LA VETA– Before the La Veta Town Board meeting on August 19, a public hearing was held on the commercial development permit application by Grandote Green LLC at 1 Grandote Drive. Mayor Doug Brgoch said that the application deficiencies have been addressed by the applicant, Dr. Randy Briggs, and the application seeks to establish retail businesses for medical and recreational marijuana. Brgoch summarized the comments from the public hearing, including concerns about the location, potential harm to the pristine nature of area, traffic control, proximity to a planned residential community, and concerns about proper notification of residents of the area. Trustee Dale Davis moved to “delay the decision on this application with Grandote Green LLC until our first meeting in September.” Davis added that he wants to see a CDOT study on turning lanes from Cherry Street to the Cuchara River crossing, citing increased traffic over the weekends, particularly the Feedstore Church traffic on Sundays. Davis said he would also like to see
Califano Street shut down completely. Trustee Dave Molyneux said, “Out at Grandote there’s a whole pile of home sites, and with each new home comes one more car.” The board voted to discuss the application on September 2 in order to, as Brgoch explained, study the documentation and transcript of the public meeting. Grandote Golf and Country Club submitted two requests for replats of tracts in the Grandote subdivision. The first request was to replat Tract B into B plus a new tract B1, with B1 rezoned to a commercial parcel. The other request was to vacate lot lines and easements for tracts E and F and lots 39-45, which would all be merged into tract H and rezoned from R2 to commercial. Both applications were accepted as substantially complete, and public hearings were set on September 16, the first at 6 pm and the second at 6:30. Repair work on the Marshal’s office hasn’t begun because the price came in higher than expected, so the scope of work needs to be changed. The low bidder, Blakely Construction, declined to lower his bid, so the board is now looking at hiring a structural engineer to give an opinion on what must be done with the deteriorating back wall. Brgoch said, “We’re only guessing about what to do with that wall. It may fall down anyway.” The trustees seemed to be in agreement that the structure at least needs to be repaired to the point where it is “dried in.” Brgoch suggested the trustees speak with contacts they have and try to get an informal engineering opinion before September 2. On behalf of Francisco Fort Museum, Maurice Heikes told the board, “You have problems with your wall. We have problems with our walls.” He explained that the museum has a deteriorating adobe wall, and the museum board wants to extend the eave to protect it. “That wall is deteriorating pretty bad with all the moisture we’ve been getting,” Heikes said. He said the historic preservation committee concurs with the plan to divert water away from the building. The eave would be extended six feet by adding a standalone roofed structure that will protect the wall. After discussion, the board decided to first contact the state historical society to make sure the work doesn’t violate some restriction related to the large grant the town originally received to restore the fort. La Veta Principal Bree Lessar and grant writer Gaye Davis gave an update on the Garland street project. Davis said the project went out to bid at the beginning of August, and a single bid was turned in on August 18. The school board has voted to reject that bid because it was too high and decided to start the process over. Davis said she will have a new conversation with CDOT and DOLA, “because we will need additional funding.” She admitted, “We don’t feel like we have a solid picture of what this project will cost.” Although it was budgeted at the engineer’s projection of about $476,000, the bid came in at over $800,000. Davis said that, in light of that and the potential weather situation, “We will not be starting Garland Street this fall.” Molyneux said, “The town has had $35,000 in public money earmarked [for this] for three years. Where are we with that?” Lessar assured the board that the school will continue to hold the funds separately and hopes to begin the project in early spring 2015. The town’s website host will be going out of business on November 1, so James Cooper, of RuralWideWeb, submitted a proposal to design and host a new website. The proposal is for $3,000 for design, training and implementation, plus $756 per year for hosting. Mayor Brgoch said the new plan will give the administrator easy access to update information, something that is onerous under the current setup. The board tabled the proposal until it gets clarification on certain portions and each member has access to the trial site. The board set an annual salary of $2,400 for the municipal judge and will begin advertising to fill the vacant position.
