To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Bryan D. Weimer, Director Public Works and Development
Prepared By:
prepared
John Wannigman, PE, Capital Improvements Engineer, Public Works & Development
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Subject:
title
C18-037 - Inverness Dr. W. Bike Path Project, Approval & Acceptance of one (1) Right of Way parcel and one (1) Permanent Easement along Inverness Drive West from VEREIT
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The purposed of this report is to request that the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approve one (1) resolution, attached, to accept one (1) Right of Way parcel and one (1) Permanent Easement (PE) from VEREIT for the Inverness Drive West Bike Path Project (Project) and to authorize the Clerk and Recorder to record the documents. These property acquisitions are agreed to in the attached Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the parcel.
Staff has reviewed the right of way parcel and easement and has determined that it meets Arapahoe County requirements. Staff recommends said right of way parcel and easement, granted by the property owners, be accepted by the BOCC and authorize the Public Works and Development Department Director to execute the Buyer’s Statement and Permanent Easement.
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Background and Discussion: The DSTMA North-South Regional Bicycle Corridors Study identified the section of Inverness Dr. West, limits described below, as a recommended corridor alignment for the regional bicycle network that connects Denver South employers, employees and residents. The Inverness Bike Path Project (Project) consists of providing an on-street separated bike path on Inverness Drive West from Fulton Street which is just north of Dry Creek Road intersection to County Line Road. The Project also includes the construction of three (3) roundabouts throughout the corridor to help with traffic calming and left-turn movements. In addition, the Project will implement a “lane-diet”, removing 1 lane in each direction throughout the corridor.
The project was submitted and selected for federal funding through the 2020-2023 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). In addition to TIP funding, Public Works and Development (PWD) collaborated with Arapahoe County Open Space (OS), Inverness Metropolitan District (Inverness) and the Southeast Public Improvement Metropolitan District (SPIMD) to share the cost of the Local Agency (LA) portion of the project.
PWD contracted with HDR, Inc. to complete full ROW acquisition services for the project in compliance with the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act. This includes title commitments, valuations and negotiations.
The Project required a total of 5 parcels to be acquired from the following owners:
VEREIT 1 ROW 1 Permanent Easements
Common Spirit Health 1 ROW 2 Permanent Easements
B33 Inverness II NA 1 Permanent Easement
UC Health 1 ROW 2 Permanent Easements
Cristobal 1 ROW 2 Permanent Easements
Following the initial round of ROW acquisitions, it was discovered that additional ROW and Permanent Easements were needed for this project. This VEREIT acquisition is the final one needed for the project and requires RW-1, PE-1REV, and TCE-1REV.
The parcels of land requested for ROW and Easement acceptance are located adjacent to the VEREIT property.
Note: The Owner refused to sign the MOA with the following reasoning, ‘we do not sign ancillary agreements in condemnation-related conveyances, thus we cannot sign the memorandum of agreement’. However in lieu of an executed MOA, Owner executed conveyance documents were placed in escrow with the title company and will be released upon payment of the purchase price which will suffice.
Alternatives: Approving of these ROW’s and easements from property owners will allow the Project to install improvements as planned. Alternatively, taking no action would result in the Project not being able to acquire ROW, making the construction of the needed improvements extremely difficult and impacting the Project’s budget and schedule.
Fiscal Impact: Compensation for these ROW and easement acquisitions ($28,601.50) plus closing costs ($1,432.00) for a total of $30,033.50, can be covered by PWD’s current budget.
Note that the state, SPIMD, and Inverness shares will be a reimbursement request. A check will be issued to VEREIT in the above amount at time of closing. A W-9 will be provided.
Alignment with Strategic Plan:
☒Be fiscally sustainable
☒Provide essential and mandated service
☒Be community focused
Concurrence: The Transportation Division recommends that the Right of Way and Permanent Easement from the property owner be approved for acceptance.
Resolution: Attached is a copy of the draft resolution.