I am writing to you in opposition to the lift-access commercial bike park proposed for Shadow Mountain Drive in Conifer, currently known as Shadow Mountain Bike Park.

The proposed bike park clearly contradicts the considered recommendations of current land use plans, most specifically the conclusions in the recently updated (by Jefferson County Planning and Zoning) Conifer/285 Corridor Area Plan component of the Jefferson County Comprehensive Master Plan.

The area plan states that “wildfire awareness and mitigation efforts are imperative. Protection of life and property from hazards needs to be considered in examining development locations. It is a question of when, not if, a wildfire will strike.” The proposed bike park location is an “extreme” fire danger area which is the highest wildfire-risk rating. Data from Wildland Fire Management Information (WFMI) and the U.S. Forest Service Research Data Archive, shows that nearly 84 percent of wildland fires in the United States are caused by humans, and the bike park would add nearly 5000 potential fire igniters weekly that were not there before.

The area plan also calls for protecting important wildlife habitats and wildlife corridors, preserving visual amenities and historic sites, maintaining the agricultural and ranching heritage of the community, and reducing the threat to life and property by avoiding development in natural hazard areas. Management of recreational facilities should be responsible for providing law enforcement, fire, and rescue operations. The local volunteer groups and the County Sheriff should not be expected to provide these services unless appropriate contractual arrangements have been made with these service providers.

The area plan calls for preserving the unique mountain character of the corridor, specifically no development on mountain meadows. The proposed bike park base and lodge area would destroy one of Conifer’s most pristine mountain meadows.

In addition, the Elk Creek Fire District Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) concurs that wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas which Conifer is, are where risk of loss to life and property due to wildfire is the greatest.

The huge nonconformance of the proposed bike park with these and many other of the recommendations offered in applicable land use plans is evident.

The proposed bike park fails to meet far too many other standards required by Jefferson County –increasing the chances for a catastrophic wildfire threatening the homes and lives of residents, a level of increased traffic certain to raise the number of car crashes and threaten lives, the overload of emergency response teams due to the guaranteed injuries of downhill mountain biking, and adequately disposing the waste for 700 expected people daily that could easily pollute or deplete community water wells and devastate the wildlife population and ecosystem.  

For all of these exceedingly clear reasons, I urge the County to deny the developers application for a special use permit to build a lift-access commercial bike park on winding Shadow Mountain Drive in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

I am writing to you in opposition to the lift-access commercial bike park proposed for Shadow Mountain Drive in Conifer, currently known as Shadow Mountain Bike Park.

The proposed park, if constructed, will not be able to mitigate the impacts on the surrounding area. The proposed parcel is a major part of a 306-acre refugium, an area which supports a natural existence, untrammeled by humans. The scope and magnitude of environmental change to this 306-acre parcel if the project is approved, then built, and placed into operation would include vegetation clear cutting, obliterating 39 acres for 16 miles of trails, 3.5 acres for the quad lift line, and some 5 acres for service roads. All told, the development from a vegetation standpoint will irreversibly mutilate the landscape by clearing 73 acres (30% of the property) of unspoiled vegetation, making the entire existing wetlands non-existent in the process.

Deforesting scars will be prominent without any way to mitigate that activity. The devastated portions will profoundly fragment the habitat required for wildlife to thrive or even exist. The developers acknowledge the project area is heavily utilized year-round by elk and the habitat fragmentation caused by the constant use of the bike park would significantly decrease its value to elk and other wildlife.

The Conifer/285 Corridor Plan calls for the protection of visually sensitive landscapes that have special qualities, and new development in these areas should only be allowed if visual impacts can be adequately mitigated. The CSLB parcel contains a beautiful mountain meadow, aspen groves, major rock outcroppings, steep slopes, and a beautiful ridgeline to which the bike park project will cause extreme ruin.  The developers’ own plan clearly illustrates that the impact will not be minimal. The base area alone will include a septic system, a 300-space parking lot, a lodge, a metal storage tank, and a retention pond. The land and visual destruction are the exact opposite of what is stated by the Conifer 285 plan and the Jefferson County Comprehensive Master Plan.

Bottom line, the bike park would destroy the mountain, meadow, wildlife refuge, wetlands and irretrievably degrade the viewscapes that attract homeowners and visitors to this peaceful residential area.

The proposed bike park fails to meet far too many other standards required by Jefferson County to be viably considered – including increasing the chances for a catastrophic wildfire threatening the homes and lives of residents, a level of increased traffic certain to raise the number of car crashes and threaten lives, the overload of emergency response teams due to the guaranteed injuries of downhill mountain biking, and adequately disposing the waste for 700 expected people daily that could easily pollute or deplete community water wells and devastate the wildlife population and ecosystem.  

