During the July 9 Manitou Springs City Council meeting, contracts were approved for the 2024 Street Maintenance Project and to remodel and renovate the Manitou Pool and Fitness Center.
Council approved a $777,456 contract with Pyramid Construction to mill and pave several streets in addition to patching and cape-sealing on several minor streets. Per the contract, Pyramid construction must submit a written schedule prior to the start of construction. Residents on affected streets will be notified at least one week in advance as to the dates and times the mill and paving will take place by door hangers. Pyramid will give residents at least 24 hours’ notice if access to their driveways will be blocked at any time, and work hours will Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
City Administrator Denise Howell noted that nearly half of the funds for the street maintenance project came from parking fees collected by the city.
“I want to mention that $300,000 of that is coming from the parking enterprise,” said Howell. “That is a big thing, that our community gets to reap the benefits from the parking enterprise, and we’re putting $300,000 to have the most roads done, ever, in the history of Manitou in one summer.”
Council also approved a $456,256 contract with Icon Structures to renovate the Manitou Pool and Fitness Center men’s and women’s locker rooms for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, to ensure all patrons of the facility have access to shower, changing, locker, and restroom amenities. The project also includes converting a large storage room in the back of the facility into a family changing room/gender-neutral shower and restroom. The Pool and Fitness Center will be closed for up to 3 months during construction
Additionally, Council approved a revised Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Manitou Springs and the Manitou Springs Urban Renewal Authority (URA) regarding the procedure for the allocation and use of sales tax funds for URA projects.
“The city Council wanted to see a shorter, simplified agreement that focused almost solely on how the URA can request the city to budget and allocate city sales tax revenue to the URA, and how the URA could make that request,” explained Manitou Springs City Attorney Jeff Parker. “City Council requested that we eliminate unnecessary ‘whereas’ clauses and only retain simplified versions of statements that were completely factual and not subject to any kind of misunderstanding or disagreement. I believe City Council wanted us to be very clear [about] the information that the URA would provide to the city as part of its annual financing plan, and the information the city Council would receive when they were deciding whether or not to allocate the sales tax to a fund. So, in general, the agreement was reduced, shortened and hopefully simplified.”
Manitou Springs City Councilor Judith Chandler requested improved communications from the URA on existing projects. “With regards to projects that are already in the queue — and I will use the Paragon property as an example — one of the things that I would like to see is regular feedback and reports to Council regarding projects that are already in the queue,” she said. “I get a lot of questions from people who are asking me what’s going on with the Paragon property, and I too would like to know that, where we are with [it], what’s going on, what isn’t going on, so that we can be well-informed and make good decisions. I don’t know if this can be language woven into this MOU or if or if that’s just an aside issue that we can address with you or separately — that we want more regular and frequent reports on what is already going on.”
Ann Nichols, a member of the Manitou Springs URA, pledged the URA’s cooperation with the City Council. “The board would be willing at any time to come discuss with Council what little we know about what’s going on. We do have a standing item on our monthly agenda where our executive director reports on any discussions he’s had with Paragon. I think at the moment, Paragon is probably in discussion with the planning department more than us, really, because it’s a kind of an entitlement issue. But we would certainly be happy to come before the council at any point to keep you apprized of what we do know about what’s going on with Paragon.”
The MOU is for three years and can be renewed annually. In addition to the presentation of the annual plan of finance presented during the annual city budget review process, the URA may request funding on a project-by-project basis should a private redevelopment opportunity occur during the year.