Kings Crossing will be closed at the railroad

The Town of Winter Park signed contracts agreeing to fund the underpass and close Kings Crossing Road at the railroad (pictured above) when the new underpass becomes operational.

• Why has the Town decided to turn its back on its contractual obligation and spend tax payer funds on improvements to a road that it agreed to close?

• Town Manager Drew Nelson and Councilman Jim Myers know that the Public Utilities Commission requires closures of at-grade crossings near underpasses to improve public safety, yet they are speaking out against the underpass and saying they will fight to keep the at-grade crossing open.

• As part of the agreement, the Town annexed Leland Creek. The Town is benefiting from revenue when it was developed as a trade-off for committing to fund the underpass and close the crossing.

 

Many in the Fraser Valley, including Grand County and the Towns of Winter Park and Fraser, discussed the need for a railroad underpass for decades. Trains stopped at Vasquez and Kings Crossing cause dangerous conditions, prohibiting timely responses to medical emergencies west of the tracks.

This need became focused during the last 10 years, resulting in the accomplishment of necessary steps that will lead to the beginning of construction of the Underpass in 2015. Here are some of the key milestones during the process.

• 1986 Milestone: Maryville (Rendezvous and Grand Park) was annexed into Fraser and accepted the responsibility to construct the railroad underpass in cooperation with Winter Park in the Town of Fraser.

• 2004 Milestone: The Leland Creek neighborhood was annexed from Fraser into Winter Park as a trade-off for Winter Park’s support and funding of the Underpass and the closure of Kings Crossing Road. The Leland Creek Annexation Agreement signed by Winter Park included this commitment.

• 2005 Milestone: A joint application was submitted to the Public Utilities Commission. This application was signed by Winter Park, Fraser, and Cornerstone Holdings, requesting a permit for the Underpass and closure of Kings Crossing Road.

• 2007 Milestone: An amendment to the Leland Creek Annexation Agreement was signed by Winter Park. The amendment confirmed the Town’s commitment to support the approval of the Underpass with the UPRR and the Public Utilities Commission, and to fund $1.75 million and close Kings Crossing at the tracks.

• 2009 Milestone: After much effort and time spent, an agreement could not be reached between the UPRR and Cornerstone Holdings on the cost-share for the Underpass. Because of this, the Public Utilities Commission did not renew the 2005 application.

• 2010 Milestone: Cornerstone worked with the UPRR to restart the effort. UPRR requested the underpass be moved to a new location, closer to Kings Crossing Road. Cornerstone retained engineers to complete geotechnical, hydrologic, and engineering studies for the new location.

• 2011 Milestone: The studies were completed. Winter Park, UPRR, and Fraser reviewed and provided comments in preparation to begin the new underpass design.

• 2012 Milestone: Cornerstone retained HDR Inc., an experienced railroad and structural design firm, to execute the new design of the underpass.

• 2014 Milestone: UPRR approved the 100% complete design set for the underpass and an application signed by Fraser and the West Mountain Metro District (Grand Park) was submitted to the Public Utilities Commission for the new bridge.

• 2014 Milestone: Winter Park refused to sign the application, or provide support to obtain both UPRR and PUC approvals for the underpass, causing a breach of the Leland Creek Annexation Agreement.

• 2014 Milestone: The Town of Fraser approved the Construction & Maintenance Agreement with UPRR and West Mountain Metro District.

• 2014 Milestone: Winter Park refused to participate and sign the Construction & Maintenance agreement, thus breaching the Leland Creek Annexation Agreement.

What agreement is safe if the Town of Winter Park is willing to back out of its commitment on the Leland Creek Annexation Agreement? Doesn’t this put at risk any agreement with the Town of Winter Park and undermine its residents’ and businesses’ trust of the Town?

You may have heard Drew Nelson and Councilman Jim Myer say that they have a Court Judgment in the Town’s favor – that’s actually not what it says. The Judgment was a Joint Settlement agreed to by Cornerstone and the Town of Winter park and it says that:

‘the (Leland Creek) Annexation Agreement and First Amendment shall remain effective as written’.

Meaning that the agreement is valid and the Town of Winter Park is required to meet its obligations under the agreement. We will take that up in a future post, if you would like to review the Joint Settlement Agreement, and Annexation and First Amendment to the Annexation Agreement, click here to go to our Documents page.