When deciding upon the acquisition of this property, Council indicated
the primary objectives for the acquisition of this property were:
1. To construct a community park at this location.
2. To acquire properties that will "buffer" the encroaching Weld County mixed use
development (MUD) zone and Longmont's eastern boundary.
3. To provide a scenic entry corridor to Longmont.
4. To provide a wildlife corridor along the St. Vrain River riparian zone.
5. To provide a critical link in the future development of the St. Vrain Greenway as it
extends east from town and north to Union Reservoir.
Funding for the acquisition of the property will come from:
1. Up to $400,000 from a Great Outdoor Colorado Open Space grant
2. $1.4 million from the Park Improvement Fund.
3. The Water/Wastewater Fund will pay for $375,000 to acquire the water rights located on
the property.
4. Gravel royalties for areas south of the St. Vrain.
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5. Conservation Trust Fund.
6. Miscellaneous smaller fund contributions.
As a condition of sale, the City agreed to pursue the extraction of minerals from the
southern portion of the property through an existing agreement with the then current
owner, Bigelow family and Camas Gravel Company. This revenue source is estimated
at approximately $1,000,000.
Public Process
The acquisition was completed in the spring of 1998 for a ten-year lease purchase on
the property. Approximately $1.4 million from the park fund was used to buy down the
initial portion of the property. Also at that time, staff began the process of inventorying
the new resource. Council authorized funds to hire the firm of Winston & Associates
from Boulder, Colorado. Their team of subconsultants: Martin & Martin, Consulting
Engineers; Aquatic & Wetland Co., Trans Plan Associates; Western Cultural Resource
Management; Terracon Western; Schaeffer & Associates; and Hydro Systems, Inc. In
addition, the City hired under separate contract, Crest Surveying to complete all land
surveys.
This group of scientists and subconsultants have spent the last 5 months completing
fieldwork to provide a resource inventory of the ranch. A draft copy of that report, is
attached to your Council Communication, titled "Master Plan Summary — Sandstone
Ranch," see attachment "A". The purpose of this resource inventory is to allow for the
purposeful and comprehensive planning of the ranch site as it relates to the historical
structures on the site, unique land forms, the river and riparian corridor, the community
park site, wildlife, vegetation, wetlands and water quality issues. (The consultants have
completed a 100-page appendix which includes all scientific and technical data; a
master copy of which has been provided to the City Clerk for reference but not
reproduced for this packet.) Also included in the scope of work was an analysis by the
consultant related to the extension of the St. Vrain Greenway to and through this
property.
In March of 1998, City staff formed a citizen's steering committee comprised of
individuals representing a broad perspective of potential uses or areas of interest
relative to the site. Attachment "B" is a list of those individuals that served on this
committee. Four meetings were held to fully understand the ranch project but to also
explore several approaches to the development of both the community park and the
district park resource. The steering committee and consultants' effort focused on two
distinctly different concepts, labeled concept "A" and concept "B" (color copy in your
report). As a result of the work of the steering committee, the additional public
meetings and a review by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, the consultants
and staff are favoring the adoption of a Master Plan which identifies concept "A" as
revised, as the preferred Master Plan for the Ranch site. This master plan has been re-
drawn for your review and is shown as the Preliminary Master Plan.
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Attachment D is a photocopy compilation of all the notifications used to solicit public
input for this project.
In addition to the public process, staff has held additional meetings with the following
agencies or individuals to further understand the impacts of this project from their
perspective.
1. GOCO — Several meetings were held to understand the effect of the community park
on the grant. An analysis was completed to determine the acres available for grant
funding (refer to Master Plan Site Summary, page 23). Preliminary indications
conclude no significant reduction in funds should occur.
2. State Historic Preservation Organization — A meeting was held to determine impact
of the Preliminary Master Plan on both the state and national historic designation.
Some concern was expressed by SHPO that intense use around the Ranch House
complex should be discouraged.
3. Longmont Landmark Designation Commission/St. Vrain Historical Society — A
meeting was held to discuss potential adaptive re-use of the Ranch House complex.
4. Adjacent Property Owners —A series of formal and informal meetings were held with
Chuck Hayes, Margaret Ayres, Vivian Collins, and LaSalle Partners to discuss park
plans and neighbor concerns. Ms. Collins has expressed concerns over the
community park.
5. CAMAS Gravel — A series of meetings have been held with CAMAS to discuss
gravel extraction and reclamation plans for the south side of the St. Vrain River.
Benchmark Policies:
1. Locating the community park on the north part of the property in order to take
advantage of infrastructure availability and cost sharing with neighboring
developments and also to minimize the impact of community park uses on the
riparian zone wildlife corridors and unique land features along the Sandstone bluffs
and quarry area. These impacts are also a concern for district park uses, such as
trails, fishing access, interpretative exhibits, etc.
2. Multiple discussions took place regarding the cost/benefit of the proposed Eagle
Claw Fishing Education Center. The Preliminary Master Plan recognizes the value
added effect of this facility by embracing a public/private partnership. This approach
specifically acknowledges the usefulness of the fishing center in helping manage
and protect the site from a variety of illegitimate uses. Details of this proposal
however were not looked at by the Committee and the staff recommends that
threshold criteria be established by the Council before committing to the inclusion of
this project into this property. Those criteria should include a significant review by
the proposed Fishing Education Center of existing site amenities including the ranch
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house and existing maintenance barn for adaptive reuse into their program. The
purpose of this approach would be two-fold (1) to help buy down the City's cost of
this property through a long-term sale of these amenities to the non-profit and (2) to
minimize the impact of Eagle Claw's building program by adaptive reuse of existing
structures.
a. The Eagle Claw Fishing Education Center (ECFEC) should be required to sign a
contract to provide services to include site observation, site protection and patrol.
b. The ECFEC should be required to pay its pro-rata share of all infrastructure
extensions needed to service its project.
c. The ECFEC should be required to have no less than 40% membership of Board
of Directors appointed by the City Council.
d. The ECFEC should be required to develop a lake management program
specifically detailing a level of public access acceptable to the City Council.
e. The ECFEC will not be given title to land for their project. A lease will be the
instrument used to allow them access to the property.
For Council clarification, we have requested the ECFEC to write a summary of their
project requirements and intentions regarding infrastructure cost sharing, adaptive
re-use of the existing park facilities, etc. This narrative is included in your packet as
Attachment "C."
Summary: This project is brought to Council at this time as an intermediate step in
order to obtain a master plan direction that can then be "tested" by our consultant team.
This testing may result in some modifications to the plan that would be brought back to
Council for discussion at the time of the final Master Plan document approval. We
anticipate this testing to take an additional 6 weeks and will focus on the following:
• Infrastructure cost — utilities, extensions, etc.
• Traffic impacts
• Grading
• The impacts of the site elements including the ECFEC on the historic
designation status and gravel reclamation plans.
Recommendation: The Parks & Recreation Advisory Board recommends Council
approve the proposed Preliminary Master Plan. If Council agrees, staff needs direction
to formally begin the "testing process" outlined in the Summary Section. Final approval
of the ECFEC should be dependent upon a successful contractual negotiation.
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