By Rudy Hemmann

The Surveyor

Last week’s board meeting was postponed until the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, due to the special election which was held Tuesday, Sept. 10. Dog park agreement: The trustees considered an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the town and the Thompson School District which would allow the use of a portion of school district property to be used as a town-managed dog park. The park, which will be about one acre in size, will be located immediately east of 10th Street and proceed eastward from there. The park will run along the south side of Neilson Greenway trail and a drainage ditch on the south side. Some of the signage proposed for the dog park includes:

• The park is for the use of residents and their pets only. • Owners are legally responsible for their dogs and any injuries caused by them. • Dogs (and puppies) must be properly licensed, inoculated and otherwise healthy to use the park. • Owners must clean up after their dogs. • Dogs must wear a collar and have ID tags at all times. • Dogs showing aggression toward people or other dogs are to be removed from the park. • Puppies using the park must be at least four months old. • Owners shall not leave their dogs unattended in the park.

CDOT plans for I25/Highway 56: Abra Gissler, Colorado Department of Transportation project director for the Interstate 25 section from State Highway 402 to State Highway 56, gave a presentation before the trustees on Sept. 17. She indicated there were several major tasks associated with the I-25 project, included but not limited to:

• Three major interchange reconstruction projects, SH 56 — SH 60 — LCR 16 • Eight bridges • One Floodplain (Little Thompson) • One Park-n-Ride (Service Bustang) – Funding Dependent • Two carpool lots (SH 56 and SH 60) • One Great Western RR crossing • Major Utilities Relocations • Right-of-way Acquisition (46 Properties) • ITS/Tolling • Environmental Concerns She went on to explain the configuration of I-25 will change from the current two lanes in each direction to a “2 + 1 Design.”

In this design I-25 will be expanded to two general-purpose lanes and one express lane in each direction. The express lanes will be the innermost lanes. Shoulder width will be increased to 12 feet for safety. Gissler noted work on replacing the Little Thompson River bridge had begun, and crews would be elongating the southbound on-ramp. When the Highway 56 interchange construction is completed, I-25 will no longer pass under the highway, according to Gissler, but the highway will pass under I-25. The construction crews will be held to a tight schedule to minimize closures during construction of the Highway 56 / I-25 interchange. It is estimated the east / west closure of the highway will be a maximum of 140 days. Closure of the northbound off-ramp is estimated to be no more than
50 days, northbound on-ramp, 20 days. Southbound on- and off-ramps, minimal to intermittent overnight closures. Full night closures limited to heavy construction, such as bridge demolition. Six-day work weeks are slated for construction crews from July to December 2020. Town board approves rezone requests: At the regular business meeting of Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019, the Berthoud Town Board recommended the town board approve rezone requests proposed for the Heron Lakes project which is located northwest of Berthoud proper. The applicants, Jon Turner and Jim Birdsall, the property owners and developers with Birdsall acting as agent, requested the rezoning. Following a brief introduction of the item by Director of Community Development Curt Freese, Birdsall took the podium to explain the fi ner points of the request. He pointed out he and Turner were pleasantly surprised by the growing interest shown in the Heron Lakes project by a segment of the public that would be interested in having a residence in a resort-style setting. The changes in zoning of the parcels requested above reflects a change in the vision the partners have as they continue with their development. Birdsall noted when the Bader property was acquired the intention was to develop it as a typical residential neighborhood under R-1 or R-2 zoning. However, it soon became obvious much of the property could be developed under R-3 and R-4 zoning. “We have done research on other projects we are excited about with the idea that we could design something we call ‘resort-style living,’” said Birdsall, “The concept that you can have a true “lock-and-leave” condominium or townhome in a complex where, as people age, or perhaps their lifestyle choice says, ‘I don’t want to maintain a yard, but I want to live in a beautiful spot with a phenomenal view, within walking distance to the clubhouse, or within walking distance to the golf course, but I also want to be able to lock my door and travel, or I want the ability to lock my door and go ski, and not have to worry about maintaining a yard or clearing snow.’ We think the locations provided by the parcels above will be ideal for that type of housing.” Birdsall continued by touting the Bader property, which is now attached to the golf course property, as being ideal for residents who enjoy living in this area for only part of the year. A public hearing was opened on the item and one citizen stood at the podium to voice concerns regarding the zoning change request to R-4, traffi c issues on Berthoud Parkway north of Highway 287, and buffers between the planned development on the Bader property and the existing Colony Ridge subdivision. There was little discussion by the board and a motion approving the six rezones noted above was made, seconded and passed unanimously. Another request came from the same applicants, Jon Turner and Jim Birdsall, the property
owners and developers with Birdsall acting as agent, requested approval of Preliminary Plat (PP) and Final Plat (FP) for the Heron Lakes fi ling 12 and fi ling 13. The applicant requested approval of the PP for the 12th fi ling PP, for 84 single-family homes and the 13th fi ling FP which separates out a 1.265-acre parcel for the metro district pool and clubhouse. There was again little comment by the trustees and a motion to accept the recommendation of the
planning commission to approve the Heron Lakes 12th fi ling PP consisting of 22.964 acres, was made, seconded and passed unanimously. Review of development code changes: The planning commission spent its June, July and August meetings discussing the development code, (every line was reviewed and discussed in detail), before voting 7-0 on Aug. 22 to recommend approval of the new development code. Upon seeing the extent of the changes made the board members decided to use the Sept. 11 review as a first reading and to have a second reading at a meeting at a future date. A motion to that effect was made, seconded and passed unanimously. Mountain Avenue Overlay Plan: According to an information sheet provided, “BHA Design and Alms architects have completed a final draft of the Mountain Avenue Overlay Master Plan (Plan). The plan was devised over the last year after a tour of (the Mountain Avenue corridor) with town board members and members of the planning commission in attendance, three public (open) houses, and bi-weekly meetings with town staff. The intention is for the plan to be adopted as an amendment to the comprehensive plan. The Plan was intentionally crafted so it can easily be implemented as development code language. Once the Plan is adopted, staff will bring back those code changes for adoption into the development code in October or November of this year.” Roger Sherman of BHA Design led a PowerPoint presentation to introduce the trustees to the vision he, and other presenters have for Mountain Avenue. Following more than an hour of presentations and questioning by the trustees, the Mountain Avenue Overlay Plan was unanimously adopted by the board.