[0:16] [music]

[0:22] All right, we'll begin the Canyon City

[0:25] Ballot Study Committee meeting. It's

[0:27] June 29th, six o'clock.

[0:31] And uh

[0:33] we have uh

[0:35] myself as the uh city council member

[0:38] here. I'm the chairman of the committee

[0:41] and uh Tammy's here, our director of

[0:44] finance and our committee uh members as

[0:48] well. We have one missing, but uh two

[0:50] missing. Bob Stovall uh couldn't make

[0:53] it, but he turned in his paperwork, his

[0:55] homework before he left. So, good for

[0:57] him. Um, so what we did, we uh have our

[1:01] opt option evaluation sheet, and what we

[1:04] can do is just name up name our top

[1:07] choices, and then we've turned in our

[1:10] option sheets to uh Jessica who created

[1:14] those. Thank you, Jessica. and uh we'll

[1:18] be evaluating those and presenting uh

[1:20] the findings to the uh city council on

[1:24] July 6th. So, we'll go ahead and get

[1:27] started. It should be a pretty short

[1:29] meeting. Um you want to start with yours

[1:33] top three, fourth, whatever those are.

[1:35] » Yeah. So, um I'll be honest, I apologize

[1:39] a little bit as well. I don't have all

[1:40] my homework done. Uh we had some stuff

[1:42] happening within the organization that I

[1:43] run that kind of got me crazy this week.

[1:46] So I apologize about that. Um but I do

[1:49] feel that there's some great projects

[1:51] that we have uh and I'm kind of curious

[1:53] what what can be done with that. I think

[1:56] there's possibility of still having a

[1:58] modest pool is uh strong and high on my

[2:02] list. I also am partial to the thought

[2:05] process of building some type of incline

[2:08] steps similar to Manitu on Skyline

[2:10] Drive. Um, and those are my my big two

[2:14] uh that we've got in Western and

[2:16] possibly Western Gateway as well.

[2:19] » Okay, great.

[2:22] Well, um the number one on my list is uh

[2:25] to continue to collect tax and build

[2:27] more modest pool which would uh create

[2:31] an economic value, attract future

[2:34] residents.

[2:35] Um, it would fill the need and desire

[2:38] for a public pool and it it affects the

[2:40] community at large, tourists and future

[2:42] residents.

[2:44] My second choice is the public works

[2:46] projects like sidewalks, creates safe

[2:50] public walking spaces, specifically in

[2:53] residential areas throughout the town

[2:54] and East Main Street.

[2:57] uh it creates safety for pedestrians and

[2:59] aesthetics for overall community and

[3:02] then it affects the residents overall

[3:04] community business property

[3:07] equity and homeowners businesses. My

[3:09] third choice would be the Western

[3:11] Gateway project which would expand

[3:14] recreation space along the West Arkansas

[3:16] River corridor. It would uh

[3:19] they would use the space otherwise just

[3:21] sitting idle idle. It affects u the it

[3:27] affects our residents, supports

[3:29] businesses, recreation, tourist and

[3:31] rafting companies.

[3:33] And uh but my number one by far would be

[3:36] to continue to collect the tax and build

[3:39] a more modest pool.

[3:42] » Okay. Thank you.

[3:45] » I'm gonna speak for Bob real quick. Um

[3:48] Okay. So Bob's top three picks were the

[3:51] western gateway, a modest pool

[3:54] or the economic development fund. And

[3:57] his fourth option would be Ar.

[4:01] And then for sorry myself uh in my top

[4:05] three I had started with a modest bull

[4:08] um the skate park but uh after kind of

[4:12] evaluating that it does tie into the

[4:14] Western Gateway project. So that might

[4:16] be something that comes later. So I

[4:18] switched that to the western gateway

[4:19] project for now. And then the third

[4:22] option was the inside on

[4:27] » The incline on skyline.

[4:29] » Hello.

[4:33] » Well, my choices were are

[4:36] keeping the sales tax money and continue

[4:39] collecting the pool.

[4:42] I mean, this may require some legalities

[4:45] to reuse the ballot question coming up

[4:49] because I don't know legally

[4:51] what we can do with the money. Um, and

[4:54] that's part of what we have to learn.

