Park letters kick up dust

County commissioners are upset over letters two Democratic state lawmakers sent to parks officials opposing a motorcycle park proposed for eastern El Paso County.

Commissioners say neither Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, nor state Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, contacted them to discuss the park before or after sending letters to Harris Sherman, director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and members of the state Parks Board.

The board will decide today whether to grant the county $320,000 for the park proposed for the Corral Bluffs area along Colorado Highway 94 east of Colorado Springs.

“This is a situation where their special interest groups have influenced them into trying to alter the process,” Commissioner Jim Bensberg said. “And it is not right and it is not fair.”

The proposed location is in neither Morse’s nor Merrifield’s districts, but they say they wrote the letters in response to constituent concerns.

“I just think it is interesting that legislators think communication only goes one way,” Commissioner Sallie Clark said.

Morse and Merrifield said they didn’t contact county commissioners about the project because the grant application was going through the state approval process.

“Interestingly, the county commissioners have never consulted with me in respect to county business,” Morse said. “Why am I expected to consult them with respect to state business?”

Merrifield’s Jan. 30 letter outlines many of the opposition’s main issues with the project, including the Corral Bluffs’ unconfirmed geologic and paleontologic significance.

“I feel that there are just too many unknowns on this project for it to proceed as planned,” wrote Merrifield, a cyclist and open space advocate. “The project has generated unnecessary negative publicity and hard feelings.”

Merrifield said Thursday he wasn’t trying to disrespect county commissioners by expressing his concern to the Department of Natural Resources.

Morse’s Feb. 4 letter calls public funding for the park “questionable” and urges careful consideration of the proposal.

“Unless the grant proposal reflects specific intent to responsibly manage any impacts resulting from the OHV park, it will be inappropriate to disburse public funds to the completion of this project,” Morse wrote.

Bensberg, a champion of the park, accused Morse of using his position as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, which plays a big role in drafting the state’s annual budget, to “unfairly influence” the grant process.

“I’m a state senator,” Morse said. “I have letterhead that includes the fact that I’m the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. To some people that means something and to others it doesn’t. And I let those chips fall where they fall.”

The State Parks Board will hear the county’s grant application at 8 a.m. today at the Embassy Suites hotel, 7290 Commerce Center Drive.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0232 or carlyn.mitchell@gazette.com