If the county agrees to lease a portion of Fox Run Regional Park for an aerial adventure park, the new park would be a short drive for Falcon residents.Tim Wolken, head of the El Paso County Community Services Department, explained the concept to the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners in July.The aerial park would involve building a series of platforms and walkways about 40 feet in the air. Visitors would be tethered to lines, climb a walkway to the platforms and then exit by a zip line to the forest floor.Wolken said the idea first surfaced when a Black Forest resident brought it up at a meeting of the parks board in April.In July, the parks department held a public meeting that was attended by 30 people living near the Fox Run Regional Park. Many were not happy with the idea.”There’s an inherent conflict between bringing people into the park to enjoy it from a regional standpoint and those that enjoy the park because they live around it,” Wolken said.The opposition raised concerns about traffic, lack of parking, noise and dust. Some were concerned about as much as 1,000 people entering the park every day. “I don’t think we’ll ever get to that point, but a cap of somewhere in the 200 range would make quite a difference to those that were in attendance at the meeting,” Wolken said.An adventure park implemented as a public-private partnership would have the benefits of generating additional income to support the park system, as well as drawing tourists into the county, which would increase sales tax collection, he said.As a model, Wolken proposed an aerial adventure park that opened in Maryland this year. He also listed Seattle, Wash.; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Victoria, British Columbia; as cities with successful aerial adventure parks.The Maryland facility generates between $30,000 and $40,000 annually for the park system, based on a percentage of revenue and an annual lease payment, he said. “That certainly caught our interest. We would appreciate that as well.” Wolken said.As an appropriate location within Fox Run Regional Park, he said the parks department is looking at the Fallen Timbers Wilderness Area, which is accessed from Roller Coaster Road.Commissioner Wayne Williams said the purpose of the county’s regional park system is to attract people from outside the area.”Fox Run is changing. It used to be in the middle of nowhere,” Williams said. “With the annexation of the Flying Horse development by Colorado Springs, Fox Run is now very close to major urban areas. It’s going to be more heavily used because now it’s very close to where a lot of people live.”He said his major concerns had to do with generating enough revenue to cover the cost of additional road maintenance and parking, which would be addressed in the lease agreement.”I’m anxious to hear from the park advisory board as to what their recommendation is on this particular use of Fox Run Park,” Williams said.Commissioner Amy Lathen said the idea is something worth looking at, but it’s too early to evaluate the concept in detail.The parks department will continue to investigate the terms of a lease agreement that will handle concerns about liability, insurance requirements, revenue sharing, funding requirements and default stipulations.Wolken said a second business has approached the parks department since the public meeting in July. “So, there will be some sort of bidding process if we get to that point,” he said.Editor’s note: The parks department held a second public meeting Aug. 31 to discuss the possibility of an aerial adventure park at Fox Run. The New Falcon Herald will follow up on the results.
