A year-long review studied parking and traffic conditions at Steamboat Spring’s historic park while a charrette process sought feedback from users about the complex’s future.
There were more than 417,000 visits to Howelsen Park from nearly 124,000 different people last year, according consultant-gathered data presented to Steamboat Springs City Council on Tuesday.
These numbers are based on human mobility data gathered by Massachusetts-based consultant SE Group and include all types of park users, whether they were a spectator at a weekend rodeo or someone skinning up Howelsen Hill on a weekday morning.
Ayden Eickhoff, a community and recreation planner with SE Group, said this level of usage is a 16% increase from 2021, though just a 1% increase from 2022. The data also estimates roughly 30% of people traveled more than 90 miles to get to Steamboat Springs’ main park, while another 50% came from people within 10 miles.
The data presented Tuesday is part of a larger effort that dates back more than a year to study current conditions at the park with an eye to the future. There have been several attempts to build new amenities like a second sheet of ice or a strength and conditioning facility in recent years, though nothing has gotten over the finish line for various reasons, some of which the study hopes to better understand.
In addition to usage data, consultants and city staff presented results of a parking and traffic study, feedback gathered in a survey of more than 1,800 park users and potential projects discussed as part of a charrette process over the last year.
City leaders say they want to use this information to inform future decisions at the park — conversations that often force them to weigh the needs of heavy users of amenities with a broader community desire to maintain the history and character of the complex. The complex already includes North America’s oldest continuously operating ski area, Howelsen Hill, in addition to the ice arena, rodeo grounds and several ball fields.
“The overwhelming feedback that we get from the community every time we go through that type of exercise is preserve the character,” said City Manager Gary Suiter, referring to master planning of the complex. “If you think about adding a second sheet of ice and a competition services building and a new stable building and a field house and a strength and training center, the community is not going to accept that.”
“It’s the 10 pounds of flour… in a five-pound bag,” Suiter continued, referencing an earlier comment from Steamboat Springs Pro Rodeo’s Brent Romick.
The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club is one of those heavy users and has expressed its desire to expand amenities for their athletes as well as club staff at the park in recent years. Brian Krill, the executive director of the club, who has been in the role since July 2023, said the charrette process with other stakeholders helped them identify development opportunities that could be used by several groups, not just one.
“The process has really helped me as a new leader to make sure that the plans for the club are embedded in community needs as much as they are our needs,” Krill said. “I learned early in my career that organizations don’t have needs, they serve needs. With a well-designed, well-placed, well-managed collaborative facility, we could serve more needs for youth sports in this community.”
Attempts for development at Howelsen have often sought funding through public-private partnerships of late. A recent example would be the Pro Rodeo Series paying to add more bleachers to the rodeo arena, a project that is on the city’s capital improvements budget for next year and won’t require city dollars.
While there were no sweeping decisions from council on Tuesday, members generally agreed with a suggestion from Council member Joella West that they need to address some of the “low hanging fruit” solutions related to parking and traffic flows. The study showed that many events — a term that applies to large activities like the Free Summer Concert Series and smaller ones like adult recreational volleyball leagues — are pushing the limits of what the complex can accommodate.
Still, a survey of more than 1,800 park users showed that 87% of them felt they were generally able to find parking, and options to expand parking didn’t appear to draw much enthusiasm among council members. Adding better signage to direct drivers to parking and improve traffic flows appeared was more popular.
“There was a lot of discussion in the report about pick up and drop off and lighting, to make it safe for people, kids especially who are going to be there at night,” West said, referencing other smaller projects like wayfinding as well. “That’s something that we actually can begin to work on and not wait for private parties to come in and say ‘I have a dream.’”
Looking forward, Suiter told council that the various user groups are always looking to the future, and that these partnerships often come naturally and not because council directed them.
“The user groups, all you guys here, now have the data at your fingertips to come to us and sell it,” said Council member Michael Buccino. “The data that we just spent money on and got here is for everybody.”
Survey Results
Caption: This map shows where users of Howelsen Park came from in 2023. (SE Group/Screenshot)
Three-quarters of respondents to the survey say they participate in formal programing at Howelsen Park and 63% of them say they visit the park at least once a week.
The survey, which was available in both English and Spanish, saw respondents score priorities like clean and well-maintained facilities, restrooms and free of charge recreation opportunities the highest. Priorities like offering free Wi-Fi and creating additional paved paths as the lowest, though they still had more than 50% of respondents scoring it a four or five out of five.
