Issues:
Next FHAPOA Meeting will be on Thursday, May 27th at 7:30 pm at Grace Church
News from Harry
Quarterly Meetings
We have been discussing a revision to "Article Five – Meetings" of the FHAPOA Constitution & By-Laws to move from monthly meetings to every other month meetings. We think that this approach to meetings would be a good compromise between monthly meetings and quarterly meetings. Currently the By-Laws stipulate monthly meetings except for July and August, so we would be moving from 10 meetings a year to 6 meetings a year. The following is the change that the Nomination committee has placed on the ballot for 2004.
ARTICLE V – MEETINGS
A. Regular meetings shall be held in January, March, May, July, September and November. If necessary, the President can schedule special meetings in-between regular meetings to address specific and/or urgent items.
B. Any member can submit a request in writing to the President for a special meeting; however it must be signed by at least ten (10) members. It shall be the duty of the President to call a special meeting within ten (10) days from the date of such request.
2004 Board of Officer Nominations
The following is the list of candidates seeking Association positions in 2004.
President - Tim Martinez
Vice President - Lou Montgomery
Treasurer - Harry Dale
Secretary - Autumn Montgomery
You will be receiving ballots in May
Evergreen Fire Protection District
I have invited the Evergreen Fire Protection District to our May meeting. They would like to talk to us about making sure our address numbers are clearly visible at the entrance to our driveways to help them locate your home in the event of an emergency. They will also talk to us about the upcoming fire season and will provide an update on the new station on Jefferson County Road 65. The Evergreen Fire Protection District will be holding an Open House at their new Upper Bear Creek Station, (Station 5) on May 21 between 6 and 8pm.
Colorado State Forest Service
I have invited Kamie Fuller from the Colorado State Forest Service, Golden District to our May meeting. Kamie will talk to us about insect and disease in the state’s forest and address issues, actions and alternatives for dealing with them. I expect that we will have a very informative meeting and we should encourage attendance throughout the Floyd Hill area.
Wildland Fire Preparation
I am continuing to include the following wildfire preparation information below in the newsletter and encourage all residents to consult one of the sources listed. A bit of preparation goes a long way.
Last year we invited Janet Arrowood to speak at one of our meetings. Her book, Living With Wildfires--Prevention, Preparation, and Recovery, (Bradford Publishing), has valuable checklists of what to take in the event of an evacuation and self- and property-protection information. It is available at Bradford Publishing, (1763 Wazee St. in Denver), or through www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com. It is information that could save someone's life.
Here are a couple of links for more information:
Firewise: http://www.firewise.org
Colorado State Forest Service: http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CSFS/
US Forest
Service
Rocky
Mountain Region:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/fire/rmacc.html
Smokey Bear:
http://www.smokeybear.com
FEMA:
http://www.fema.gov/reg-viii
Bureau of Land Management:
http://www.blm.gov
Daytime Emergency Notification Committee
Our Notification Network is on line. The notification network will attempt to relay pre-evacuation or evacuation notices from the Sheriff’s Office to participating residents via a daytime phone number that the participating resident provided to Association volunteers. The County’s Emergency Preparedness network will provide a call to your home phone number and will be your primary source for emergency information. The Association is not acting as an emergency response agency, however the association would like to facilitate official emergency communication by attempting to pass along notice from the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office to area residents’ daytime phone numbers. If you are not a participant in this program and would like to become a participant or if you would like to update your phone number, please call Karen Dobel at 303-679-6312 or email at Secretary@floydhill.org.
Colorado State Forest Service Wildland-Urban Interface Grant
For 2004 Clear Creek County has again applied for a Wildland-Urban Interface Grant to provide free slash disposal at the at the transfer station south of Idaho Springs on Soda Creek Road. I will pass along notification when this program becomes available. The Association has also applied for a Wildland-Urban Interface Grant for 2004 that would allow us to fund a fuels reduction program for the Floyd Hill area.
