Fwd: Commissioner Questions about Red Feather Lakes

[Laurie Kadrich]

Hi John,

Something for your Lesli file!  Lorenda asked that I follow up on a few questions that you had so here is the response from Lesli - please let us know if you have any other questions - check out Mark's notation on AI! laurie

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Lesli Ellis <ell...@co.larimer.co.us>
Date: Tue, Dec 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Subject: Fwd: Commissioner Questions about Red Feather Lakes
To: Laurie Kadrich <kadr...@co.larimer.co.us>

Hi Laurie - Here is information for Commissioner Kefalas per his request.  Let us know if you have questions.  I'll work with Rebecca on the Special Events question. 

Lesli 

	Lesli K. Ellis, AICP CEP Director
	Community Planning, Infrastructure, and Resources  200 W Oak St, Fort Collins, CO 80521  Phone:  (970) 498-5741 ellislk@co.larimer.co.us | www.larimer.gov

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Mark Peterson <pete...@co.larimer.co.us>
Date: Tue, Dec 23, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Subject: Commissioner Questions about Red Feather Lakes
To: Ellis, Lesli <ell...@co.larimer.co.us>

Here's a bulleted version (with the help of ChatGPT)

• Road ownership & maintenance

  • Only CR 67A and CR 67J are County-maintained roads in Red Feather Lakes.

  • GID 13A (created in the 1980s) maintains roads west of CR 67J in Hiawatha Heights, including Hiawatha Highway that is a through route between CR 73C and the town center of Red Feather Lakes.

  • Most other roads are privately (non-County) maintained through informal, property-owner efforts.

  • Letitia Drive (CR 67A to Fox Acres back entrance) is maintained by Fox Acres under a prior access agreement.

• 2006 Red Feather Lakes Plan

  • Identified road maintenance, potable water, and public sanitary sewer as major constraints.

  • Led the Red Feather Lakes Plan Advisory Committee (RFLPAC) to request recognition of certain through and connector roads as public.

• Public roadway recognition (2009)

  • The Board of County Commissioners considered designation of key through connector/collector roads as public (BCC Hearing Minutes for 10/19/2009 Attached).

  • Roads included portions of Nokomis Rd, Monoma Rd, Ramona Dr., Main Street, Firehouse Lane, Letitia Dr., Eagle Tree Circle, and Grand Avenue.

  • Hiawatha Highway was already public via GID 13A.

• 2010 centerline survey (main connector roads)

  • Funded by a $5,000 DOLA grant with $5,000 County match.

  • Ayres Associates surveyed the public connector roads that were recognized by the BCC on 10/19/2009, including Hiawatha Highway.

  • Documented roadway centerlines and approximate traveled widths.

  • Intended to support formation of a road maintenance improvement district.

• Right-of-way dedication discussions (2010–2024) with Quaintance/Bradley Family

  • Quaintance/Bradley family initially expressed interest in dedicating ROW on the properties they owned, generally outside of the subdivided areas.

  • Discussions continued for years but were ended in 2024.

  • Formal ROW dedication is now likely only with future development.

• Water and sanitary sewer utility planning goals

  • RFLPAC anticipated public road status would allow use of road corridors for water and wastewater utilities.

  • 2023 Water-Wastewater Study identified use of the public road alignments for main sewer collection lines (not local service lines).

• 2018–2019 full area road centerline survey

  • Funded by another DOLA grant with County match.

  • Lamp Rynerson surveyed all remaining roads in Red Feather Lakes, regardless of public or private status.

  • Cost $35,000; completed in 2019.

• Misunderstandings about road status

  • Some RFLPAC members believed centerline surveys could establish roads as public.

  • Legal research confirmed public status requires deeds-of-dedication from all affected property owners.

  • Some roads are officially public in the Road Information Locator (RIL); others remain “Ownership: Unknown.”

• Road maintenance improvement district efforts

  • Petitions circulated in 2023 and 2024 for a district covering major connector roads east of CR 67J.

  • Both efforts failed to obtain enough signatures to advance to a ballot.

• Centerline survey records

• Survey maps of both surveys were previously shared with the RFLPAC and made available at the Red Feather Lakes Library.

• County Engineering retains electronic AutoCAD centerline files registered to state plane coordinates as well as PDF copies of the centerline survey plan maps.

	Mark Peterson, PE Engineering Director/County Engineer
	Engineering Department 200 W Oak St, Fort Collins, CO  80522 | 3rd Floor W: (970) 498-5714 | F: (970) 498-7986 mpet...@larimer.org | www.larimer.gov/engineering

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	Laurie M. Kadrich Assistant County Manager
	200 W Oak St, Fort Collins, 80521 | 2nd Floor W: (970) 498-7004 | M: (970) 589-0674 Kadr...@co.larimer.co.us | www.larimer.org