[4:56] Steve, I went back and evaluated the

[4:59] results of the election and the sales

[5:02] tax we all know, passed and the gold

[5:04] bond passed, but the mill levy failed.

[5:07] And when you look at the numbers of how

[5:09] people voted, it's very very close to

[5:12] 50/50.

[5:14] If we don't do something about the pool,

[5:17] this town is going to continue to be in

[5:20] battles over whether we should have or

[5:23] shouldn't have a pool and who should pay

[5:25] for it or shouldn't pay for it. So, I

[5:28] mean, it's been bad enough for the last

[5:30] few months, but it's going to get worse,

[5:32] I think, if we don't come up with a a

[5:36] good decision. I know there's several um

[5:39] petitions being started. I don't know

[5:41] what good they'll do. But anyway, my um

[5:45] my choice was to continue with the sales

[5:48] tax and to try to figure out a way and

[5:52] whether the park and wreck gets out of

[5:54] the food business like they said they

[5:56] wanted to do and let the city take it

[5:59] over over like I'm just reading now with

[6:01] the charter. Um I don't know the

[6:05] legalities of it. I'm only here in part

[6:08] to try to analyze things and see what

[6:10] might be best. I think it's best if we

[6:13] try to go forward with a modest pool,

[6:17] not the Taj Mahal, not the Cadillac, a

[6:20] pool similar to what was closed down to

[6:24] Vicabo.

[6:26] So that's that's my choice. My second

[6:29] choice if that fails or goes back to

[6:33] park and wreck and starts over again. Um

[6:37] if the city money if the tax money

[6:40] becomes our responsibility as city then

[6:44] I guess I would like to see it

[6:46] used towards the western Gateway

[6:49] project. And the third choice would be

[6:52] the John Vipen Reservoir project. And I

[6:55] chose both of those because I felt like

[6:59] it's the closest thing you can have for

[7:02] all the people and all the children to

[7:06] enjoy, not just a select few.

[7:13] Oh, my turn. So, I also did not do my

[7:17] homework, but I do know what my um

[7:22] would be.

[7:24] My top one would be to continue to

[7:28] collect for a modest pole. The next one

[7:34] would be clock tower because it is the

[7:37] closest to being ready to go out for

[7:40] construction.

[7:42] And then

[7:46] on the third one

[7:50] it it's going to depend on what future

[7:53] funding would look like. But um Western

[7:57] Gateway because I think that is probably

[8:00] the next project that we actually

[8:05] h have already been working towards and

[8:08] have something for. But if all we are

[8:11] going to have is the funds that are

[8:14] collected right now

[8:17] towards Western Gateway,

[8:20] you're not going to get very far.

[8:23] » Thank you.

[8:26] All right. Well, you before I give mine,

[8:29] you I think everyone's talked about the

[8:31] West. Oh, here we go. Your top three or

[8:33] four. Um,

[8:36] well, I I'm still kind of in the realm

[8:39] where it needs to be tangible. So,

[8:41] something that everybody can maybe see,

[8:43] utilize, something like that. Um, I I

[8:47] really feel like if it were to go back

[8:48] to the city, it's just going to dissolve

[8:51] into the ether and

[8:54] the sense of that being tangible is just

[8:56] gone. Um, and I think that there's a a

[9:01] mandate of sorts to do something

[9:03] functional with the money for the

[9:05] community. Um,

[9:09] I think the pool is

[9:13] obviously it would be great if it went

[9:15] through the pool and it worked as

[9:16] planned, but what we have right now I we

[9:20] can't build a pool with that amount of

[9:23] money, nor I mean we could contribute

[9:26] towards a smaller one, but um again it

[9:30] just kind of goes into the ether because

[9:31] it's there's so many more other barriers

[9:34] associated with that.

[9:36] So, with that said, um my top personal

[9:41] one would be like a skyline incline kind

[9:43] of thing. Um I think that we could do it

[9:46] for pretty costefficiently

[9:49] probably under $2 million. I would hope.

