Late October 2013...
Given that the condition of our other roads is now quite good [thank you Winslow's and Tierney's], the Board has made the decision to hold off on road improvements until next fall. This should allow time for the price of materials to return to normal levels. By waiting a year we will be able to add next year's budget to the funds set aside this year for road improvements and be able to accomplish more because the cost related to equipment "move in/move out" will be minimized. We will request Dave Martig to put us first on his schedule next season.
October 12: President Larry Larson reports that Jim Tierney spoke with Gary Coleman and learned that their excavation work has been put on a "cease and desist" order by the City. Coleman did not know why they received the order or how long it would stand. Larry does not expect anything to happen for some time to fix the sink hole on Olympus Lane East located on the Coleman parcel. This road remains closed.
October 6: President Larry Larson reports that the condition our roads may not be an issue anymore. Larry says that he returned from a weekend away (October 5 and 6) to find that Bo and Lauri Winslow had pretty much fixed everything. With the help of Jim and Martha Tierney, Bo and Lauri used borrowed equipment, and fill dirt from their own property and from offsite, to fill the badly washed areas on MacCracken Lane, Bellevue Drive and the upper portion of Olympus Lane East. "The difference is amazing," says Larry. "Dave Martig has little to do and a small amount of road base or road material plus his tools will make the roads like new again." Dave has one or two critical projects to complete before he gets to us, but he thinks this fall is still in the schedule.
This is wonderful news as the Association was potentially looking at significant costs, with little expectation of cost sharing from FEMA or anyone else. We owe the Winslow's and the Tierney's a huge debt of gratitude.
The lower portion of Olympus Lane East remains closed. A large sink hole developed engulfing a section of the road immediately adjacent to the Coleman excavation. We await information from Don and Gary Coleman as to their plans to reopen the road.
Association member Jan (Holden) Parks took these pictures on October 3. It is interesting to see the amount of sediment that washed into Lake Estes, as well as the condition of other areas around the valley. Thank you Jan for sharing.
Upper Thompson Sanitation District Recovery Information.
September 23: Thanks to President Larry Larson for keeping us updated on what was going on in Estes Park during and after the flood. The quantity of rain that fell over a period of days severely eroded our roads, although the damage is not as catastrophic as what we suffered from the rains that resulted in the Big Thompson Flood of 1976.
Your Board of Directors is busy assessing alternative plans for returning our roads to acceptable condition, as well as financing arrangements to pay for the repairs. Look to this page for updates as more information is available.
Thinking ahead to the road work that would have to be done, Larry made a series of videos with his smart phone for Dave Martig so he could see how the roads held or failed in the flood. On Thursday, September 12, Larry sent an email with his first video to Secretary–Treasurer Conner who was in route to Colorado by air from Boston. Without his computer and address book, Harley hurriedly assembled an email distribution list as soon as possible upon his arrival and forwarded Larry's email to members, extended family and friends. Thus started a series of updating messages over the next few days as Larry cloned this email to facilitate further updates.
It appears that most of our cabins weathered the storm, but our roads took quite a beating. Here are Larry's comments and the videos he made as the storm was still raging. Click on a video link below to launce your browser, and then click on the video to play once it loads.
This one is from the Rahe cabin to the turn toward the Ard cabin. The Ard driveway was not videoed because it was in fine shape. The Dolman driveway is also in good shape.
This one is Bellevue Drive from MacCracken Lane toward Olympus Lane East.
This one is from US Highway 34 up MacCracken Lane to the north to just past the Rahe cabin.
This one is Olympus Lane East from Bellevue Drive toward US Highway 34. The sink hole is much worse since [the video below] and the road has subsequently been blocked by police tape.
This one is Bellevue Drive from Olympus Lane East toward Olympus Lodge.
Here are the videos of the sink hole on Olympus Lane East adjacent to the Coleman excavation.
https://vimeo.com/75152055 [from Larry’s first email of September 12]
https://vimeo.com/75152446 [the sink hole from the Coleman side looking bac