When asked about projects, the survey asked the question in a different way. Rather than a one to five ranking, respondents said whether the did not support, somewhat supported or strongly supported a project.
An indoor field house saw 40% of respondents strongly support it — the highest of the five mentioned — though this is unlikely to happen at Howelsen due to limited space. The voter rejected plan for Brown Ranch included more than eight acres to build a facility like this, often referred to as the Steamboat Sports Barn.
An expanded ice rink was at 38% of respondents with strong support, a new indoor strength and conditioning facility was at 32%, expanded rodeo seating was at 22% and a competition services building was at 18% strong support. That last project is a request from the rodeo, but could also be used by the Winter Sports Club in the winter while also adding additional restrooms.
Eickhoff noted that respondents got to submit written comments as well. In her presentation, she highlighted comments calling for new amenities to be available to the public and not just specific groups, concerns about overdevelopment of the park and the desire to preserve the history character of Howelsen. Eickhoff also noted that numerous comments also talked about the need for more indoor recreation facilities, especially for kids.
"There's a real lack of indoor spaces for kids who don't ski," one comment reads. "We need to address this to make sure all children have access to recreational opportunities."
Parking and Traffic Flow
Caption: This image shows a concept to increase parking that would require the removal of stable buildings that are currently part of Howelsen Park. (Mead & Hunt/Screenshot)
The parking and traffic study conducted for Howelsen Park over the last year shows that while special events are stretching the complex to its limits, the vast majority users surveyed said they are generally able to find a parking spot when they use the park. There are 634 parking spaces for the public, 47 for city employees and 25 that are ADA compatible.
Currently nine different events — a term used to describe one off events like the Emerald Mountain Epic and recurring ones like Rodeo or adult sports leagues — and a pair of events that overlap are pushing parking capacity above 85%, a capacity parentage that generally allows drivers to find a spot.
Paul Silberman, a consultant with Mead & Hunt who presented the study to Steamboat Springs City Council, said when factoring in growth of these programs, an additional six events will also push parking capacity past that 85% mark.
“This is saying about 50% of those events experience near, or at capacity or above capacity parking demand now,” Silberman said, noting that this is an estimate based on data they collected over the last year for a portion of events. “In the future it could be up to 70% of those events if nothing is done.”
A key detail of the parking study is that not all of the parking spaces at Howelsen are counted for each event. The logic here is a parking space near Olympian Hall isn’t very useful for someone looking to attend a Steamboat Springs High School Hockey game in the ice arena. Consultants looked at the three lots closest to a particular event, not the whole complex, Silberman said.
The study makes three recommendations that are supported by user groups of Howelsen. The first is to improve signage directing drivers to various parking lots around the complex, a move that hopes to better utilize parking that is already available. The second recommendation is to improve bike parking, which at some to the busiest times like during the Steamboat Free Summer Concerts fall far short of meeting the need. That said, 72% of survey respondents felt bike parking was already adequate.
The third recommendation is to increase overflow parking at Howelsen, though council members did not appear enthused about any of the specific options presented.
One recommendation was to add about 60 parking spaces along Howelsen Parkway, the main road used to access the park. The issue raised with this solution is that people backing up to get out of these spaces would complicate already difficult traffic flow issues in the area.
Another idea was to tear down the stables in the back lot at Howelsen (typically used in the winter to access Nordic trails) in favor of 120 additional parking spaces. Council members noted that this solution may further complicate traffic flow issues in that area of the park. They also indicated a desire to know more about the history and potential uses of the stables before scrapping them.
The consultant also pitched a parking garage in downtown Steamboat as a solution, pointing to sites at Seventh and Yampa streets, Eighth and Oak streets or 10th and Yampa streets as potential locations for a multi-level structure with 200 or more spaces. Council members did not bring up prospects of a parking garage in their discussion.
Other options include trying to manage parking better with tools like paid parking, requiring parking reservations for the busiest events or better outreach about parking prior to large events.
Caption: This slide shows concepts for additional parking on Howelsen Parkway, though council members noted it may cause more traffic congestion. (Mead & Hunt/Screenshot)
Top Photo Caption: And overhead view of Howelsen Park gathered as part of a parking and traffic study conducted over the last year. (Mead & Hunt/Screenshot)