[9:52] Um I think it'd be a big boost. It would

[9:54] be kind of like a play and manu where

[9:56] it's obviously very long and you know,

[9:59] very difficult whereas this would be

[10:01] like our little mini version of it. and

[10:04] um people already naturally drawn the

[10:06] skyline anyway. It may be more of a draw

[10:08] and people could use it. Um two, I think

[10:12] that perhaps augmenting the river as it

[10:16] is right now and maybe accommodating

[10:18] like a a swimming feature there. Um

[10:22] Bubble actually just recently did

[10:23] something on a larger scale. Um but it's

[10:27] really impressive with what they did.

[10:29] They kind of kind of separated the water

[10:31] a little bit. I forgot the name of the

[10:33] water park, but um it's really cool. Has

[10:36] a lot of people going to it. It's safe.

[10:38] They built in some cool features to it.

[10:41] And my understanding was it was it was

[10:43] in the millions, but they did a really

[10:45] big project. I think that we could

[10:47] probably do something

[10:50] probably a little bit more economical

[10:51] than that. And then three, um I think

[10:54] that

[10:56] if we were to fund a special program or

[11:00] something like that for kids K through

[11:04] eight or even 12, maybe after school,

[11:06] we'd fund them for like the next three

[11:08] years or something like that. I think

[11:10] the money would go really far in that

[11:12] regard. But um those are my my top

[11:15] three.

[11:16] » Thank you.

[11:18] So, [clears throat] I wanted to bring up

[11:19] the Gateway Plaza because I've run into

[11:22] so many people that have no idea what

[11:25] that is. Absolutely no idea. Also called

[11:28] the riverfront initiative.

[11:31] Um, and on June 17th at a city council

[11:36] and planning commission meeting, uh, it

[11:39] was presented as the riverfront

[11:41] initiative. And uh I I'd encourage

[11:45] everyone to go back and look at that as

[11:49] you would our first meetings that define

[11:52] from our attorney that [clears throat]

[11:54] some of the tabor laws what we can and

[11:56] cannot do and uh how how this played

[12:00] out. So go back to our other meetings to

[12:02] look at that and uh with this one on

[12:04] June 17th city council meeting look at

[12:06] the riverfront initiative. Some of the

[12:09] things it included [clears throat]

[12:11] was an entry plaza. It's uh it's a large

[12:15] oversized vehicle put in takeout. First

[12:18] street bridge, western gateway,

[12:19] riverwalk, native meadow, shade and

[12:22] swing pavilion, event plaza, trailer and

[12:25] oversized vehicle parking, small vehicle

[12:28] put in and take out. Uh, a nature play,

[12:32] floater safe headgate, gravel beach,

[12:35] island bridge, boardwalk overlook,

[12:37] riverside drive, put in and takeout,

[12:39] redesigned diversion structure,

[12:42] Cottonwood Grove, Sand Creek Beach, and

[12:44] a picnic area, a Nicholls bridge, uh,

[12:47] Western Gateway soft surface trail and

[12:50] river portage. So there's a lot to that

[12:53] and uh I've got it printed here so

[12:55] you'll have see an idea the work that

[12:58] went into that. So what I did I compared

[13:01] that to a pool for example to our pool

[13:06] and I had for my choices I had the

[13:10] western gateway

[13:12] uh we had the safety and public works

[13:15] for our uh to fund our dice units. You

[13:19] know, we have our dice units working

[13:20] now. Uh that funding is going to run

[13:22] out. We have to match that for at least

[13:24] a year. Uh along with other safety and

[13:27] security initiatives. And then public

[13:29] works. We talk about sidewalks, roads,

[13:31] and such. Uh the economic and business

[13:34] aid fund to help businesses get started

[13:37] or expand here in town. And a and a

[13:40] pool. And I give you just a quick

[13:43] comparison what I did on the gateway in

[13:46] the pool.

