Conifer’s controversial Shadow Mountain Bike Park faces public hearings

Conifer’s proposed Shadow Mountain Bike Park is finally ready for public review by county officials. Both supporters and opponents of the controversial land use say they are ready.

During two hearings scheduled for September, county planning and committee members will vote on whether to approve a special use request to allow for the construction of a bike park with a lift.

Two hearings are scheduled:

• The Jefferson County Planning Commission will discuss the rezoning during a meeting on Sept. 11 at 6:15 p.m.
• The matter will then be discussed by the District Commission on 24 September at 9 a.m.

Both meetings will take place at the Jefferson County Administration Building, 100 Jefferson County Parkway, in Golden.

For park developers, approval is crucial. Although they would have to submit a more detailed development plan to the district, this is not possible without the green light for the special use application.

If that happens, developers Phil Bouchard and Jason Evans believe they could open the park in 2025.

“I think it will take about two years to get everything done,” Bouchard said. “We may be able to open to some extent next year, but the visitor center may not be ready then.”

Bouchard and Evans are proposing the downhill mountain bike park on 230 acres owned by the State Land Board on Shadow Mountain Drive, an idea that has faced fierce opposition from neighbors for years. The two men wrote their first business plan in August 2020.

The bike park they are planning with a lift would be the only one of its kind in Colorado. The plans include a reservation system, a parking lot for 300 cars, 25 kilometers of trails and a lodge. If the weather is good, the park would be open from April to October.

Bouchard and Evans believe the park would fill a gap in Colorado’s rapidly growing mountain biking community, and they are ready to move forward.

“To be honest, I don’t see any hurdles,” Bouchard said. “I can’t say what questions the commissioners will have for us. Our application is so large and long that they could look at it from many different angles. We are quite aware of the concerns and are prepared to respond to them. We are happy for those who support it.”

Opponents, meanwhile, claim that there are still a lot of hurdles for the developers to overcome – problems that they have investigated in detail.

“We are ready. We want to fight our war,” said John Lewis, a member of the group Stop the Bike Park. “We are as passionate about opposing it as they are about building it.” We have prepared for the public hearing and there are many people who want to testify.”

Opponents cite numerous environmental and safety concerns, including increased traffic on Shadow Mountain Drive, a potential increase in emergency calls and concerns about evacuation planning in the event of wildfires. In addition, they fear the park will harm the character of the community, what Lewis and others call its “sense of place.”

“We all live here because we want to, not because we have to,” said Lewis. “We came here to live in harmony not only with each other but also with the environment itself. This facility will completely destroy that.”

Bouchard disagreed, noting that people have raised similar concerns about Staunton State Park, which opened in 2013 and is attracting far more visitors than they expected for the bike park.

“The idea that people can’t live relatively close to a recreational property and still have peace and a sense of belonging is just not borne out by other examples in the community,” he said. “And the idea that mountain bikers are a disruptive user group is not true. People who spend between $5,000 and $15,000 on a bike generally aren’t smoking cigarettes and partying in a parking lot. Jason and I aren’t the kind of people who try to come into an area and destroy it. We come with a vision that we believe will have a positive impact on the community.”

At the top of the longtime residents’ list is the impact of increased traffic on narrow, winding Shadow Mountain Drive. The road has seven bus stops, they noted, and has a “high number of accidents” there, according to Jefferson County accident analysis studies.

“If they really cared about this community, all they would have to do is look at the number of accidents and deaths on this road,” said Barbara Moss Murphy, co-chair of Stop the Bike Park. “They would have known immediately that it is not safe here.”

Paul Olson, civil engineer and member of Stop the Bike Park, believes the project developers’ traffic studies are inadequate.

“The visitor numbers they estimated could be completely wrong,” he said. “They could be double or a quarter of the amount, with big implications in either case. Traffic volume determines how many bathrooms and how much water is needed; that’s the basis.”

Bouchard said the planned parking lot will accommodate fewer than 300 cars and all will require day pass reservations.

“In general, the projected traffic is within the limits of what Jefferson County has planned for Shadow Mountain Drive,” he said. “The park does not make the road inherently less safe.”

Opponents said each car could carry up to four passengers, which would bring the total to 1,200 visitors daily. And they believe the proponents’ estimate of the number of vehicle trips per day is too low because they don’t take into account drop-offs and special events, among other things. Their calculations show the bike park will generate 1,000 additional daily trips to Shadow Mountain Drive.

“And that’s a conservative estimate,” Lewis said. “The county already reports that there are 2,500 car trips on that road every day. Let’s just add another 1,000 trips to what is already one of the most dangerous roads in Colorado.”

Bouchard believes such numbers are unlikely and contradictory to the type of park they envision.

“We expect a couple hundred visitors a day on average,” he said. “We want people to have the best experience they’ve ever had on a mountain bike, and that includes feeling like they have enough space to ride.”

Opponents of the plan say the development would irreparably damage wetlands and wildlife habitats and displace not only the animals living there but also those migrating through the land.

“All the wastewater they generate when they cut 100 acres of land out of this hillside is going to flow into the wetlands,” Lewis said.

Bouchard acknowledged that developing a previously undeveloped site will have some impacts, but he said they will be managed. But he insists the proposed use is consistent with the state board’s vision for its properties, which provide money for Colorado public schools through leases.

“I think there’s a perception that this is like other public lands where we all have a say in how they’re used,” he said. “That’s not how the Colorado State Land Trust works. They’re trying to find uses that combine stewardship and revenue generation. I think the State Land Trust thinks this is a relatively environmentally sound use.”

Stop the Bike Park members say this will put a strain on the already overburdened fire district. According to Stop the Bike Park’s website, a medical study of a similar bike park recorded 75 medical transports in one season.

Additionally, because the property is owned by the Colorado State Land Board, it is not subject to property taxes that would benefit the Elk Creek Fire Protection District.

The developers counter this on their website, stating that they will have first aid personnel and a rescue center on site to respond to incidents in the park. They point to statistics that show that very few visitors to managed bike parks require medical transport.

Both sides claim they have plenty of support. The Stop the Bike Park petition with over 5,000 signatures proves this.

“If the county commissioners listen to the voters, they have the power to fix this; they can stop this from happening,” Murphy said. “And that’s what we’re counting on.”

The special use application will be forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners regardless of the Planning Commission’s vote, and the Commission will consider its recommendation. The Planning Commission could also pursue the application further.

If both commissions approve the use, Shadow Mountain Bike Park could apply for a zoning ordinance that would include specific construction details and permits.

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