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Significant areas such as Palmer Park and Garden of the Gods Park were donated many years ago and those donations remain as the largest source of public open space. However, significant donations have plummeted since the late 1930s. Communities in the Pikes Peak region have developed trails and open space master plans and update them periodically . These address the funding, acquisition and development of additional trails and open space. However, funding of the implementation of these plans has always been a problem. Other means to acquire public open space include purchase, leasing (Section 16), trading or land dedication; however, the growth of open space has not kept up with the population growth or development. Private open space may be secured through open space tracts, preservation areas, conservation easements or land trusts.
Trail corridors in the region are acquired through many of the same mechanisms as open space and built through a variety of funding sources. Most of our neighbors along the Front Range have dedicated trails and open space funding resources. In the Pikes Peak area, only Manitou Springs in the Pikes Peak area has an open space and trails tax. Trails are very expensive to build, as much as $100,000 a mile, with land acquisition and bridges adding to the cost. Only a few trails are funded through grants from the Colorado Lottery or the Federal government, but these require significant local matches, so only a few miles of trails get built every year. Only 50 miles of the City of Colorado Springs Trails Master Plan have been built. It has been estimated that under current funding, it could take between 40 and 100 years to complete the trails network. Other communities have the same restrictions.
Open space acquisition faced many of the same problems. There were no dedicated funding sources and most of the open space faces development pressures which makes it very expensive to acquire.
The City of Colorado Springs passed a one-tenth of one percent sales tax in April of 1997 to provide funding for trails, open space and parks (TOPS). It is estimated that this tax could raise as much as $80 million over the twelve year lifetime of the tax. In 2004, voters overwhlemingly approved extending the TOPS tax through June 2025. TOPS requires at least 60% of the funding to be for open space and no more than 20% for trails and 20% for parks. The TOPS Working Committee, a 9-member citizens group, was formed to research and develop priorities for funding. They receive input from three technical teams, representing each of the three areas eligible for funding - trails, open space and parks.
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