Friends of Ute Valley Park Formed

Update on Friends of Ute Valley Park by Dan Woods

Earlier this year at a PHOA meeting, 17 members expressed interest in helping with and/or learning more about a possible “Friends of Ute Valley Park” organization. I’m sure you must have been wondering if anything was being done about this. This is a very brief update as to where this stands.

In mid-July, I volunteered to lead the formation of such a group and to look into the possibility of annexing the HP property to Ute Valley Park. I have formed a steering committee of Bruce Hutchison (president of our PHOA), Bill Fodor (resident within our PHOA), and myself. To date I have met with a person in the city land use planning dept.; a principal planner for the city Parks & Rec. dept who is the main contact for The Trails and Open Space Board; a supervisor for Parks & Rec. responsible for park work projects; two people from the Trails and Open Spaces Coalition (an advocacy group) who work with volunteer groups and acquisitions for open space; and the El Paso County Assessor’s Office. This was all to gather information regarding our forming a FUVP organization.

The Steering Team has met three times and we are currently still doing research. However, in the not too distant future, we will be contacting other HOA’s surrounding Ute Valley Park and forming a board with the necessary skills needed for the long haul.

I will be in touch when I have more to share. Feel free to contact me with questions, thoughts, etc, when I return from vacation at the end of the month.

Regards, Dan Woods