Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates, Inc. President Cory Sutela provided MWTA’s position regarding the Broadmoor/City of Colorado land swap to City Council members via email on May 23, 2016.
Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates, a chapter of IMBA, is a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to create, sustain and advocate for quality mountain bike experiences for the riders of the Pikes Peak Region through advocacy, trail building, outreach and education.
Our board has analyzed the proposed land swap thoroughly, and we see significant benefits to the proposal, particularly the potential future benefit of the Chamberlain Trail extension, that will eventually connect our trail network to Cheyenne Mountain State Park.
We acknowledge that conservation easements are a legitimate and effective tool that Parks staff intends to use as an alternative to fee simple ownership of park property, as outlined in our Parks System Master Plan. We further recognize the Broadmoor as a legitimate, legal landowner and partner in this proposal. We expect that the Broadmoor would be a responsible steward of the Strawberry Hill property.
However, we cannot support the proposal at this time, because the details of the use of the land to be conveyed to the Broadmoor have not been specified. The number, type and design of new trails is not clear, nor is any kind of management plan. Without a comprehensive public master planning process on this property, it is impossible to evaluate the degree to which public use of the property will be reduced.
Therefore, MWTA requests that council defer a final decision on the proposal at this time. We cannot support a final approval of the swap without these details being clear.
Thank you for your dedicated service to our community.
With best regards,
Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates
