Recreation and Pedestrian Trails Committee

VILLAGE OF ANGEL FIRE Angel Fire, NM 87710 (575) 377-3232 Pedestrian Trails Committee Meeting Minutes Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. at the Community Center Call to Order: Matt Billingsley called meeting to order at 9:06 a.m. Roll Call: Jeff Weeks (Counsel Representative), John Carmack, Tim Kelly, Matt Billingsley, Lonny Natter, Attila Bality, Chris Sorensen and Patrick West (Resort Representative). Absent Shay Tibljas (Village Representative) and Christine Smith. Quorum established. Announcements: Attila announced that Dustin Berg with Global Opportunities Unlimited, Inc., which deals with adaptive trails, will be visiting will be visiting the Tao Angel Fire on June 2nd and again on July 12th and 13th. Dustin would like to meet volunteers. Attila will provide Dustin with contact information for Patrick, Jeff and Tim. Comments/Questions from Community/Audience Members: No community/audience members present Approval of May 16, 2024 Minutes: Lonny Natter motioned to approve and John Carmack seconded; unanimously approved. Review and Approval of Agenda: It was decided to defer Item A “Review and Discuss the Committee’s Charter …” to the next meeting as Shay Tibljas has yet to locate the prior committee’s Charter and was not present at the meeting. Lonny Natter motioned to approve the Agenda as revised and John Carmack seconded; unanimously approved. Action Items: WHO WHAT WHEN All Send Attila comments of what is still relevant from 2008 6/13/2024 Comprehensive Plan. Jeff Check with Greg Ralph about printed map inventory and let 6/13/2024 Greg Ralph know about lack of current map on Village and Visitor websites. Patrick Check with Brandy about locating digital file of map. 6/13/2024 Jeff Check with Samantha regarding ideas on how to solicit input 6/13/2024 regarding trails from members during members weekend. Matt Follow-up with contacts in AFFPO regarding the same. 6/13/2024 All Send further ideas regarding trail assessment checklists 6/13/2024 Agenda Items: A. Review and Discuss the Committee’s Charter – reach agreement on Committee’s mission: Deferred to next meeting as Shay Tibljas has yet to locate the prior committee’s Charter and was not present at the meeting. B. Discuss Alternatives for the Committee’s Decision Making Process and Sharing of Documents – reach agreement on Committee’s decision making process and sharing of documents. Attila Bality presented various Decision Making Models for the Committee to use. These included the Consensus Method, Modified Consensus Method and Majority Vote (i.e. Roberts Rules) methods. The Committee agreed to adopt the Modified Consensus method of decision making for purposes of this Committee. As described in the materials presented by Attila, the Modified Consensus method is defined as follows: Modified Consensus Consensus minus one vote, Consensus minus two votes In these processes, the group seeks full consensus to the extent possible. But it recognizes that at some point, full agreement may not be possible, and it doesn’t want the group not to be able to move forward. Modified consensus processes might make room for the following practices: • Stand-aside: a participant doesn’t block the group from moving forward, but simply stands aside to register their lack of full agreement with the rest of the group. • Abstention: a participant abstains from the decision either because they feel they don’t have enough of an understanding of the decision at hand or because they have a conflict of interest. The Committee agreed, that as part of the Modified Consensus method, any dissenters must agree to not go around or undermine any modified consensus decision made by the Committee. C. Review and Discuss Mapping Issues – assess adequacy of current mapping and identify needs for potential improvements. The Committee reviewed the most current version of the “Green Belt Trail System” (2020 version) map. The Committee agreed the map was an adequate map for now. Future potential improvements to the map to consider include QR codes that will link to the map, remove Forest Service non-system trails from the map included in that are in the Carson Forest (i.e. Whoop De Do and Ho Chi Min), show proper alignment of the current Elliot Barker trail and add other Forest Service system trails (i.e. Palo Flechado).  