Tuesday morning in the hills beyond Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs officials gathered to celebrate a promise of restoration.

It was in celebration of a scar to be healed — and money to perhaps accomplish it.

A $300,000 grant was announced as “instrumental” in the costly, complex process of Black Canyon Quarry’s pending reclamation. The grant comes courtesy the state’s Department of Local Affairs, through the department’s Energy and Mineral Impact Assistance Fund.

They are the next funds to join about $550,000 previously identified by the city’s Trails, Open Space and Parks (TOPS) program — the next toward a yearslong mission at the historic mine pit. It’s the red scar seen from Manitou Springs, amid the high terrain adjacent to Cave of the Winds Mountain Park.

Department of Local Affairs Executive Director Maria De Cambra arrived Tuesday morning to the scene of sweeping views of Pikes Peak and rolling canyons and remarked: “What a beautiful place to hike!”

It was, indeed, a day of dreaming about the possibilities here.

In a statement, Mayor Yemi Mobolade pointed to “remarkable reclamation” underway at Pikeview Quarry, the similarly historic mine that yielded material to build the city over generations. Greenery has returned to that scar on the city’s northwest side, as part of ongoing work by the owning company, Riverbend Industries.

“Once a stark reminder of industrial activity, that area is beginning to shed its former identity and blossom into a vibrant landscape,” Mobolade said. “And just like the Pikeview Quarry, with careful stewardship and planning, we aim to create a space here at Black Canyon Quarry that will reflect the natural beauty of our region.”

That will, if all goes accordingly, return people to a landscape long cherished along a trail lost to the 2012 Waldo Canyon fire.

The vision to transform Black Canyon Quarry into a gateway for Waldo and Williams canyons was laid out ahead of the city’s acquisition in 2020. Sallie Clark described it as “monumental” vision.

She’s the longtime community advocate and political figure now serving as a senior adviser to the mayor. Also a longtime resident on the Springs’ west side, she’s heard the buzz about Black Canyon Quarry’s potential.

“This would be a really monumental shift to be able to make this an open space,” Clark said. “But there’s lots of work still ahead.”

First and foremost: reclamation. The state-monitored task involves reshaping slopes, backfilling with soil, spreading seed and roots across the land and hoping for vegetation to grow — far from a certainty in Colorado’s dry climate.

The hope is to start reclamation before the end of this year, parks officials said Tuesday.

But however “critical” the additional $300,000 from the state, as Parks Director Britt Haley called the grant, she sounded uncertain about the total cost for reclamation.

“We will put it out for bid, and the market will tell us what it takes to get it done,” Haley said. “I think we are in the ballpark with the money that we have. But if we need additional money, we will certainly endeavor to make that work.”

Committed money amounts to around $850,000, including $450,000 from TOPS’ coffers built by sales tax portions.

At the time of acquiring the quarry in 2020 and negotiating the deal with Riverbend Industries as the head of the TOPS program then, Haley said she received estimates placing reclamation up to $400,000.

“Of course, prices have changed,” Haley said. “Inflation and all of that has changed.”

The question of skeptics back then continues today: Would an underfunded parks department be able to take on a level of reclamation it had never seen before?

The cost shooting beyond 2020 estimates was “disappointing,” Richard Skorman said. The longtime parks advocate sat on City Council in approving the Black Canyon Quarry acquisition as part of a complex, package deal with Riverbend Industries.

“We knew when we said ‘yes’ to this, that we really didn’t know exactly what it was going to be, and we knew it could be more of a burden than maybe people thought,” Skorman said. “We also knew if we didn’t say ‘yes,’ it was going to be difficult to reclaim Pikeview.”

Per the deal running nearly $9 million out of TOPS’ sales tax-generated funds, the city would take 163 acres in and around Black Canyon Quarry, including about 40 acres for reclamation. Riverbend Industries, meanwhile, would handle reclamation at the larger, steeper Pikeview Quarry, with a notorious history of slides.

The city would also gain 148 acres of parkland below Pikeview, expanding Blodgett Open Space. And if reclamation of Pikeview was successful, the city could decide on accepting the higher acreage and building an envisioned “world-class” mountain bike park there.

The deal was overpriced, Skorman has recognized — 5% above property appraisals. But he maintains the deal was “too important” to pass.

“To have major access like this, I think it’s critical to our quality of life, to our tourism economy, to the reasons people move here and love living here,” he said.

Around Black Canyon Quarry, Skorman said he could foresee a volunteer effort similar to one that swelled around the reclamation of Queens Canyon Quarry above Garden of the Gods in the 1980s and ’90s.

“I think there could be a private fundraising effort, especially if it could be really spelled out what it’s going to mean and how it’s going to look,” Skorman said.

Steve Rauch struggles to see the vision at Black Canyon. He is among concerned residents in the surrounding Cedar Heights neighborhood.

“As somebody who lives here and could walk out their front door and hike over to Waldo Canyon and back, that’s a very cool thing. And I certainly think it’d be great to be able to share that with others,” he said. “In that regard, I’m very excited.”

In regards to more people posing a greater risk of wildfire, he’s concerned. He’s concerned, too, about the single road that Black Canyon visitors and neighbors would be sharing in an evacuation situation. And Rauch sees the steep, narrow, rough and eroded road up to the quarry in need of extensive work to handle those visitors.

“I think the real question is, is (the Parks Department) going to run out of money with what they’re going to have to spend up there?” Rauch said. “Is that going to impact what they’re able to do at every other park in Colorado Springs?”

Haley emphasized a “step-by-step” approach that would be years in the making.

She said the goal is to finish reclamation in 2026. With success, officials would then open a larger, public conversation and identify desires and to-dos on the property.

For now, she takes hope in the sight seen to the north: Pikeview Quarry turning green.

“It makes me even more committed,” Haley said. “Knowing that if a project that large can succeed the way it appears to be succeeding, that we can have success here, as well. And people are going to be able to embrace a future where these quarries become community assets in a different way.”