Heil Valley Ranch: Northern Trailhead Planning
Project Update - As of July 15, 2008
Project Background
In 2006, the Boulder County Commissioners approved
a northern trailhead location for Heil Valley Ranch, sited off of
Highway 66/Ute Highway in Lyons. The Commissioners acknowledged staff
concerns regarding implementation obstacles at this site, such as
expensive easement acquisition and bridge construction. The
Commissioners recognized that another undetermined trailhead site might
be more realistic to construct.
Among other locations, Bohn Park was briefly
considered as a trailhead location in the 2005-2006 planning process,
but was not fully analyzed by Boulder County because the Town of Lyons
indicated a desire to update the Master Plan for the Park.
In October 2006, Boulder County and the Town of
Lyons were offered an opportunity to connect Bohn Park and Heil Valley
Ranch through the Olson property. The Town negotiated the Boulder
County purchase of the Olson property, which allocated approximately
110-acres for future parks and open space (see map of Northern Trailhead
Opportunities). Highlights of the Olson Property purchase agreement,
signed by Boulder County and the Town of Lyons, include:
·
For successfully negotiating the Olson property purchase,
the Town of Lyons received fee ownership of 10 acres adjacent to Bohn
Park;
·
By 2014, the Town has an option to purchase an additional
10 acres south of Bohn Park at a reduced market price; and
·
The Town will work with Boulder County to locate a
trailhead “on Town property, in the vicinity of Bohn Park.”
Since the Olson purchase, Boulder County Parks and
Open Space has rekindled planning efforts for a Northern Trailhead to
serve Heil Valley Ranch. Boulder County is currently analyzing
five
sites (1.2MB pdf) for the Northern Trailhead.
POS staff worked with the Town of Lyons staff to
designate alternative sites that would fulfill the "on Town property, in
the vicinity of Bohn Park" clause of the Olson Property purchase
agreement. These locations are the 'Valley Bank' and 'Bohn Park' sites.
An interdisciplinary team of POS staff identified other sites that would
fit the requirements of a secondary trailhead and include the 'Hall
Triangle', 'Lyons High School/Town Option', and 'Olson' sites.
Staff anticipates this secondary site to
accommodate about half of the visitor traffic seen at Hall Ranch and
Heil Valley Ranch. Based on recreation use at Heil Valley Ranch and Hall
Ranch over the past five years, staff anticipates the use at this
secondary trailhead to attract between 26,000 and 18,000 visitors a year
to this secondary trailhead, with an average of 37 to 25 vehicle trips
per day.
The goals for the design of this secondary
trailhead site should include:
-
Area for 30 vehicle and 3 horse trailer parking
spaces, with the possibility of future expansion, if necessary;
-
Link Heil Valley Ranch to the residents in and
around the Town of Lyons;
-
Serve as a connection from Heil Valley Ranch to
Hall Ranch; and
-
Limit impacts to the environment and
neighborhoods
POS staff evaluated the trailhead locations based
on POS design goals for the trailhead, the major issues identified
during public outreach activities, and cost. Please refer to the
Trailhead Location
Analysis report, which describes in detail staff's evaluation of the
five trailhead locations.
After the evaluation, the trailhead locations
ranked in the following order, from best location to worst location (two
sites tied for first place):
1. Olson Property
1. Bohn Park
2. Lyons High School/Town Option
3. Hall Triangle
4. Valley Bank
Staff recommends constructing the Heil Valley
Ranch northern trailhead on the Olson property, which ranked as one of
the best trailhead locations in the trailhead analysis. The Olson
trailhead location has many advantages. The trailhead would be on open
space, which is typical of other Boulder County open space trailheads.
From this trailhead, visitors enter directly onto Picture Rock Trail in
a bucolic environment, with prominent views of northern Heil Valley
Ranch. The location would accommodate vehicle and trailer parking and
future expansion. This proximity to the destination could minimize
indirect impacts, such as parking in neighborhoods, which were
anticipated for other trailhead locations. POS would commit to
implementing mitigation to eliminate transportation and public safety
concerns related to this location. Although this trailhead location
would yield some negative impacts to the neighborhood because of
increased traffic on local roads, POS recommends this site for the Heil
Valley Ranch northern trailhead.
The "Bohn Park" trailhead location also had one of
the best scores; however, the site is not expandable and the ability to
secure Town of Lyons approval is not certain. Also, because of current
budget concerns in the Town, this location would result in trailhead
parking being constructed well before the Town of Lyons would have the
funds to construct additional parking for Bohn Park activities. The net
effect would be that the trailhead parking would remove most of the
available parking for daily activities within Bohn Park. This set of
current circumstances makes Bohn Park a poor choice for the trailhead
location.
Staff is also supportive of the "Lyons High
School/Town Option" location as an alternate to the Olson trailhead
location. This location ranked as the second-best site for the
trailhead. Although the cost for this location is substantially more
than the other alternatives, the visitor experience at this location,
the room for future expansion and the opportunity to partner with the
school district to co-locate parking for complimentary uses, make this
an attractive alternate to the Olson site. One issue worth mentioning is
that the school district has been interested in partnering with POS;
however, the School Board may not support the project. Staff will
receive more information about the School Board's position in August.
