While the construction to update the Co 105 and Jackson Creek Parkway intersection is already a multi-jurisdictional effort, a newly triggered requirement brings the Colorado Department of Transportation into the mix.

The Town of Monument Council had its regular meeting March 4 at town hall where assistant director of public works Jeremiah Reichert, along with others, presented an update to the renovation of the intersection.

The construction is a multi-jurisdictional effort between Classic Homes, the Town of Monument and El Paso County. Much of the construction that is happening on Jackson Creek Parkway at that particular intersection is being managed and built by the developer.

One new aspect which was discussed in detail involved Colorado Department of Transportation. A water feature is being proposed for the southeast corner of the intersection at the I-25 interchange, where a pond presently exists. The county, the town and CDOT are seeking to determine which entity would be responsible for the maintenance of the feature.

Reichart said it was the stance of the town public works department that Monument should not and do not want to maintain the facility, especially being a permitted facility.

Town manager Mike Foreman noted the existing pond is not on town land but rather on CDOT right-of-way and has been there for years. Classic Homes will be restructuring it for the drainage runoff from Jackson Creek Parkway. However, the town does not have the resources to be responsible for the maintenance of the pond in the first place, Reichert and Foreman both noted.

“That’s a huge issue for us, to maintain something outside of our town limits that has a permitting process,” Foreman said. “It includes a permit for cleaning it out, mowing everything but also a traffic control plan and the liability. There’s a lot that goes into this that I’m not comfortable with taking on, and we’ve told CDOT that.”

Steve Schlosser, project manager with Classic Homes, said according to the drainage report that’s been submitted, the drainage from Jackson Creek Parkway is in Monument’s jurisdiction, and the increased drainage from CO 105 is in EPC jurisdiction. They are almost equally responsible to trigger the need to renovate the water feature. There are also Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations involved with it as well.

“The requirements from the EPA are significantly different,” Schlosser said. “CDOT’s recommendation and requirements are the facility needs to be a water quality pump, so instead of just running the water straight through that culvert into the waterway, you need to treat that water that’s coming off because of all the improvements that are happening in that area.”

Classic Homes is required to widen CO 105 at the intersection to include a turn lane which imposes into CDOT right-of-way as well, triggering the requirements for the updated water feature.

An Intergovernmental Agreement is being proposed involving this particular pond. Reichert said the town may still have some financial obligation towards the water facility since some of the waters draining into it are coming from Monument land. An analysis by Monument public works has shown the percentage of drainage between the jurisdictions involved are almost evenly split, but Monument’s inflow accounts for the smallest percentage.

Because of the town’s inflow, Monument may end up having to make some sort of annual maintenance payment or something similar, Foreman said.

Councilman Jim Romanello asked what El Paso County’s stance has been on the situation. Foreman said he received an email the week prior in which EPC’s stance is “It’s not our problem.”

Foreman said the meeting of the jurisdictions to discuss the IGA should be March 21 and assuming an agreeable IGA is drafted, it would take another 3-4 weeks for legal review.

Schlosser said with the CDOT component to all the construction for the intersection being that last piece of the puzzle, that portion of construction cannot move forward until an IGA for the water way feature is in place. However, he said if all goes well with the IGA, a small-window Request for Proposals which closes early April, starting Jackson Creek Pkwy roadway construction at the intersection in June, the entire project at the intersection might be completed in 8-10 months.

Mayor Mitch LaKind suggested reaching out to state representative Don Wilson and state senator Paul Lundeen about the issues regarding the CDOT waterway IGA. Foreman said he will move back from that until seeing the results of the March 21 meeting.

“We’ll definitely reach out to them if we need to,” Foreman said.