Tonight was the big town hall meeting about Lyons connecting to Hall Ranch and to Heil Ranch. Originally, this was intended to be a pretty low key event between Boulder County and some folks around town, but the crowd ended up being over 100 people. If you've ever been to Lyons Town Hall, you know that building was waaaay over capacity!
Anyway, this was the first meeting of hopefully several more. We (the mtb community) walked away from the meeting with hopes of working positively with Boulder County in the near future. Boulder County has 2 brand new and one pretty new Commissioners. That's the position in the drivers seat with regard to County Open Space. In the past, the Commissioners have contiunally favored preservation over recreation to a fault. Despite the fact that the counties residents have clammored for more outdoor recreation, the County has roped it off from the people.
Tonight could mark a turning point. Boulder County came to Lyons to present folks the idea of a trail going from Lyons to Hall Ranch and a trail going from Lyons to Heil Ranch. Most of the folks there were very opinionated and some groups (the local NIMBYS) were coordinated and well represented. Lots of bikers were present as well. It was mostly an informative session and nothing "real" came of it.
Perhaps the best thing, though, is that Boulder County officials realized that they were overwhelmed with folks sick of the County not listening to it's constituents. Hopefully, this will lead to a more progressive era in County politicking with regards to land management and recreation. I've got my fingers crossed.
4 comments:
Hey, thanks for posting that up, I completely spaced it. Hopefully some good things will continue to develop!
Wow, sounds like the turnout was really great. Sorry I missed it, but the thought of being able to connect Heil and Hall is very appealing to me.
It was good to see so many folks interested (one way or another) in the project. The County realized that it has a very, very major undertaking ahead of itself. All good things. The plan is (probably) to connect Heil to town and to connect Hall to town. Not necessarily a thru way connector, but good enough!
That map is the Lyons POST plan. POST = Parks Open Space Trails. It's the master plan that we want to follow in the Pathways Commission. It's really a dream map, as the area is riddled with interesting property boundaries and unyielding landowners.
Pretty much everything on that map is Town of Lyons, not Boulder County, fortunately or not. With regard to the Eagle Canyon to Stone Canyon trail, we've started the process going on the middle section. We're currently working with landowners and neigbhors to work on the feasibility of the project. If built, it would go from the new playground way up on Steamboat Valley Road, connect on the north side of all of the neighborhoods, then dump back into town just North of the Outlaw Saloon. This particular trail has a very good chance of happening. I'll keep you all posted -we'll need volunteers for sure.
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