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PLANNING DEPARTMENT
970-668-4200fax 970-668-4225Post Office Box 56600037 SCR 1005, Peak One Dr.Frisco, Colorado 80443
MEMOTO:
Board of County Commissioners (“BOCC”)
FROM:
Kate Berg, Senior Planner 
FOR:
December 4, 2012 Work Session
SUBJECT:
Tenderfoot Mountain Motorcycle Trail System DraftEnvironmental Assessment (EA)
BACKGROUND / PURPOSE:
The Forest Service has released the Tenderfoot Mountain Motorcycle Trail SystemDraft Environmental Assessment for a 30-day public review and comment period,which ends on December 17, 2012. As directed by the Board, the County processto review and comment on the EA will include a preliminary discussion with theBoard at the December 4
th
work session, a special meeting of the Snake River Planning Commission scheduled for December 6
th
, and a follow-up work sessionwith the Board on December 11
th
. A comment letter to the Forest Service can then be finalized and submitted prior to the end of the public comment period (targetedsubmission date is Friday, December 14
th
). Accordingly, the primary purpose of Dec. 4
th
work session is to get initial feedback from the Board on preliminaryissues identified with the EA prior to publicly discussing these items with theSnake River Planning Commission on December 6
th
.
 
OVERVIEW OF PROPOSED ACTION IN DRAFT EA:
As described in the EA, the Proposed Action would create a network of approximately 21 miles of single-track trails and approximately 5 miles of roadsfor motorized recreation. This would include approximately 13.1 miles of newtrail construction and the adoption of 7.9 miles of existing non-system trails or roads, along with closure and rehabilitation of at least 22 miles of non-systemtrails in the area. Because the trail system would connect with the 5-mile StraightCreek Trail, the total length of the proposed system would be approximately 32miles. The entire route would be open to motorcycles from June 20 to November 22, annually. Access to the trail system would be via Straight Creek Road andFrey Gulch Road.
PRELIMINARY ISSUES IDENTIFIED BY STAFF:
The following represent preliminary comments and issues that have beenidentified by Planning and Open Space and Trails Staff upon an initial review of the EA. It should be noted that this is a preliminary draft of potential issues thatcould be raised by the County in a comment letter to the Forest Service.Accordingly, the Board’s input is requested on these issues, and this list may bemodified over the next two weeks based on feedback from the Board. Input fromthe public and the Snake River Planning Commission will also be obtained at theDecember 6
th
Planning Commission meeting, and relayed to the Board at nextweek’s December 11
th
work session. Any additional issues raised by the public,the Planning Commission, or upon a more detailed staff review and analysis of theEA may be identified and discussed with the Board at the December 11
th
work session.
General Comments on EA:Overall Size of Proposed Trail System and Projected Increase in MotorizedUsers -
Overall, the EA has not clearly declared the intended use of the proposed trail system in terms of the number of users intended to beaccommodated by the system. The document is currently very inconsistent inits assessment of the overall magnitude of the trail system (i.e. the number of riders the system will accommodate), and subsequently the projectedenvironmental and socioeconomic impacts of the proposed trail system are notclearly and consistently stated throughout the document. For instance, thePurpose and Need section of the EA points to a great need / demand for 
 
additional motorized single-track trails within the WRNF and certain sectionsacknowledge that the trail system will be promoted and signed, which willgenerate increased users from the surrounding region (e.g., on page 3-57 thereis a conservative estimate provided, indicating that “…there could be as manyas 105 motorcycles on the trail system at a time on any given summer weekend.”) However, other sections of the EA (such as the section concludingthat there will be no impacts on County services) claim that not a large increasein users is expected beyond those motorized users already utilizing the area.As a result of these inconsistencies, it is unclear if the proposed trail systemwould have a regional draw or if it is simply intended to provide single-track trails for SCORR members and motorized enthusiasts within the SummitCounty community. Although, several facts point to plans for a large scalesystem that would have significant regional draw, including the following:As noted in the EA, throughout the entire WRNF there are currently 40miles of single-track trails open to motorcycles, including 6.1 miles thatcurrently exist in the Golden Horseshoe. This is in addition toapproximately 1,026 miles of road open to off-highway motorcycles inthe WRNF. If the Proposed Action is approved, an approximately 32mile motorcycle trail system would be created in one location within our community, which would include approximately 21 miles of single-track trails. This would increase the total mileage of motorized single track trails within the entire WRNF by over 50% in one location within our community.The project area consists of approximately 1,800 acres of National ForestSystem lands, which is approximately twice the size of the skiable acresat Arapahoe Basin Ski Area.A very large parking lot is proposed at the Frey Gulch Trailhead, callinginto question the magnitude of the intended usage and the methodologyused to calculate the required parking capacity. Section 2.3.2 of the EAindicates that the proposed Frey Gulch Trailhead would beapproximately 46,000 square feet (1.06 acres) and that a future 10,000square foot expansion could occur if the capacity is insufficient. Theexpansion would bring the size of the parking area to 56,000 square feet(1.29 acres). Although the EA claims that the capacity of this parkingarea will be approximately 10 vehicles with trailers and 30 vehicleswithout trailers, 1.29 acres is approximately the size of the Safeway parking lot in the Town of Frisco, which has a capacity of approximately
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