With an election looming in which voters in the Town of Telluride will be asked to authorize an additional $10 million in bonding to go toward acquisition of the Valley Floor, the Valley Floor Preservation Partners this week released the findings from a feasibility and planning study.

More than 90 percent of the 54 individuals told a consultant who conducted confidential interviews that the community would be best served by conducting a capital campaign to raise private donations for the Valley Floor acquisition effort, and 72 percent said they would personally support such a campaign if asked.

The Valley Floor Preservation Partners is a partnership of the Town of Telluride, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Sheep Mountain Alliance and regional citizens. Its purpose is to conduct educational outreach and to help secure private funding for the Valley Floor acquisition and restoration efforts.

The 54 individuals interviewed for the feasibility and planning study included full-time and part-time residents, and individuals "on all sides and with various degrees of knowledge of the Valley Floor issue," according to a VFPP press release.

The majority of those interviewed agreed that the Valley Floor is the gateway to Telluride and a primary symbol of what makes Telluride unique among Colorado resort towns. But many expressed concerns about using condemnation as a means of preserving the property, about the ultimate price tag for which it will be available, about how the property will be maintained as open space, and about the general lack of current information.