6901 N. Foothills Highway
$23,500 per acre (up to $235,000)
From Raytheon Holdings
Part of the North Trail Study Area Plan approved in 2016
“Would host a stretch of, and allow a significant beneficial adjustment to, the alignment of the planned North Sky Trail”
North Sky Trail = connect Foothills Trail to the south with Joder Ranch Trail to the north
This will move the trail out of habitat conservation area and Boulder County Critical Wildlife Area
Per staff, “will significantly lessen the resource disturbance and footprint of the North Sky Trail. By locating the trail in an area of comparably lower habitat value and less steep terrain than adjacent open space, OSMP would be able to reduce potential impacts to wetland...
"...and riparian areas along several Dry Creek tributaries. ... It will also decrease the trail infrastructure needed and thereby lessen the wetland disturbance.”
Follows 2017 acquisition for the same purpose; reduced length of trail by ~5,000 ft
OSBT approved 4-0 on July 14
Pretty costly, but OSMP says it has the $$ for it
Young: I did not vote for the north trail study area bc of its intrusion on habitat, so I'm very pleased to see this re-alignment.
Nagle: This is one of the things that kicked me off in being interested in running for council. I've been a big opponent of the North Sky Trail, so I also appreciate this re-alignment.
Is it also protecting the rattlesnake hibernating grounds? Nagle asks
Yes, Bethany Collins from OSMP says, it's set back farther from that area.
Nagle: Do you have a % or way to quantify the impact?
Collins: Not until we determine the final alignment and do construction.
Nagle: But this is the best option for being the least invasive that we can come up with?
Collins: Yes.
Brockett: I did vote for this, and I know we at the time hoped we could get these easements. So I'm glad to see we did it.
Wallach: How did we arrive at this purchase price?
Collins: We had an appraisal process on the adjacent property, and this one is v similar.
"Terrific outcome," Wallach says.
Weaver: "I'm super excited about this outcome. I did vote for the North Sky Trail. This was a key point for me, that we would pursue this easement."
We'll be getting to our city attorney search update after a couple of declarations. Here's the staff presentation. Looks like we'll have a city attorney by Oct. 12. documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…
Well, we'll have one named by then. Start date is TBD.
Finalists will be named at the Sept. 28 meeting.
A reminder that council reopened this search after we only got 12 applicants the first time, and they weren't impressed with the two finalists. boulderbeat.news/2021/06/23/cit…