RIDGWAY BRIEFS

Students’ Recreational Park Plans Viewed Positively by Council

RIDGWAY – With lengthy hours of work already completed and little discussion at last Wednesday’s regular meeting on Dec. 10, the Ridgway Town Council unanimously approved the town’s 2009 budget.

The total General Fund expenditures are expected to be $1,365,662, which includes $51,000 of capitol improvements. Those improvements include the Uncompahgre River Corridor restoration project, the second phase of the recreation park, the second phase of the Highway 62 sidewalk project, and the wastewater lift station.

The approved 2009 budget expenditures are $353,632 for the water fund and $403,650 for the sewer fund.

In separate resolutions, town council also passed mil levies of 8.651 (same as 2008) for the Town of Ridgway and 9.969 for the Ridgway General Improvement District #1. The county assessor has certified the Town of Ridgway’s assessment at $33,582,464 and the General Improvement District at $28,104.

The approved budget is scaled back in terms of capitol projects. The Historic Business Streetscapes project, chip sealing of roads and Amelia Street improvements all received funding in the 2008 budget, but did not in the 2009 budget.

Council Likes Recreational Park Plans

Besides some minor tweaks, it was the general consensus of the Ridgway Town Council at last week’s meeting that the Ridgway High School students’ landscape plan of the recreation park expansion is something the town would like to move forward with.

In the park’s next phase of construction, students are suggesting the construction of two tennis courts, which could be playable as soon as next spring, moving the playground closer to bathrooms, completion of the recreation path by using crushed fine trail material instead of concrete when possible, a third soccer field, and an outdoor volleyball court.

Last September, 15 students from Ridgway High School participated in planning the park’s landscape and amenities. Students met with Town Manager Greg Clifton and received information on the formalities of park planning. They also visited a local tree farm to gather professional tree planting information. Four research groups were formed and each group created landscape plans, which were then submitted to the town’s parks committee. All of the plans were reviewed and elements from each plan were used to create one plan that encompassed the best concepts from each group’s plan.

Along with suggestions for a volleyball court and expanding the skate park, the students also heard from residents that a gazebo should be built to accommodate events. To find more space at the park, the students recommended that street parking could be utilized instead of the parking lot currently at the park.

“We are suggesting eventual removal of the parking lot there,” Clifton said. “If we could utilize some on street parking and cut in parking along Chipeta, by our account, we might be able to produce as many as 30 spaces without using property internal to the park and that would be phase three of the project.”

According to Clifton, all four of the groups were convinced that the town should stay with indigenous species of trees in the park’s plan as well.

The only real criticism coming from town council was that a small bathroom should be built near the skateboard park.

“The students raised that question and a small restroom would be a possibility,” Clifton said. Other than the bathroom, council generally agreed that the plans were headed in the right direction.

“I think the right thing is going on here,” Mayor Pat Willits said. “We will provide feedback to the parks committee and it will percolate there and then it will come back to us.”

All 15 of the students who participated in the project had mandatory obligations Wednesday night so they couldn’t speak for themselves but Ridgway Secondary School teacher Matt Wade thanked Clifton for all the help by “going out of his way to create learning opportunities for these kids.”

Town Gives Money for Marketing Video

The Ridgway Town council agreed to give the Ouray Chamber Resort Association a $1,000 contribution to help cover the cost of producing a marketing video advertising the Ouray County area.

The Colorado Tourism Office has awarded OCRA a $15,000 marketing grant that will be used to create 30-second video ads to be aired on specific cable networks in the Albuquerque television market

The video will highlight seasonal activities the regional has to offer like the Ouray Ice Festival and cross-country skiing in the winter to whitewater rafting and fishing in the summer.

“A thousand dollars seems like a reasonable amount to me,” Mayor Pat Willits said at the Dec. 10 town council meeting.

“I would agree,” Councilmember Eric Johnson said.