by Bill Knowles
TRINIDAD — During a special meeting Monday evening, the Trinidad City Council approved with a 7-0 vote a resolution that authorizes an application to Colorado Creative Industries for the completion of phase one of the Fox West Theatre rehabilitation project.
The Colorado Community Revitalization grant will total $3.5 million, with the City of Trinidad authorizing “the expenditure of funds necessary to meet the terms and obligation of any grant awarded with the understanding that the matching funds totaling $2 million will come solely from historic preservation tax credits and private donations,” the resolution shows in paragraph four.
Stephanie Bakken with Urban Neighborhoods, Inc., Dana Crawford’s development group, said that the grant required a 50% match for the $3.5 million grant. “The 50% match must come from sources other than the granting agency,” Bakken said.
Bakken and Gregory Friesen, the architect on the project, “…put together a phase one project and used existing grant dollars, matching funds, and put it all together and asked for gap funding to complete that phase one project,” Bakken said. The funding needed to fill the gap is $3.5 million.
“We want to complete the exterior rehabilitation, windows and doors and new roofs. We want to reactivate the retail spaces and rehabilitate the store fronts. And we also asked for some dollars for infrastructure, for the electrical and fire protection systems.”
The $3.5 million will go exclusively to the rehabilitation of the original Fox West Theatre building and has nothing to do with the annex that will house the mechanical and electrical for the rehabilitated theatre. The annex has yet to be built on the west side of the building.
The special meeting was adjourned about 5:10 p.m. The work session was opened following the adjournment of the special meeting.
Work session
There was only item on the agenda for the work session and that is an update on the projects the city has been working on. Public works director Bob Just gave the report to the city council.
At one point, council member Karen Griego asked Just if he agreed with the Department of Justice’s priority on the ADA projects. Just said that the DOJ had a priority list. “The DOJ wants intersections done first,” Just said.
And council member Rusty Goodall noted that the new section along Santa Fe Trail Drive had power poles in the middle of the sidewalk. “We’re allowed 36 inches around the poles. We have that,” Just said.
Council member Goodall also asked about the Five-Points project. “Is Five-Points a beautification project rather than a roundabout?”
City Manager Mike Valentine said the project already has $850,000 committed towards it. “We need to improve that intersection for the needs of the community.”
First Street is under design and will look similar to Commercial Street when it gets finished. First Street will have the brick drives with concrete parking. The work will go from Chestnut to Convent. Public works also has funds allowing work to be done on Chestnut and Maple from First Street up to Second Street.
Work on Santa Fe Trail Drive will see the project extend from CDOT down to the radio station. But the city didn’t receive the grant funding for this part of the project. They will reapply at the next grant period. The amount requested is $2.5 million.
According to Just, CDOT shot down the grant application because this part of the project wasn’t shovel ready. The project is a guard rail project from Van Buren to Saddle Road and will cost about $3 million.
The city has been working with the railroad to get new concrete crossing panels for the first five tracks. The wood will be removed. This will make going over the crossings at Linden Street smoother.
The meeting ended at 5:53 p.m.