For all of these exceedingly clear reasons, I urge the County to deny the developers application for a special use permit to build a lift-access commercial bike park on Shadow Mountain Drive.

I am writing to you in opposition to the lift-access commercial bike park proposed for Shadow Mountain Drive in Conifer, currently known as Shadow Mountain Bike Park.

The existing infrastructure and services are verifiably not sufficient to support this development.

The Elk Creek Fire Protection District would be significantly overextended with the bike park’s operation.  A wildfire or any emergency response would be staffed by the mostly voluntary and already underfunded Fire District, which is funded by property taxes that the proposed commercial bike park would not be paying (the property is exempt).  Yet the bike park would be exponentially increasing the Fire District’s workload. In the Elk Creek Fire Protection District, 70% of the calls are for Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The time it would take for EMS to respond to an accident at the proposed bike park, transport the person to the nearest trauma one hospital and return to service would take several hours. During these hours the Conifer residents who pay property taxes would not be able to quickly obtain the medical care they may need. To provide context and the scenario facing the Fire District and residents, a medical study conducted at Whistler Mountain Bike Park showed 75 ambulance transports in one season.

The proposed bike park will add 700 vehicle trips per day to and from the facility.  The developers only have jurisdiction in the park boundaries. Should bikers illegally park on the side of Shadow Mountain Drive, speed or engage in any other unlawful behavior, it will fall to the already understaffed Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to provide policing. The new sheriff has talked about losing seasoned officers and the need to recruit.

The proposed development area is in an extreme wildfire risk area. Adding more than 1,000 people on a peak day at the proposed bike park will greatly increase this risk, as 84% of fires are human caused. Narrow, winding Shadow Mountain Drive will not be able to handle the traffic load in the event of a fire evacuation, which will be managed by the understaffed Sheriff’s Office.

In sum, the proposed bike park violates far too many standards required by Jefferson County to be viably considered – including increasing the chances for a catastrophic wildfire threatening the homes and lives of residents, a level of increased traffic certain to raise the number of car crashes and threaten lives, the overload of emergency response teams due to the guaranteed injuries of downhill mountain biking, and adequately disposing the waste for 700 expected people daily that could easily pollute or deplete community water wells and devastate the wildlife population and ecosystem.  

For all of these exceedingly clear reasons, I urge the County to deny the developers application for a special use permit to build a lift-access commercial bike park on Shadow Mountain Drive.

I am writing to you in opposition to the lift-access commercial bike park proposed for Shadow Mountain Drive in Conifer, currently known as Shadow Mountain Bike Park.

The proposed bike park, if constructed, would have a seriously harmful effect upon the health, safety, and welfare of the residents and landowners in the surrounding area.

The would-be developers claim that their proposal aligns with the vision and goals of the 2020 Jefferson County Master Plan and the 2020 Conifer/285 Corridor Area Plan. That assertion flies in the face of Hazard Mitigation Plan statements like this: A key strategy for reducing future losses in a community is to avoid development in known hazard areas… The purpose of this strategy is to keep people, businesses, and buildings out of harm’s way before a hazard event occurs.

The proposed bike park would be located on Conifer Mountain, an “extreme” fire danger area which is the highest wildfire-risk rating. Adding nearly 5000 potential fire igniters weekly will significantly elevate the already extreme wildfire risk. Based on Wildland Fire Management Information (WFMI) data and the U.S. Forest Service Research Data Archive, nearly 84 percent of wildland fires in the United States are caused by humans.

The developers say the project is designed to ensure compatibility with community character and natural surroundings and will benefit residential uses in the area by providing opportunities for improved health. Obliterating a pristine mountain meadow and ripping up Conifer Mountain is by no stretch of the imagination compatible with the surroundings, and while exercise is healthy, the negatives of a bike park on the proposed CSLB parcel far outweigh any conjured benefits for the community. There is an abundance of resources for outdoor exercise already in existence in the area. Adding a bike park and the cacophony of major traffic to and from the facility, removing the restorative peace, the fundamental reason people live in the area, is about as unhealthy and unwell as it gets.

In sum, the proposed bike park violates far too many standards required by Jefferson County and set forth in the Comprehensive Master Plan– including increasing the chances for a catastrophic wildfire threatening the homes and lives of residents, a level of increased traffic certain to raise the number of car crashes and threaten lives, the overload of emergency response teams with the guaranteed injuries of downhill mountain biking, and adequately disposing the waste for 700 expected people daily that could easily pollute or deplete community water wells and devastate the wildlife population and ecosystem.  

For all of these exceedingly clear reasons, I urge the County to deny the developers application for a special use permit to build a lift-access commercial bike park on Shadow Mountain Drive.