The CSFS Wildland-Urban Interface Grant program has not yet been funded for 2004. The Colorado State Forest Service is reporting that the program is still in an evaluation process through the CSU Extension and we should receive notice by June.
Road Improvement District
The County Road and Bridge Department is still working on the cost estimate for the petition submitted for the Local Improvement District to pave the upper end of Ponderosa Drive. This estimate will be provided to all the residents of the proposed district.
Road Committee
During our April Road Committee meeting we agreed that a short and concise list focused on area-wide concepts rather than specific road problems would serve us better for our May meeting with the County Road and Bridge Department. Of course, we still need to schedule the May meeting with the Road and Bridge Department.
Floyd Hill Area Property Owners Association Road Committee
Road and Bridge Department Meeting
Spring 2004
1. Correct and Maintain Gravel Road Grade and Pitch
2. Drainage Ditch Maintenance
The Road Committee recognizes that the quality of the road surfaces in the area depend largely on controlling storm water and snowmelt runoff and maintaining effective drainage paths to prevent damaging erosion. The two major components that we would like to see improved are (1); maintaining the proper grade and pitch on our gravel roads so that water runoff flows into the uphill drainage ditches and (2); keeping the drainage ditches clean and open.
We believe that these two activities will improve the quality of the road surfaces in the area by preventing runoff from traveling across the road surface to the downhill side. Cross road drainage causes a range of erosion problems depending on the severity of the storm or snowmelt event. A minor event can produce muddy road conditions and will continue to deteriorate or undermine the road surface in historically problematic areas, while a major event will move significant amounts of road base, sediment and mud onto private property and driveways. Any storm or snowmelt event can cause deterioration of the road surface which could require additional fill, grading and maintenance to correct.
3. Re-evaluate Snow Removal Procedures
The Road Committee believes that the Road and Bridge Department should reconsider the current practice of snow removal on gravel roads by lowering the blade into the gravel road surface and scraping off all the snow. While we believe this is an effective means of clearing the road, over time this practice has actually widened the road surface, lowered the level of the road and effectively changed the grade and pitch of the road in some places. It also places a significant amount of road base in the drainage ditches which contributes to erosion and mud problems during snowmelt events and requires the ditches to be cleaned out in the Spring and Summer. Snow plowing has effectively changed the pitch of the road surface in some areas so that water runoff no longer travels into the uphill drainage ditch and now travels across the road which contributes to the erosion problems mentioned previously.
The Road Committee believes that it might be more cost effective for the Road and Bridge Department to consider using a lighter blade and not make actual contact with the gravel road surface during snow removal operations. This will undoubtedly leave more snow on the roads and require more sanding, however it could significantly reduce the amount of Spring and Summer maintenance work to add road base and regrade for proper drainage to the uphill drainage ditch and clean out and maintain the drainage ditches.
4. Identify Ways that the Association can Help
The Road Committee recognizes that there are significant roadblocks that prevent good road maintenance practices in our area. Utility locates, blocked driveway culverts and improperly placed mailboxes top the list. While we do not believe that the Association can provide much help for utility locates, we do think we can help with the mailbox and driveway culvert problems. We would be happy to work with the Road and Bridge Department to identify blocked driveway culverts and improperly placed mailboxes in the area. With the proper documentation for mailbox and culvert standards and even a list of appropriate contractors, we could use the Association as a means to contact property owners and recommend corrective action. We would also be happy to coordinate our notification activities with the county.
Saddleback Propane Group
All Star Gas is providing members of the Saddleback Propane Group with pre-buy contracts through May 10, 2004 at the prices noted below.
Pre-buy................... $1.049 per gallon. This price will apply to deliveries for period 4/1/04 through 3/31/05.
I believe that pre-buy conditions have not changed from last year, so a minimum of 600 GALLONS is required under the pre-buy program. If you have dollars remaining from your April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004 Price Protection contract, then those dollars will be applied to your April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005 contract.
