Sometimes they are at loggerheads. Arapahoe County, South Suburban Parks and Recreation District, the South Metro Land Conservancy, the South Suburban Park Foundation, and the cities of Bow Mar, Cherry Hills Village, Centennial, Columbine Valley, Englewood, Greenwood Village, Littleton and Sheridan don’t always agree on the issues before them – to say the least.
Greenwood Village and Cherry Hills Village have feuded with South Suburban Parks and Recreation about leaving the park district. The South Metro Land Conservancy wants to preserve properties that Littleton wants to develop. And Centennial and Sheridan are rushing to complete major commercial developments that will compete for sales taxes with both Littleton and Englewood.
But on one issue they are united: They all want to enhance the natural areas and recreational experiences along the South Platte River.
Last September, 16 local governments and organizations came together to develop a 20-year vision for the river as it flows through Arapahoe County. The planning effort was funded by an open space sales tax passed by county voters in 2003.
Susan Beckman, the Arapahoe County commissioner who initiated the effort, says it’s important for the more than 2.8 million people who use the river in the metro area each year. The effort comes at an important time, she points out, because there is increasing development along the river within the county, and ever-heavier use of the river corridor. “We have a little bit of time in history to preserve this precious resource,” Beckman states. “We also have a window in time to protect water quality, connect trails, preserve wildlife habitat and improve recreational experiences,” such as kayaking, fishing, picnicking, hiking and biking.
Initial meetings led to the establishment of ground rules to guide the work of the South Platte Working Group, as the planning effort came to be called. Those rules addressed the most difficult issues likely to arise between participants, including the requirement that any property recommended for purchase or a conservation easement be required to have a willing property owner, and that land needed by a participating city for economic development would not be recommended for other uses. In addition, the working group agreed to place major emphasis on establishing east-west trails to connect people with the South Platte for both recreation and transportation.
After a series of meetings, participants have focused on key areas for buffers and conservation, to be purchased when funds are available, as well as a list of desired enhancement projects. By March, the working group was ready to submit a concept paper to Great Outdoors Colorado, seeking a $7 million legacy grant. (GOCO, which was formed by a statewide amendment to the state constitution in 1992, receives half the proceeds from the Colorado Lottery. Legacy projects are large grants made for projects of regional or statewide significance.)
The concept paper points out that the legacy grant would be heavily leveraged: The $7 million would be matched by over $20 million from the partners in the project. Arapahoe County has pledged more than $3 million, South Suburban Parks and Recreation District has pledged over $4 million, and lesser amounts have been pledged by the cities of Sheridan, Englewood and Littleton, the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, the South Suburban Park Foundation and the Trust for Public Lands.
In June, the South Platte Working Group will formally request a legacy grant with the GOCO board, with a decision on their application expected in the fall. In view of the countywide cooperation that has gone into developing the application, and the almost 3-to-1 leveraging that a GOCO grant would receive, officials are optimistically awaiting a positive decision.
Even if the legacy grant is not approved, however, the cooperative model established by the working group is expected to be useful for future projects, providing a template to help reach agreement about the enhancement of other key areas within the county. (Seventeen Mile House, the Cherry Creek corridor and the Highline Canal trail come to mind.)
It’s also a template that could be used effectively by other counties as they seek to enhance the open space and recreational amenities in their jurisdictions.
