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West Main Street designs reworked in Frisco

LORY POUNDERsummit daily newsSummit County, CO Colorado

FRISCO The Town of Frisco and their contracted engineering company are making progress on a detailed plan to develop the west end of town. The latest: The roundabout at Forest Drive was removed from the West Main Street revitalization design along with parts of the landscaping and other amenities to keep the project within the original budget of about $1.9 million.Michael Harmer, senior engineer with PBS&J, the Denver-based company working on the project, presented the reworked designed at Tuesdays Frisco Town Council worksession. It includes the infrastructure originally planned, the removal of the football at Forest Drive, a pedestrian bridge across Ten Mile Creek, and a path from Madison to the Ten Mile trailhead, Harmer said.Additional parking and bus pullouts are also part of the plan, but shelters for additional stops would be added at a later date, he said. Also, there will be basic landscaping, but were not planning a ton of trees and benches, trash cans and bike racks would be future amenities.At the end of March, Harmer presented a plan that incorporated all the feedback from the public and what they wanted. However, the problem was that the project came out nearly $1 million over budget so the council asked him to come back with a plan that could be put in phases. This way, future councils could budget for some of the additional amenities to be incorporated later.Now, the only problem is an issue with funding. Half the project is funded by a federal grant and Colorado Department of Transportation cannot find part of that money, town officials said.CDOTs working on it. .. People literally just dont know where it is, Town Manager Michael Penny told the council, adding that until they find it, the project cannot go to bid.Town officials said the project has already been put on hold because of this issue, but they are still hoping to be able to go to bid with the project the first week in June.Also on the agenda this week… A discussion about early childhood education and governments role with it continued at this weeks worksession.Council member Tom Looby said, We need to be proactive in support of preschool education and enhance the capacity of Summit County Preschool in Frisco. … If we are going to promote Frisco as a place for families to live we need to maintain and improve the housing and education components of our community.The town provided a $2,500 grant to Summit County Preschool as a piece of the annual discretionary funding for nonprofit organizations. And following a previous meeting with the preschool representatives, the council authorized a $10,000 payment for building improvements and set aside $25,000 for the playground improvements if the school acquires the remaining funds for construction.Tuesday, the council said they will continue to work with the preschool, and during the 2008 budget process, will consider resources that may be available to dedicate to early childhood education. The council swore in a new police officer, John Edelmann. He began at the Frisco Police Department this month, moving here from Boca Raton, Fla., where he was a police officer for eight years. He was looking for a better place to raise a family and made the move with his wife, Jenny, and their two sons, Michael, 4, and Gabriel, 1. The council also appointed a new member to the planning commission. Tim Sabo, who has eight years experience in architecture in Summit County, will be serving on the commission. The last item on the agenda was about potentially purchasing Block 1, Lots 7 to 12, 13-18, commonly known as the Giberson property at the end of Main Street where a propane tank and feed store are located.The town has wanted to acquire this property for a long time, due in part to the safety hazard associated with the propane tank at this key intersection, Penny said. The property would be used to enhance the gateway to Main Street, however, a proposed final use has not been determined.As a result, Councilmember Looby proposed a motion that passed to table the offer to purchase the property until a more concrete plan for use is determined. Other council members voiced concerns that they dont want to lose this opportunity, but agreed to consult advisory boards to see about a plan for use and come back to talk about the purchase offer in the next few weeks.


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