[13:48] uh the you know when you add uh the 2026

[13:54] June 2026 report by the trust for public

[13:57] lands demonstrated a consistent 3 to1

[13:59] return on investment in community scaled

[14:01] public spaces every year according to

[14:05] PTPL for larger citycaled park

[14:08] investments the annual return on

[14:10] investments ROI benefit is even larger

[14:14] adding in the fact that Canyon City has

[14:15] an economy tied to outdoor recreation

[14:18] based on tourism. The expected ROI for

[14:20] investment in a park like that proposed

[14:22] for the Western Gateway site would be

[14:24] even greater, offering significant

[14:26] benefit to both the people and economy

[14:28] of Kenyon City. Investments in park

[14:31] publicly uh accessible open spaces have

[14:34] been shown to have greater relative

[14:35] return investments in public buildings

[14:38] as well as lower operating costs. The

[14:41] per acre scale of investment shown in

[14:42] the master plan of the gateway here is

[14:45] actually on the lower end of the

[14:46] national average of the parks of this

[14:48] type. The proposed plan is thoughtful,

[14:50] responsible, and communitydriven

[14:53] uh community large and small throughout

[14:56] the United States and in Colorado are

[14:58] recapturing their riverfronts, making

[14:59] investments in public access and

[15:01] recreation that lead directly to

[15:03] increases sustain uh vitality.

[15:07] uh the comparison the two broad projects

[15:10] uh I I wanted to see what the difference

[15:12] in community needs were and uh

[15:17] the long-term riverfront destination

[15:19] with multiple uses rather than a single

[15:22] recreational facility uh was one of the

[15:24] comparison

[15:26] and uh the consultant described a phase

[15:28] project centered on river access event

[15:32] spaces natural areas recreational

[15:35] amenities including ing playgrounds. Um,

[15:39] by contrast, a municipal outdoor pool

[15:41] primarily provides aquatic recreation,

[15:43] swimming, instruction, youth

[15:45] programming, and cooling during the

[15:47] summer months.

[15:49] Um,

[15:51] a riverfront

[15:53] park can be used by walkers, runners,

[15:55] cyclists, anglers, families, picnickers,

[15:58] festival attendees, kayakers, rafters,

[16:01] tourists, seniors, and people with

[16:03] disabilities for access to the trails.

[16:06] and uh an outdoor pool mainly serves

[16:09] swimmers and a limited capacity in year

[16:13] round [clears throat] use. The

[16:14] riverfront

[16:16] made usable throughout the year. It

[16:18] supports tourism downtown destinations

[16:22] and businesses.

[16:24] Um the master plan includes restoration

[16:26] enhancements of the river corridor

[16:28] through improved river access, habitat

[16:31] protection, landscape flood resilient

[16:34] design, open space preservation. It can

[16:37] be built in phases.

[16:40] Uh start with the playgrounds, the uh

[16:43] river access with the beaches and so

[16:46] forth. uh does have lower uh operating

[16:49] costs

[16:52] whereas [clears throat]

[16:54] there's more opportunities for grants.

[16:57] Uh a municipal outdoor pool has

[16:59] advantages. The comparison is not

[17:01] entirely one-sided. The pool prevent

[17:03] provides benefits. The Western Gateway

[17:06] project and cannot replace it. swimming

[17:08] lessons, water safety education, youth

[17:10] swim teams, aquatic exercise, senior

[17:13] water therapy, a place to cool off

[17:15] during the summer, and competitive

[17:16] swimming. These services became a

[17:19] community issue after the closure of the

[17:21] Echaban pool and the subsequent

[17:22] subsequent suspension of plans for its

[17:25] replacement. The property and the

[17:28] liability of the current Ekaban pool

[17:30] lies with the Canyon City Recreation

[17:32] District, which is separate a separate

[17:34] entity from the city of Canyon City. A

[17:37] lot of people don't realize that they

[17:39] think they're together. It's and the the

[17:42] recreation district was created in order

[17:45] to build and operate a swimming pool.

[17:49] Uh then I just went to a head-to-head

[17:53] comparison and u the Canyon City Rec

[17:57] District still has the ability to

[17:58] acquire the funds to build and operate a

[18:00] pool. So that was sort of one of the

[18:04] comparisons I did when I picked my four

[18:06] items out of what do we have 11 I think

[18:09] total. So that's what uh that was my

[18:12] pres my four picks for the pool. So

[18:16] again we'll present these and tally them

[18:18] up in the worksheets and then present

[18:21] them on July 6 to the city council at

[18:25] the city council meeting.

[18:28] Anything from the committee here? Any

[18:31] questions?

[18:34] » Can I say something real quick about

[18:35] » No, we're not taking

[18:37] » Nope. We're not taking uh questions

[18:40] today.

[18:41] » It's not a question.

[18:42] » Did you have something?

[18:44] You guys have something?

[18:47] » Okay.

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