Forest Service Ice Park Deal Looming

Posted by Erin Eddy

October 03, 2008
By Samantha Tisdel Wright

City and Forest Service officials appear to finally be on the same page, regarding the city's proposed acquisition of U.S. Forest Service inholdings at the Ouray Ice Park.

Mayor Bob Risch met with USFS officials on Monday to discuss a recent proposal for the city to purchase slightly more than 20 acres of Forest Service land encompassing the Ice Park and the city's adjacent shooting range.

"Both sides want it done," Risch said. The city will conduct a survey of the area in the coming weeks, after which the Forest Service will need to conduct an appraisal before acquisition can move forward.

Two portions of the Ouray Ice Park are owned by the USFS, said OIPI Executive Director Erin Eddy: an area below the lower bridge, known as "Five Fingers," and the "New Frontier" further up the gorge to the south, toward the reservoir.

Risch estimated that the acquisition process would "slip into 2009," but was encouraged that the city's formerly stymied efforts to consolidate ownership of the park are finally inching forward.

"We missed it so badly last time," he said, referring to a former proposal by the city to purchase 40 acres of land in the area. This proposal included ice park and shooting range parcels as well as Forest Service land encompassing the city's water tank.

That proposal was jettisoned earlier this year when a USFS appraisal for the parcels came in at $870,000, a figure which City Administrator Patrick Rondinelli called "completely ridiculous and ludicrous" in that it disregarded the city's and county's own zoning regulations which prohibit development in the area, much of which is literally vertical.

The new proposal, agreed upon Monday, includes only that USFS land which is within the Ice Park's boundary, as well as the shooting range, which the Forest Service wants to get away from the business of permitting. Risch said that in this go-around, he is hoping the Forest Service will agree to use a local appraiser, more familiar with the area's particular real estate climate.

Four entities own land within the ice park: the City of Ouray, Ouray County, the Forest Service, and Eric Jacobsen who owns Ouray's Hydroelectric Plant and much of the land and infrastructure along the south rim of the gorge. The county currently retains administrative oversight of the Ice Park, a duty which County Administrator Connie Hunt is eager to pass off as soon as possible, she told USFS officials at a multi-jurisdictional meeting on Thursday.

Ice Park land acquisition is one of eight priority goals listed by city officials for the upcoming 2009 budget. Other items include the engineering and installation of a new water line from the Box Canon Spring toward the Hot Springs Pool, the replacement of 300 feet of damaged water main near Mineral Farms on Camp Bird Road, the construction of a second water tank, conversion to a Home Rule municipal structure, engineering and installation of of a new diversion in the Skyrocket channel, continued efforts to forward the cause of affordable housing, and adoption of a parks master plan.