Valmont Bike Park Approved!
Valmont Bike Park Approved!
City Council Approves Bike Park!
Work to begin decade after tax approved to purchase land
More than a decade after Boulder’s voters first approved a tax to buy land north of Valmont Road for a new city park, work to build a “bike park,” disc-golf course, dog park and a “tot lot” at Valmont City Park finally could begin next year.
The Boulder City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to give the go-ahead to a concept plan for the park. Boulder voters approved the tax to fund the “city wide” park in 1995.
“This is really a new era,” Deputy Mayor Crystal Gray said, referring to the multitude of uses the park will accommodate — from picnickers to mountain-bikers. “One of the key factors here is accessibility for all — for all different types of people to use it.”
The Parks and Recreation Department has most of the money to cover the anticipated $4.5 million price tag for the first phase of construction, which will include the dog park, disc-golf course, bike park and other amenities. A funding source hasn’t yet been found to pay for the second phase of construction, a $15.7 million project that would include athletic fields, an amphitheater, an “adventure playground” and additional infrastructure.
The parks department found much of the money to pay for the first phase of construction from the sale last year of two parks properties, which netted a little more than $3 million. That was a one-time windfall, City Councilman Matt Appelbaum said. “But how we go from there — that is definitely not so easy,” Appelbaum said.
When the Planning Board reviewed the Valmont park concept plan last month, some of its members said they worried the proposal focuses too much on “active recreation,” rather than passive recreation. But City Councilman Ken Wilson said the city — through its 41,000 acres of Open Space and Mountain Parks properties — already places enough emphasis on passive recreation. “I think (Valmont City Park) is where we need to focus our more active recreation,” he said.