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Public Involvement
Parks and Open Space (POS) opened public comment for the Heil Valley
Ranch northern trailhead project at a public meeting in Lyons on April
29, 2008. POS
staff presented six alternative locations (10.5MB pdf) for the Heil
Valley Ranch northern trailhead and solicited feedback from the public.
Approximately 81 people attended this meeting, 20 submitted comments and
many others asked questions of staff.
Following the meeting, POS took public comment on the trailhead location
from April 29 through June 20, 2008. The comment period was extended
from one to two months, due to a change in the feasibility of the
trailhead option #1 (see
map; 1.3MB pdf).
We received 155 comments from individuals and stakeholder groups sent
by email, phone, letter and given at the April public meeting.
Surprisingly, only one-third of the comments we received specified a
preference for the location of the trailhead. Of the stakeholder groups
that wrote in: the Town of Lyons supported location 5, through a motion
passed (5-1) on May 19, 2008; Boulder Area Trails Coalition (BATCO)
supported location 6; and the Boulder County Horse Association (BCHA)
supported location 6. Many members of the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance
(BMA) submitted individual comments about this project and were
supportive of the work POS is doing to construct the Picture Rock trail
and find an equitable trailhead location.
The locations with the most support were numbers 5 and 6. Locations
earning the most opposition were 6 and 5, in that order.
Trailhead location preference, by percent of total comments
|
Trailhead Location |
Support |
Opposition |
|
2 |
3% |
3% |
|
3 |
5% |
3% |
|
4 |
4% |
3% |
|
5 |
16% |
4% |
|
6 |
6% |
9% |
One third of the public comments contained a
preference for the trailhead location, though all of the comments
contained discussion points about the benefits and drawbacks of the
alternatives. Below are the principal public issues for each option:
Trailhead Location 2
|
Pros
|
Cons
|
- Location
would generate an economic benefit to Lyons businesses.
|
- Location
too far from Heil Valley Ranch and would create a poor
visitor experience.
|
|
|
- Would
increase traffic and more uses into the Lyons trail system
|
Trailhead Location 3
|
Pros
|
Cons
|
- Bohn is
already a recreation destination and has parking.
|
- Lyons
would lose control of the Park.
|
- Location
would generate an economic benefit to Lyons businesses.
|
|
|
Trailhead Location 4
|
Pros
|
Cons
|
- Close to
Heil Valley Ranch and Hall Ranch.
|
- More
recreationists would be on the road to reach destination
trail.
|
|
|
|
- Location
would generate an economic benefit to Lyons businesses.
|
|
|
Trailhead Location 5
|
Pros
|
Cons
|
- Location
would accommodate both vehicles and horse trailers.
|
- Cost of
this option is not good use of Open Space monies.
|
- Trailhead
traffic peak hours would alternate with the school peak
traffic hours.
|
- The
trailhead would negatively impact the quality of life in the
Lyons Valley Park neighborhood.
|
- Location
is easy and safe to access.
|
- Increase
in traffic would compromise neighborhood safety.
|
- Close to
Heil Valley Ranch and trail.
|
|
Trailhead Location
6
|
Pros
|
Cons
|
|
|
- Additional
recreationists and vehicles would significantly impact the
neighborhood character.
|
- Close to
Heil Valley Ranch and Hall Ranch.
|
- The
trailhead would negatively impact the quality of life in the
neighborhood.
|
- Additional
recreation use would not significantly impact the
neighborhood.
|
- Access
roads not safe for additional traffic.
- Increase
in traffic would create conflicts with existing recreation
uses on Red Gulch and Old South Saint Vrain Roads.
|
In addition to these themes, other issues regarding trailhead locations
were brought to the attention of POS in the public comments. All
comments will all be taken into consideration when staff analyzes and
recommends the secondary trailhead location for Heil Valley Ranch.
Return to Top of Page
Documents Related to this project:
Trailhead
Analysis Report
(9.9MB pdf)
Trailhead Opportunities Map
(1.3MB pdf)
Trailhead
Location Cost Estimate (27KB pdf)
April 29,
2008, Public Meeting Presentation
(10.5MB pdf)
2006
FAQ Sheet
(28KB pdf)
November 15, 2006 Open House Staff Presentation (1.9MB
pdf)
2006 Summary of Public Comments
(1.2MB pdf)
2006 Individual Comments
(22MB pdf)
Comments were submitted between October 2006 through January 2007
Contacts:
Summer Adamietz, AICP
Natural Resource Planner
Boulder County Parks and Open Space
sadamietz@bouldercounty.org
303-678-6271
Mary Olson
Landscape Architect
Boulder County Parks and Open Space
molson@bouldercounty.org
303-678-6186
Dave Cosgrove
Director, Lyons Department of Parks and Recreation
davec@townoflyons.com
303-823-8250
Other websites provide information for this project:
Design Concepts: www.dcla.net
Lyons Chamber of Commerce: www.lyons-colorado.com
Do you need background on the
North
Foothills Open Space Management Plan? Read the original management
plan and the
staff memo
(184K PDF) to the Board of County Commissioners for the January 12,
2006 public hearing.
|
