Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- Time for a TurnaroundWell, my friends, things are finally looking up, and good timing, too, since I’m sure you’re all sick of me bitching. Recent bike build, including wheels… fun! In what feels like a fairly short time, I’ve come from sitting around … Continue reading → […]
- This Raised My PulseHey, baby… wanna ride? I may be injured, but I’m not dead yet. I can still have racy thoughts. Here’s more info. In other news, UBI was an awesome success! I had a blast. I highly recommend it. Overhaul day…. … Continue reading → […]
- Time for a Turnaround
- Edgy Veggie
Boulder leaves 1,000 acres of would-be open space on the table
Marla Dowell walks her dog, Paisley, down the Mesa Trail in Chautauqua Park, open space owned by the city of Boulder. (Mark Leffingwell, Daily Camera)
Boulder has pulled the plug on four land deals that would have added 1,000 acres of open space to the the green doughnut of public property that surrounds the city.
Boulder made history in 1967 when residents voted to tax themselves to buy open space land — a first for the United States. Forty-two years later, the city owns more than 45,000 acres, and citizens are still taxing themselves.
Boulderites have given the city permission to go another $38 million into debt to buy more land, but grim sales tax revenues, a finicky bond market and ridiculously high land prices have acted together to grind the acquisitions program to a halt.
With no improvement in sales tax revenues this summer, the city let the contract on one property expire and put negotiations for three others on hold, meaning 1,000 acres of land remained in private hands instead of becoming public open space, according to a city memo on open space issues.
Ann Goodhart, division manager for real estate services for Open Space and Mountain Parks, said very few properties are on the market now, and those that are, are over-priced, in the city’s view.
“Sellers have not adjusted their expectations to reflect market conditions,” Goodhart said.
The upside for the city is that its inability to buy land now doesn’t mean it’s missing out on great deals.
“Clearly, there was a setback,” Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum said. “It may ultimately be in our favor if property values start to reflect what we see as the new economic reality.”
One question before the city is how to prioritize purchases when there isn’t enough money to buy all the designated land. At current land prices, it would take $100 million to purchase the remaining 5,815 acres, Goodhart said.
Read the full story at DailyCamera.com.
Judy Freeman rides the Canyon Loop Trail at Betasso Preserve in March. (Marty Caivano, Daily Camera)
Meanwhile, Boulder County voters will decided whether to extend an existing open space sales tax this fall to support more land acquisition.
The county’s Parks and Open Space Department also has plans to begin constructing a new trail on land they purchased last year at Betasso Preserve.
The new trail, which will make another loop connected to the existing 3.2-mile Canyon Loop Trail’s north side, will be built on the 391-acre Benjamin Property, bought and added to the popular Betasso open space last year.
“They’re doubling the trail that’s up there, which still isn’t a whole heck of a lot,” said Mike Barrow, head of the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, which will help construct the trail on Oct. 17. “It’s going to be challenging terrain, and it’s going to be pretty difficult to build up there.”
The Betasso Preserve is one of the busiest open space properties owned by the county, seeing up to 70,000 visits a year by mountain bikers, hikers, equestrians and dog walkers — which, in the past, has added up to a lot of user conflicts. To address the problem, the open space department closed the Canyon Loop Trail to mountain bikers on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and made the trail one-way for bikers.
Read the full story at DailyCamera.com.
Tip Jar
Like what we're doing? Got a spare sawbuck? Help us pay for site maintenance and reporting and we'll think happy thoughts about you sometimes. $100 gets you a personal, paperless thank-you video from Dave and Laura! $500 gets you... five personal, paperless thank-you videos from Dave and Laura and a tote bag!One Response to “Boulder leaves 1,000 acres of would-be open space on the table”
[...] the city has walked away from three land deals totaling 1,000 acres (see post below). Now, the city is talking about raising cash for open space by charging those who [...]