Deadline passes for deal on Section 16 grant
The deadline passed Thursday for Colorado Springs’ Trails, Open Space and Parks program to have a deal in place to use a $1 million grant to buy the sought-after Section 16 property west of the city.
Great Outdoors Colorado, which uses lottery money to issue grants for open space, pledged the money but said terms of acquisition must be finalized by Oct. 1. The deadline was extended once before, in March.
TOPS director Chris Lieber said Thursday he has asked the organization to extend the grant once more, until March 31, to give the city and the Colorado State Land Board, which owns the land and leases it to the city, time to reach a deal.
Buying the 640-acre parcel has long been a goal of the TOPS program. The land board leases the popular hiking area to the city for about $40,000 a year, an agreement that expires at the end of 2010.
Negotiations to buy it broke down this summer after an appraisal exposed a gulf between what TOPS wanted to pay, $2.8 million, versus what the land board wanted, $5 million. Both sides have agreed to another appraisal this fall.
“From the land board’s viewpoint, we’re going to continue to get appraisals and get things lined up, either a lease renewal, which would continue the existing arrangement, or disposition of the property, which hasn’t been done yet,” said land board director Brownell Bailey.
Lieber expects an answer from Great Outdoors Colorado on the extension request as soon as Friday. The city would have to re-apply next year if it is denied.
