Had an Open Space and Advisory Trails Committee meeting tonight. I love these because I learn so much about where I live.
Couple things from tonight … Broomfield has a goal to have 40 percent open lands (there is definition of what open lands are that I can spell out at some other time, but there is a pretty refined definition and calculation for this). At current, the City and County have about 32 percent.
Partly as an outcome of that goal, the committee is asked to look at possible acquisitions. One of the possible acquisitions we were looking at tonight is a property that is called “the Egg Farm.”
A little bit about the Egg Farm … for those that run the Rock Creek or the Coal Creek Trails, you probably have hit 120th and noticed these trails both dead end there – about 250 yards (guess) from each other. Nearly everyone I have talked to has wondered if they could ever connect.
Well they will and they will extend into this property called the Egg Farm, to east of those trails. Some references to hit in regards to this: Boulder County Open Space Trails site, the trail master plan from BoCO, the City of Lafayette site related to the property, the Lafayette Open Space and Trail Advisory Committee meeting where they discussed the property, and the Flagg Drive Community Association website.
Editorial pause: Holy crap. Look at that amount of web based information. I think for just a few minutes as to how difficult it would be to get that level of information from cities, counties and community associations even when I was in college as a grad student and am a bit blown away. Okay, senior moment done (for now).
There are plans to link up the Coal Creek and Rock trails, and then connect up to trails that head further north into Erie. The general connection is apparently targeted for 2012, with that reaching into Egg Farm as well (if I recall / heard correctly). Apparently, there are broader plans for this trail system to go all the way to the Platte River, but I need to research that a bit to find that vision on line.
The Egg Farm property actually lies unincorporated Boulder County, but very close to Broomfield (just to the west in Anthem), Lafayette (just to the east) and Erie (just to the North). BoCo and Lafayette acquired this property in the last couple of years, including water rights, to the tune of about 5 million.
Broomfield is being asked to consider buying into the ownership of the property (including that initial cost and on going maintenance to the property) and BOSTAC being asked to provide some recommendations to Council.
At tonight’s meeting there were several Anthem residents who were very much in support of assuring a connecting trail be provided from their community, just to the east into the connecting trail system. I could relate to their concerns because they current have to loop around on Rte 7 through Flagstaff to 120th to get to those trails. Anyone who has hit that shoulder on 7 (Baseline) knows that is pretty dangerous.
There was also some feedback that the cost of purchasing into the property is high, particularly when BoCo and Lafayette have provided connectors to other trails with us collaboratively in the past without (significant) purchase “into the property” costs. In other words, they own it, it is open space, they are good stewards of the land with a plan to put into trails by 2012 anyway.
So there is a question here: should BOSTAC recommend that this property be “acquired” (quotations given the partial ownership) by Broomfield or are there other property acquisitions that are more urgent?
In any case, I am stoked. I have been dreaming to do a run from my house to South Boulder Peak (and back) and this trail extension / connection plays nicely into that – albeit in the other direction. Think Lake Link, Rock Creek, that connector just west of Superior, High Plains, Marshall, Dowdy, Towhee, Shadow. Okay, I am tired thinking of that but – yeah! Definitely on the list for ‘11. RT is probably 40 miles.
Anyway, the other thing I got insight into tonight was a longer list of potential acquisitions that are being kicked around. I will look to visit each of these sites (running them as much as possible) and photo them up.
I'm a big believer in spending available money now on acquisitions (while land is still available and "affordable" - note the quote marks) and worry about amenities/trails later. I know folks want trails now (and so do I), but you can't put trails later through an office building or across someone's lawn. Once it's gone...it's gone. (I know there's a lot of different perspectives among the Boulder trail user communities...but they're a bit spoiled given the wildlands already protected and immediate access right from town.)
ReplyDeleteI'd say keep Broomfield $ going to yet-to-be-protected projects (get to the 40 percent!), tell BoCo that's your plan, and ask them to permit trail extension without "buying into" the property. Make clear to other county partners that Broomfield is committed to open space protection that complements the decades of work done by surrounding counties.
Jim - your thinking is pretty much aligned with mine. As BoCo and Lafayette have already purchased the land and I expect they will be good stewards of it, and that they plan to put a trail through it (most BoCo land is actually off limits), I don't see a lot of value in contributing the purchase now. It would be a different story if it were up for sale now. I'd rather see those dollars go to acquire other pieces that are not yet open lands.
ReplyDeleteThat is the broader goal that I think all these stakeholders are committed to.