Town Administrator            September 2, 2019

A Bridge in Old Town?
There have been many discussions about creating a direct connection from Collier’s Hill to Downtown Erie. Among the options the Town has explored is building a bridge connecting Moffatt Street to Collier’s Hill.  When getting bids to build the Erie Parkway Bridge, the Town evaluated the cost and feasibility of also building a bridge on Moffatt to access Collier’s Hill. That evaluation confirmed a bridge in that location is feasible. However, because we had not fully engaged the community on the concept, the Town did NOT commit to, or contract to complete a bridge on Moffatt.
 
To better understand what impact a bridge might have on traffic, the Town is now conducting the Downtown Parking and Circulation study. Based on comments from residents and business leaders as part of this study, Kimley Horn (the study consultants) and Town staff are evaluating an alternative bridge location that would connect Collier’s Hill to Downtown via Cheesman Street. Kimley Horn will present the results of this evaluation, both the bridge alignment and parking issues, at the Board of Trustee’s September 24^th meeting. The Town will also host an Open House on Wednesday, September 25^th from 5:00-7:00 pm at the Erie Community Center, and a stakeholder meeting on September 26^th to discuss the study results. Please email downtown@erieco.gov if you have any questions or comments on this matter. If you can’t make any of these meetings you may still provide comments through this form.

2020 Work Priorities and Community Survey
The Erie 2019 Community Survey results are an important source of information to help the Board of Trustees prioritize what issues to focus on in 2020 and beyond. Using the community survey results, the Board identified 28 preliminary priorities. I listed these preliminary priorities in last week’s update.

The survey results indicate that maintaining and repairing streets, incentivizing business development, increasing open space, adding improvements to Town parks, and encouraging sustainability are all high priorities for residents.  These are areas staff will propose funding for in the Town’s 2020 Budget.

Consistent with the survey results, the Board of Trustees recently approved funding to complete the Town’s first Sustainability Master Plan.  This Plan will guide the Town’s sustainability objectives, which include exploring singe hauler trash, recycling and composting.

The survey also showed residents want more business and employment opportunities in Town. This confirms the Board's focus on strategic economic development as a top priority this year and for 2020. We are working hard on many projects to expand economic opportunities in Erie, including:

• Finalizing the developer agreement for the Nine Mile shopping center (scheduled to break ground in January 2020!)
• Hiring DPZ CoDesign to develop the Four Corners Master Plan (look for opportunities to participate in the design charrette scheduled for November 5-12)
• Downtown Parking and Traffic (noted above)
• Erie Commons Metro District restructuring (for consideration on the Board’s September 10 agenda)
  
• I-25 Urban Renewal Plan (waiting for Weld County)

Comcast Technical Review and Audit
The Town is working with Ken Fellman and CBG Communications to inspect the Comcast TV system to determine compliance with industry standards, pertinent codes, and the Cable TV Franchise between the Town and Comcast. Although it is not covered by the TV franchise, we know broadband speed in Town can vary significantly depending not just on location, but also on time of day, day of week, holidays and other factors. Among many other things, we hope CBG’s review of Comcast system data will enable them to identify oversubscribed “nodes” that CBG will then audit during known congestion times.  This information will then enable the Town to require upgrades that resolve cable related (and thus broadband) issues.