The Oct. 16 meeting of the Woodland Park City Council is shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent memory.

The Council approved two ordinances on first reading during the Oct. 2 meeting, sending them both to a public hearing at the next meeting, which will be Oct. 16. Both concern major acquisitions by the city.

The first will decide whether the city will purchase the property adjacent to Bergstrom Park which will allow the planned expansion of the park and, more so, the parking. The second will allow the city to purchase Shining Mountain Golf Course and a sizeable amount of property surrounding it.

Also passed on first reading were budget adjustments to pay for the purchases. Those will also be subject to a public hearing on Oct. 16.

Bergstrom Park and Shining Mountain have been the subject of considerable discussion at recent meetings.

City manager Aaron Vassalotti previously said the Bergstrom project would allow the city to have 71 parking spaces in the area, including accessible, EV charging and RV parking. Bergstrom Park currently has 19 parking spaces.

“This creates quite a bit of opportunity for the city,” Vassalotti said. “It’s a tremendous amount of additional parking.”

The possibility pf purchasing the Shining Mountain property has been met with excitement from several segments of the population.

The 355-acre property “is such a big parcel, with so much more potential than golf,” said Chris Gonzales, who leads Teller Trail Team, a nonprofit aiming to expand recreation in Teller County.

The council will consider a $3.2 million price tag for thew property during the public hearing. The golf course has been listed at more than $6 million in recent years.

“I can just imagine people saying, ‘What? You’re spending $3 million on a golf course?'” said Jerry Smith, another local outdoor advocate.

But the property could “greatly” benefit non-golfers, he said: “Whether it be hiking or more biking trails or cross-country skiing, I think there’s a lot of opportunity.”

Indeed, “the city is thrilled with the potential for outdoor recreation opportunities,” Vassalotti said, adding “the land is incredibly beautiful.”

After last month’s presentation, councilmember, Jeffrey Geer said the acquisition posed “a really monumental moment” for Woodland Park. That was how officials last year described the acquisition of Avenger Open Space.

The size and accessibility could make it unlike any other park or open space in Woodland Park, Gonzales said. The golf course “has been on my wish list for a while,” he said.

It’s the kind of property he had in mind when he launched Teller Trail Team in 2022.

“There’s not a lot of large parcels like this right here in Woodland Park, just because we’re surrounded by so much (national forest), which is a blessing,” Gonzales explained, “but it also in some respects limits the possibilities for expanded recreation within the city.”

What could management look like?

“The city will need more time to evaluate options,” Vassalotti said. “However, the current intention is to continue running the course as an 18-hole course and continue to program the event center.”

For the course, event center and restaurant, Penland has imagined a city enterprise — a self-sustaining business overseen by the local government, like other municipal golf courses. In the winter, Gonzales has imagined an operation around a Nordic center, perhaps like nonprofit Woodmoor Nordic in Monument.

And Gonzales has imagined the property becoming something of a hub for broader adventure in the surrounding national forest: “I think it could provide for some really interesting connectivity possibilities.”

In other business

The council approved an application to rezone a property at 309 Willow Street from urban residential to central business district. The rezoning allows the home there to be legally operated as a short-term rental.