by Eric Mullens
WALSENBURG — The Huerfano County Commissioners met in regular session Tuesday and approved a proposed road relocation agreement made necessary by a July 4 weekend landslide last year.
The agreement concerns a slightly different route for CR 580, which was buried in the landslide last year, and the portion of the road that is on Joseph Luter’s property.
The proposed agreement says, in part, “When the new road is completed, that portion of the replaced old right-of-way reverts in ownership to the landowner and will be considered vacant.” The agreement calls for the road to be relocated and surveyed in the vicinity of the landslide at county expose for the purpose of allowing free passage from the beginning of Singing River Ranch to the forest boundary. The agreement also says, in consideration for the new road alignment, Huerfano County will build up and improve 1.7 miles of CR 580 from Singing River Ranch gate to the Aspen River Ranch gate. The commissioners said the survey will begin as soon as possible once the agreement has been signed. They said the property owner has agreed in principal with the document.
Mark Reigle spoke to the commissioners during the public comment period regarding needed improvements on CR 421. The commissioners said work on the narrow roadway is on the schedule for this summer.
Tennessee Lane, the promoter of a recent successful equine endurance ride, spoke to the commissioners about the possibility of getting gravel laid on a county road near her and her father’s property. The commissioners said that particular area is not on the summer schedule, but if she wanted to look into the possibility of obtaining a private contractor to haul the gravel to the location they would do their best to get a maintainer up there to spread the gravel on the roadway. The county road is unimproved and becomes very muddy and hard to negotiate after a rainfall.
The commissioners explained, with approximately 700 miles of county roads in Huerfano County, they can only work on about 50 miles of roadway per season.
The commissioners heard briefly from Jess Griess of the Sonic Bloom festival, which ended Sunday, June 19 on the Hummingbird Ranch. He said after he meets with various county department heads, he will meet with the commissioners again for a full after-action report presentation.
Griess said attendance at the festival this year was about 4,900, up from about 4,500 in 2015.
Important Reminder:
Huerfano County Clerk and Recorder Nancy Cruz wants voters to know the office of the Clerk and Recorder will be open Saturday, June 25 from 8 am until 12-noon for ballot drop off. On election day, Tuesday, June 28, the office of the Clerk and Recorder will be open for elections only from 7 am until 7 pm.
