COLLEEN FITZGERALD: Hi there. My name is Colleen Fitzgerald and I do work with the city of Boulder parks and recreation department, and you’ve heard from Steve and Topher a little bit earlier and we certainly, as you can tell, are proud of what we have done in Boulder. I have the position of being access and inclusion coordinator for the city for the parks and recreation department so I’m very happy to be here to comment on the information that you have.
First of all thank you very, very much for coming to Colorado. As you know, we kind of consider ourselves the land of trails, campsites, picnic areas, but you may not know we also kind of consider ourselves as a great source for water recreation opportunities.
Chatfield Reservoir, Cherry Creek State Park, Bear Creek State Park, Boulder Reservoir all have wonderful opportunities that pertain to some of the beach regulations that you have put in place, and or guidelines that you are recommending that we’re very excited to be able to contribute to, because truly these guidelines will help the state of Colorado.
I am here on behalf of NRPA. As Linda mentioned, I have been on the national therapeutic recreation board of NRPA. I also have been a member of the steering committee for the National Institute on Recreation inclusion for the last nine years, so hopefully the information we can share with you can help, as well as the information you’ve given us will definitely guide us in making more opportunities accessible.
So kind of going continuing on a little bit further from what Linda had commented, some other questions.
In regards to Question number 3, the signage, we definitely agree that the signage is necessary and that it should reflect the outdoor environment. Therefore, we do suggest using the green and not the standard not the blue. And we do prefer the sign on the top row to the left, similar to what has been published.
The international symbol of accessibility is not necessarily recommended for us in designating the trail, and that we also suggest the addition of four wheelchair pictograms or icons to the sample sign on Page 34134 or the rotation of a person in a wheelchair in the icons with someone who is ambulatory, an ambulatory hiker. You will get a copy of all this, so that will go with you as well.
And then we also ask that you consider language in regards to correct font size as far as signage is concerned.
In regards to Question number 4, we do agree with the thrust of the question. Many elevated walks are less than 12 inches above the ground’s surface and we would suggest that the beach access route, the bar route not be included where the elevated walkway is higher than that.
Question 5, we believe the beach access routes should be wider than 36 inches, and that passing spaces should be provided more frequently than the 200 as noted.
Question 6: We do believe that beach access routes should connect to other features on the beach, such as concessions, volleyball pits, playgrounds, restrooms, first aid stations, et cetera.
Many of these other questions, the committee that Linda referred to are still working on them, so I don’t have comments on all of the areas, but just some of them.
Question number 12: We do ask that the same special conditions provided for trails be provided for alterations and maintenance in beaches, campsites and picnic areas as well.
Question number 15: We believe that the beach access route every half mile is reasonable, but some of our colleagues in some of the other states that we work with in NRPA certainly still want to consider this application.
Question number 17: We believe an improvement such as the parking lots should trigger a beach access route. Again, that is our comment at this time, and certainly we’ll forward any further comments we have in regards to that one.
Question number 23: Where we talk about where you talk about the access into the water, we think that definitely some technical provisions and, again, we’d like to provide our comments in regard to those technical provisions a little bit further in the process.
Question number 25, we did touch on this a little bit in number 3, Question number 3. We recommend the top left icon in green in color to designate the trail as an accessible trail. We would like to add the wheelchair icon with the hiker, and we suggest that you use the grade profile from the Yosemite design versus the trail profile. We like the elements in both sign examples shown on 34134 and 34135. We prefer the general layout of the happy falls trail. But we do suggest that you alternate the icons. For example, the average grade might have the wheelchair icon, average cross slope hiker, leave the icon as is, tread width might have the wheelchair icon, trail surface hike the trail surface might have the hiker icon.
Substitute again, I mentioned the grade profile shown for the trail profile. So, again, the grade profile would be our preference.
And finally, in Question number 26, we do support retaining the application of the four conditions for the departure with regard to protruding objects. However, we suggest that the surface treatments such as crushed stone or gravel be included to warn of the protrusion or the hazard.
If there are any questions that I might take back to the committee, I’d be happy to do so.
PHILIP PEARCE (BOARD MEMBER): Any of the board members, Pam?
PAMELA DORWARTH (BOARD MEMBER): Can you give me an example with your comparison to grade versus trail profiles? A specific?
COLLEEN FITZGERALD: On the lower Yosemite fall trail.
PAMELA DORWARTH: Okay.
COLLEEN FITZGERALD: Versus the happy falls trail.
PAMELA DORWARTH: Okay. Thank you.
COLLEEN FITZGERALD: Does that make sense?
PAMELA DORWARTH: Yes. I know. Thank you.
PHILIP PEARCE: Anybody else? Okay. Thank you, Colleen.
COLLEEN FITZGERALD: Thank you all very much. Enjoy your stay here.
PHILIP PEARCE: Thank you.