All Star Gas is also offering a special price to Saddleback Propane Group members that do not elect a pre-buy contract.
Other than Pre-buy.......15 cents under the current price at time of delivery.
Example:
Regular price- $1.289 per gallon
Discount- 15 cents
per gallon
Discounted Price- $1.139 per gallon
The other than Pre-buy price applies to period 7/1/04-6/31/05.
The other than Pre-buy price is applicable to Pre-buy customers for the period after 3/31/05.
If you are not a member of the Saddleback Propane Group and would like to become a member, please contact Harvey Bransky.
Harvey Bransky
1949 Santa Fe Mtn Rd
(303) 567-1714
Blackhawk Tunnel and Full Diamond Interchange for Floyd Hill
At the county’s recent meeting with representatives of CDOT and the Silver Dollar Metro District, the subject of a full diamond interchange for the Floyd Hill Interchange, (Exit 247) was discussed as a condition for the county’s support of the Blackhawk Tunnel proposal. The county has been requesting a full diamond interchange in this location from CDOT for more than 20 years.
CDOT is now reporting that the downhill grade on the south side of I-70 at Exit 247 is too steep to meet current CDOT standards for an eastbound on-ramp to I-70. According to Brian Pinkerton, the downhill slope of I-70 just east of Exit 247 is steep enough that the eastbound on-ramp, (which would start above the grade of I-70 on the overpass road) would be playing catch up in order to avoid an excessively steep grade and could extend all the way to Jefferson County Road 65. Brian suggested that a frontage road connecting the Beaver Brook Overpass Road at Exit 247 to Jefferson County Road 65 at Exit 248 along the south side of the highway might be a better solution. Of course, the intrusion into the meadow, wetlands and private property along the south side of I-70 in this area could make the frontage road plan difficult to support. This problem is compounded by the current worse case scenario for the Blackhawk Tunnel interchange proposal which would extend the eastbound I-70 on-ramp from the tunnel south portal all the way to nearly Jefferson County Road 65. The tunnel eastbound on-ramp could push a south side frontage road even further into the middle of the meadow.
Some of the other conditions currently being considered by the county as terms for support of the Blackhawk Tunnel proposal in an amendment to the DRCOG 2025 Interim Regional Transportation Plan are noted below.
- CDOT/SDMD to provide a frontage road from Exit 244 to Exit 243, Kermitt's to Hidden Valley
- CDOT to provide improvements including widening and paving for the frontage road, (County Road 314) between Exit 243, (Hidden Valley) and Exit 241, (East end of Idaho Springs).
- CDOT/SDMD to preserve the existing Non Motorized Corridor between Exit 244 and Exit 241, (Kermitt's to the east end of Idaho Springs)
- Emergency Services in Clear Creek County will remain under the jurisdiction of the Clear County Emergency Services District, Clear Creek Fire Authority and Clear Creek Ambulance with financial participation from the SDMD to address the anticipated impact of the new interchange and tunnel
- Requirements for a final interchange design and construction plan at Exit 244, prior to construction start, that addresses both the SDMD Tunnel and the I-70 PEIS highway and/or transit improvements
- Compensation for the loss of the loss of one of the county’s planned reservoir locations at the south portal of the proposed tunnel
- Compensation for the loss of Kermitt's
Floyd Hill Weigh In Motion Station
I have been corresponding with CDOT representatives concerning the westbound Weigh In Motion station at Exit 247. On numerous occasions I have seen recommended speeds provided to truckers for 10 and 15 mph. I believe these messages are effective, since I have observed the truck drivers slow to between 30 mph and 40 mph down the hill instead of 50 mph or higher. I am however concerned that if the trucks actually slowed to 10 or 15 mph, it could pose a considerable hazard to motorists driving down the hill at 55 to 60 mph due to the limited site visibility on the curves. I believe that CDOT is currently evaluation the problem and I will pass along any information as it becomes available.