COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — State inspectors have given their final approval to the reclamation work at the Pike View Quarry on the northwest side of Colorado Springs.
The reclamation work at Pike View Quarry is not only complete, it's also been recognized for going above and beyond the basic requirements.
For nearby resident Marti Farsje, who lives near the base of the quarry, recreation is preferred to development.
"My fear was it was going to be condominiums or something, you know, and I was very nervous about that," Farsje said.
The city is considering a bike park for the site.
Farsje has watched with intrigue as reclamation work has progressed in recent years.
"I'm glad to see the work that's been done and I hope that everybody really enjoys it because it's been huge," Farsje said.
"We're turning over something to the city that is not going to be a liability. It's proven to be stable," said Jerald Schnabel, who is overseeing the reclamation.
The plan started with safety, moved on to stabilization, and finalized with planting grasses and 30,000 tree seedlings to bring back a more natural landscape.
It's been years of complex work strategically placing 3.4 million yards of fill dirt and 125,000 yards of topsoil.
"We watched very closely for anything that would move away from the mountain," Schnabel said.
Hunter Kragenbrink with the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety is one of the state inspectors who monitored the reclamation month by month.
"We've been out there a lot," Kragenbrink said.
If any ground shifts, inspectors want to know why.
"There's a little jump here. What happened there? Did a sheep get in the way? Was it the weather?" Kragenbrink said.
Soil density is measured, drones and GPS map geographic lines to see if they move, and a building with solar panels links to lasers, satellites, and computers to show any vertical and horizontal movement of soil.
A year back, large swaths of color on the monitoring graphics indicated movement. Move forward to the last six months, and there is now a flatline.
"Today we have stability that's proven by everybody's records plus the fact that we have an automated system that collects the data that shows us there's no more movement in this mountain," Schnabel said.
State inspectors have recognized the work for its excellence with the 2025 Jack Starner Memorial Reclamation Award.
"Just as a division really appreciated the work and the effort and the money that Pike View put into really doing reclamation the right way here," Kragenbrink said.
"We set out to do it, do it well, prove that we were doing it the right way," Schnabel said.
Before the city can take over this property, staff will be going over paperwork like the inspections, and then it has to go before city council and the mayor for approval. That all happens over the next six months or so.
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