Tim Kelly pointed out the current map can be obtained in hard copy from the Visitors Center. However, the map is not available on the Village website (an older 2017 version is, but is difficult and not intuitive to find). While the Visitor’s Center website promotes an abundance of hiking opportunities in the area, it does not identify any specific trails or provide any maps. While the current map is available on the Resort website, it is not in a printable form and it is hard to navigate/enlarge while viewing on the website, especially on a cell phone. The map is not available on the Resort’s App. Actions: • Jeff will check with Greg Ralph (Tourism Director) regarding the existing inventory of printed maps and let him know about the Village and Visitor Center website issues. • Patrick will stock trail head kiosks with maps, but also encourages Committee members to retain a supply of maps and also stock the kiosks when they notice they are low or out of stock. • Patrick will check with Brandy about obtaining/locating the electronic version of the map. D. Discuss Community Engagement Ideas – identify parties and decide on ways best to engage. Attila discussed Pedestrian Trail Related Excerpts from the 2008 Village of Angel Fire Comprehensive Plan which he had summarized and provided to Committee members. For purposes of our discussion, the Northwest Quadrant was clarified to mean the area west of US 64, north of Sage Lane to the blinking light. While the Committee agreed that most, if not all, of the items noted regarding trails in the 2008 Comprehensive Plan are still relevant, we cannot answer for sure until a Community Survey is conducted. Jeff provided ariel and survey maps regarding the area of potential trail extension to the high school and Allen Fields. Other items discussed included how to solicit input from Resort members during the AAFPO members weekend. Jeff will check with Samantha Weeks for ideas and Matt will follow-up with his contacts in AAFPO. Chris pointed out that we also need input from visitors and that there maybe competing interests between visitors and members. Actions: All – Email comments to Attila of what is still relevant regarding pedestrian trails in the 2008 Comprehensive Plan. E. Review Trails Assessments Examples – agree upon trails assessment methodology to be used by Committee. Village and Resort do not have trail assessment checklists. Attila provide sone examples of checklists and ideas he is aware of. Assessment methodology and checklist needed for risk mitigation purposes. Committee will need to develop checklist that Village and Resort can use to assess trails. F. Walking Tour and Assessment of One Trail Following the Meeting. Committee members Attila Bality, Matt Billingsley, Tim Kelly, John Carmack, Lonny Natter and Chris Sorensen walked the Frank Young/Solar Loop trail. Purpose of the walk was to familiarize Committee members with the trail and begin to develop ideas for trail assessment methods/checklists for Village trails (which may also be useful in developing ideas for trail assessment methods/checklists for Resort trails). Items noted by the Committee members during the walk involving safety/maintenance issues included: • Broken/outdated signage at the trail heads • Weed encroachment onto the portions of the trail • Prairie dog holes on the trail or near the edge of the trail • Lack of curb cuts and Pedestrian Cross Walk where trail crosses North Angel Fire Road • Deteriorating/unstable stairs leading down from North Angel Fire Road to trail path. • Some deteriorating and splintering rail road ties forming the edge of the trail path. • Lack of directional signage on the Solar Loop portion of the trail, especially where trail path at times is difficult to distinguish. • Dilapidated/collapsing bridge on the Solar Loop section of the trail. Items noted by the Committee members during the walk involving potential enhancements of visitor experience included: • Signage for adaptive use. • Ramps leading down from North Angel Fire Road to accommodate bike and adaptive usage. • Create a smooth transition from the trail path to the benches and shade structure near the Frank Young and Solar Loop crossover to accommodate adaptive access/use. The Committee discussed the likely need for the development of two trail assessment checklist, one for Safety/Maintenace items and another for Enhanced Visitor Experience items.  During the walking tour the Committee members briefly looked at the start for the potential route regarding possible expansion of the Frank Young Trail to the High School and Allen Fields. The Committee’s initial thoughts are that it may be better to locate the expansion route further to the east of what had been contemplated by the prior committee. That way, it could take advantage of the existing bridge and place the alignment of the trail higher above the wetlands and eliminate or reduce the number of bridges for the trail expansion. Actions: Committee members to email Attila any further ideas regarding trail assessment ideas/checklists. G. Next Steps 1. Status reports on prior action items. 2. Review and decide on method(s) of sharing documents (i.e. Village FTP site, Google Drive, etc.) 3. Review prior committee’s Charter (if located) and agree on Committee’s mission and milestones; or, develop new Charter. 4. Further discussion on adaptive trails 5. Further discussion and agreement on developing checklists. 6. Walk another trail (Resort Trail) Next Meeting Date and Adjournment: The next meeting date will be Thursday, June 13, 2024 at the Community Center. Meeting adjourned at 10:25 a.m. Walking tour of Frank Young and Solar Loop trail ended at 11:38 a.m. Passed, Approved and Adopted on this 13th day of June, 2024