COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Public land around the Pikes Peak region’s second most famous mountain is one step closer to expanding.
According to our news partners at The Gazette, that’s after the Colorado Springs Parks Board unanimously approved part of a deal that would grow Cheyenne Mountain State Park by nearly 480 acres.
The recent move followed a unanimous vote by the Trails, Open Space and Parks (TOPS) Working Committee for the sales tax-funded TOPS program to buy about 130 acres for $4.1 million.
The expectation is for the state park-managing Colorado Parks and Wildlife to buy the larger, southern acreage, the grassy, oak and pine expanse seen along the road entering the park off Colorado 115.
“I think similarly (to the city), they see the importance of that south parcel, that gateway to the state park,” Jim Petterson, vice president of the Mountain West Region for The Trust for Public Land, said in a previous interview.
For efficiency, The Trust for Public Land would purchase both parcels and sell back to the city and state. Efficiency matters, TOPS Manager Lonna Thelen has explained, showing plans for 95 homes under current ownership.
And Thelen has explained the collaborative acquisition as a continuation of Cheyenne Mountain State Park’s history dating to 2000, when TOPS partnered with CPW to establish the park. About 60% of parkland is owned by the city today.
“Strengthening each other’s strengths” is how TOPS’ senior administrator put it: “We can bring to the table the acquisition, and the state can bring to the table the ability to provide maintenance,” David Deitemeyer said.
This was the intent of TOPS acquisitions over the past decade that grew the state park’s southern boundaries around Rock Creek.
A longtime parks advocate, Carol Beckman, tallied up the acquisitions to more than 430 acres and $2.6 million, with TOPS’ most recent purchase in 2019 praised as “an amazing amenity available to the public.”
“That was 2019, six years ago, and there is no public access to those parcels,” Beckman said at the recent Parks Board meeting.
Asked about the potential and any timeline for the latest parcels under consideration, the next votes go to the City Council, CPW Southeast Region Manager Frank McGee said in a statement “it would be premature to provide specifics.”
He added: “Colorado Parks and Wildlife is always looking to the future in terms of conservation and recreation. It takes years of forethought and planning alongside community partners for any effort to come to fruition.”
The state park underwent a leadership transition following the Rock Creek expansions, Parks Director Britt Haley noted, and planning between the city and CPW stalled.
“And it’s almost a good thing, because now we have this opportunity come along, and now we can do it in one effort,” she said.
For the upper part of the property the city is looking to buy, a southernmost stretch of the Chamberlain Trail has been eyed, the long-envisioned trail touring the foothills between Blodgett Peak and Cheyenne Mountain.
The idea would be for the trail to cross the road for the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station. That crossing has not been approved.
“We just can’t give you an answer right now,” Thelen told the Parks Board. “But know that we are working on that, and that will be our goal, to cross.”
Asked if taxpayers would be able to access the land without a state park pass, Deitemeyer mentioned current agreements that allow free entry on foot or bike. “That’s the goal we’re looking to continue moving forward,” he said.
The acquisition is slated for the City Council’s Nov. 25 agenda, before a final vote Dec. 9.
The Gazette's Seth Boster contirbuted to this web story.
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