Steamboat Council to consider deal to purchase Slate Creek land for regional park and open space

City parks staff also plans to provide an update on a “unique” potential partnership with Trust for Public Lands to acquire more parks in Copper Ridge.

After delaying a decision to buy 187 acres of parkland on the city’s west side last fall, the Steamboat Springs City Council will consider a deal Tuesday to buy the land in the Slate Creek area for $5.25 million .

If the Council decides to proceed with the purchase, the agreement includes a two-year diligence period. This would give the city time to raise the funds needed to purchase the land through grants and allow it to forgo the purchase if unsuccessful. In exchange for the extended diligence period, the city would pay $200,000 in a non-refundable deposit.

The council met behind closed doors in May to discuss the potential purchase of the park and has another executive session on the agenda Tuesday. Discussions about purchasing the park were initially mooted last fall, but council members made no decision as of May.

“(The park) has some high ground on the north side of the property that is really flat and would lend itself really well to a regional park,” Matt Barnard, the city’s parks development director, said at the May meeting.

The city’s current concept for use of the parcel includes 46 acres for a regional park, 10 acres for secondary access to the nearby Brown Ranch and trailhead space, then an additional 131 acres of open space . City parks staff recently developed a new park acquisition process, which ranked the Slate Creek area second out of 14 reviewed.

The $5.25 million purchase price is the same as when council considered purchasing the land in October. That funding was a reserve at the time, but a staff report prepared for Tuesday’s meeting indicated the city intended to finance the purchase with a grant. The staff report says the city could forgo the purchase if a grant isn’t found, or it could choose to dip into its own coffers at that time.

Tuesday’s meeting agenda also includes an item regarding another park parcel called the “Copper Ridge Parcel.” The staff report says the parcel, which is not identified, was brought to the attention of the city’s parks acquisition committee by Trust for Public Land and The Nature Conservancy.

“This large parcel of land is currently for sale in the identified Copper Ridge area,” the staff report states. “Staff currently does not have (capital improvement) funds or direction regarding the Copper Ridge area, but a unique acquisition partnership with Trust for Public Lands has been proposed to the city for consideration .”