Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutagenda.council.worksession.20140722 CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION July 22, 2014 4:00 PM, City Council Chambers MEETING AGENDA I. Cozy Point - Site Visit Memorandum To: Mayor and Council Thru: Jeff Woods, Parks and Recreation Manager Thru: Tom Rubel, Parks and Open Space Director From: Austin Weiss, Open Space and Natural Resources Manager Date: July 10, 2014 Re: Cozy Point Site Visit Work Session CC: Steve Barwick, City Manager Jim True, City Attorney Summary: The City of Aspen Parks Department staff will be undertaking a master planning effort for the entire Cozy Point Ranch area in 2015. The scope of this plan will include the entire Cozy Point Ranch including the leased ranch property, the City managed Cozy Point Open Space, City and County owned Cozy Point South, the Aspen Mass Open Space and the City and County owned Mills Open Space. The goal of the planning effort will be to look at the long term vision for the properties, potential uses and how they connect and interact with adjacent publicly owned properties. This site visit to the ranch will provide City Council with a more complete understanding of the Cozy Point Ranch and the surrounding public open space properties. Background: The City of Aspen purchased the Cozy Point Ranch property in 1994. The original intent of the purchase of this property was for the preservation of the agricultural heritage of the upper Roaring Fork Valley and as a possible location of additional P1 I. 2 affordable housing. In 2003, the property became a part of the City of Aspen Open Space program and was put under a conservation easement with the Aspen Valley Land Trust. This conservation easement is intended to protect the property from further development but does not prohibit the property’s existing agricultural, equestrian and other recreational uses. The property consists of approximately 60 acres of irrigated hay meadows and pasture lands, 30 acres of equestrian facilities and 70 acres of rolling sagebrush shrub lands. Other than the historic ranching and equestrian operations, the property also has an active archery range and has recently become the home of a four season greenhouse that is being used for community supported agriculture. The City of Aspen currently leases out a significant portion of the property for the actual ranching, and equestrian operation with Cozy Point Ranch, LLC, which is managed by Monroe Summers and is effective until 2020. Along with the ranch management services that are provided, Cozy Point Ranch, LLC offers kids equestrian camps throughout the summer, year round horse boarding services, sustainable gardening workshops, and dog sledding and Skijoring events in the winter. Discussion: Parks Department staff feel that it is important to undergo a master planning process for this important community property and to look at how best to manage this Open Space property. In recent years, both the City of Aspen and Pitkin County have acquired numerous important properties that connect to Cozy Point Ranch and allow for many new uses than in previous years. On the south side is the 129 acre parcel Cozy Point South Property and the recently acquired 845 acre Sky Mountain Park. On the east side of the Ranch are the Aspen Mass and Mills properties which combine for an additional 67 acres of public open space. All of these properties together create an amazing network of public lands and trail access that now link to the Cozy Point Ranch. This collection of publicly owned open space properties is the result of an effective partnership between the City of Aspen and Pitkin County Open Space and Trails, which has facilitated acquisition opportunities that could not have been completed individually by each entity. The acquisition of Sky Mountain Park has changed the role of Cozy Point Ranch and all of these adjacent public lands. As a part of the purchase of this property, a thorough management plan was completed for not only the Sky property but the surrounding public parcels, including Cozy Point Ranch. The newly created trails on Sky Mountain Park have been tremendously popular and are designed to facilitate P2 I. 3 access from Cozy Point Ranch and the Intercept Lot. As a result, we are seeing significant use of Sky Mountain Park from these locations. As new equestrian opportunities present themselves within Sky Mountain Park, Cozy Point Ranch will become an important portal to all the neighboring open space properties. Staff also feels that the Cozy Point Property and adjacent open space parcels hold potential for any number of activities that the current parks inventory just can’t provide. Examples of these activities are horse jumping courses, Frisbee golf course, winter biathlon course and range, new trails or trailheads, expanded cross country ski trails, and bicycle facilities. The goal of this site visit will be to give City Council a better understanding of the existing facilities, the services provided at the ranch, the adjacent City and County owned open space properties and a complete vision of how these parcels all fit together. Staff will share their ideas and vision and discuss the potential for these important City of Aspen owned properties. Financial/ Budget Impacts: The Parks Department has budgeted $155,000 in 2015 for professional services for the Cozy Point Master Plan. Attachments: Exhibit A – Cozy Point Vicinity Map P3 I. Cozy Point Ranch Aspen Mass Open Space Mills Open Space Cozy Point South Sky Mountain Park Exhibit A Cozy Point Vicinity Map .Cozy Point Ranch City/County Own ed O pen Spa ce Trails 0 1,200 2,400600 Feet P4 I.