The move ends a long and at times controversial community conversation about the trails proposal with what council members said was what the majority of the community wanted.
The final dollars from Steamboat Spring’s 2A for Trails ballot measure passed in 2013 will largely be used to support the construction of trails on Rabbit Ears Pass proposed as part of the U.S. Forest Service’s Mad Rabbit project, City Council decided on Tuesday.
In a 5-2 vote, council members passed a resolution saying they would allocate a little over $1.6 million to support the construction of 13 different trails and amenities associated with Mad Rabbit. The remainder of the trail funding from the 2013 fund, nearly $270,000, will be used to pay for roughly half of a trail loop planned in Bear River Park.
Council members who supported the resolution said they believed the majority of citizens were behind them.
“I’ve gotten over 300 emails, but I must tell you, well over 60% of the emails I’ve gotten support 2A,” said Council member Steve Muntean. “The will of the people here, from what I’ve seen is that a majority of people support this, the science supports this, the experts support this. And so, I think we need to do what the community wants and overall, I believe the majority of the community wants this.”
The decision, which will still need an ordinance officially allocating the funding to the Forest Service, ends an at times controversial community conversation that dates back to at least 2018 when Mad Rabbit was initially proposed. The local importance of the issue was highlighted by the number of occupied seats in Centennial Hall on Tuesday, as people on both sides stayed up late for the conversation that didn’t start until about 9:30 p.m. and ended after 11 p.m.
The funding decisions made Tuesday align with what was recommended by the Council-appointed 2A for Trails committee, which includes members that have been working on how to allocate this funding for more than a decade.
“People are so against change in any form that these chambers are often a place to watch months and years and the work of public servants picked apart, torn down, reduced or eliminated entirely,” said Laraine Martin, executive director of Routt County Riders, a group that advocates for cycling in Northwest Colorado. “Keep it simple tonight and understand that with a vote to fund these recommended projects, you are choosing the best possible outcome.”
Council members Muntean, Joella West, Dakotah McGinlay, Amy Dickson and Michael Buccino supported the resolution. Council president Gail Garey and Council member Brian Swintek voted against.
“I’m clearly having a hard time with this one,” Garey said, just before calling the question, adding that she supported the science and the process that went into Mad Rabbit. “[I] agree there should be trails up on Mad Rabbit, but I think a small token of some of the money could have been spent more in the city.”
Photo caption: Supporters of using city trails funding for Mad Rabbit raise their hands to show their approval for a public comment in favor of the trails project. (Dakotah McGinlay/Courtesy)
Extending the Yampa River Core Trail to the west, a project that has partial-funding already, was not part of the 2013 ballot measure and cannot receive 2A for Trails dollars. Extending the Core Trail south to Legacy Ranch was included in that ballot measure, but was deemed unfeasible by the trails committee.
“We could use almost the entire fund to support a one-mile extension of the core trail,” said David High, a member of the 2A Trails committee. “We simply asked ourselves, how would the voters respond to that? It was unanimous that it would have been irresponsible for us to have spent the money on that section of trail as oppose to looking at all the other opportunities that we had.”
The committee scored each of the feasible trails based on metrics outlined in the 2013 ballot question, language that included the words “promote tourism,” and “enhance the vitality of Steamboat Springs as a premiere destination resort.”
This means the tourism value of trails was significant to the scoring matrix, with 18 of the possible 72 points on the scale relating to this pair of phrases. Another nine points related to enhancing the “economic health of Steamboat Springs.”
Seven of the 13 Mad Rabbit trails funded received a perfect score of 72. The other six each scored above 64. The southern Core Trail extension scored 42 overall, while a trail referred to as the Strawberry Park School Loop scored just 22.
Opponents of Mad Rabbit argued council should prioritize proposed trails within the city limits, with many of them referencing the Core Trail and the Strawberry Park School Loop — at times referring to the latter as a northern core trail extension.
“If you look at the scoring sheets from 2A committee, it’s dominated by promoting tourism,” said Larry Desjardin, president of Keep Routt Wild, a group that has long opposed Mad Rabbit over the impact they believe it will have on wildlife. “That may have been appropriate 10 years ago, but it isn’t the priority of the community today.”
Council member West noted that while promoting tourism may not be the community’s top desire anymore, the recommendations are in accordance with the 2013 ballot language.
“I’m sorry that we’re still dealing with tourism, but we are. That’s the ballot language that we have,” West said. “That doesn’t mean that we have to go out and advertise all of these trails to tourists.”
Council’s decision Tuesday does not fund all of Mad Rabbit, rather just portions of it that the committee deemed to be part of the 2013 ballot measure. Other aspects of the project, including an additional 20 miles of trails and the rehabilitation of 36 miles of unsanctioned trails, will need to seek funding elsewhere.
Top photo Caption: A map showing trails that are receiving funding from the city of Steamboat Springs' 2A for Trails ballot measure. (U.S. Forest Service/Screenshot)