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Manitou Incline Draft Plan to be Presented Tonight
The next public meeting on legalizing hiking the Manitou Incline is tonight (Thursday, October 21st) at 7 PM at Manitou’s City Hall. The draft Manitou Incline plan will be presented and people will be able to give their feedback. The plan is based on input from the Incline meeting in June plus 3 focused workshops held in July.
The Forest Service had estimated that about 70,000 trips were made up the Incline a year. To get a better count, the task force put an automated counter on the No Trespassing sign. In September it counted 23,562 hikers. I don’t know if it was sophisticated enough to count just those going up or if it also counted people when they came down.
I know the couple times I was on the Incline in September there were probably only about half the hikers that I saw in June and July. The winter months see much lower usage so it’s possible that’s close to the average over the year. That would mean there could be 300,000 or more trips up the Incline a year.
The plan lays out 3 different stages, A, B and C. Stage A proposals are low cost for the most part and ares limited to management requirements for legally opening the Manitou Incline and critical improvements.
A couple things in the plan are hiking will only be allowed from dawn to dusk and that dogs won’t be allowed. Go to UltraRob.com for more information on the draft Manitou Incline plan.
Public Meetings Continue
The first of a series of public meetings about the Manitou Incline took place on June 24th. Over 100 people attended that workshop. There are 3 more focused workshop sessions this week. They are all at Manitou Springs City Hall from 6-9 PM.
- July 13th – Parking/Traffic
- July 14th – Trails/Trailheads
- July 15th – Operations/Management
It’s good things are moving forward for the Incline to be opened to the public but with governments and committees involved the process is inching it’s way slowly forward. It’ll be late spring of 2011 at the earliest before it is legal to hike the Manitou Incline. Manitou is doing a good job of posting updates online. Here’s the current time table.
- June 24th – General Public Workshop
- July 13-15th – Focused Public Workshops
- October 21, 7 PM – Public Review of Alternatives
- January 2011 – Review Draft Preferred Plan
- February – March 2011 – Review Final Plan
- ? – Land Owners and City Governments Approve Plan
Not surprisingly the biggest issues discussed at the June meeting were parking and traffic congestion on Ruxton Avenue. Residents on Ruxton have legitimate concerns that traffic jams could prevent emergency vehicles reaching their houses quickly in case of a fire or medical issue. Concerns were also raised about erosion, safety, trail etiquette, wear on Barr Trail, dogs, etc. You can see more feedback in the Workshop 1 responses document.
The goal of the first meeting was to identify issues and come up with possible solutions. Attendees were encouraged to share ideas even if they didn’t think they’d be implemented. Some ideas were to have a shuttle and the closer you parked the more you would pay, have clunker bikes down near Soda Springs that could be borrowed to ride up to the Incline, a new trail for Incline users to get down so that other hikers could enjoy Barr Trail and more.
A lot of effort is going in to creating a plan but creating a plan will not open the Incline to the public. That will still be up to the owners of the land which are Pikes Peak Cog Railway, Colorado Springs Utilities and the Forest Service. If the 3 owners approve the plan, then it will have to be re-zoned. About the bottom half of the Incline is within Manitou Springs city limits and isn’t zoned to allow it to be used as a recreation area. That of course means more meetings and time.
Public Meetings about Manitou Incline
Hiking the Manitou Incline has continued to grow more popular even though it’s illegal. The U.S. Forest Service has estimated that 70,000 people use the Incline annually.
This Thursday evening, June 24th, there will be a meeting to get public input on the Manitou Incline. It will be held at Manitou Springs City Hall, 606 Manitou Avenue, from 7 to 9 PM. Manitou Springs also has a project page with more information and maps of the Manitou Incline.
The following additional public meetings will be hosted in July at Manitou Springs City Hall.
- July 13th – Traffic and Parking Focus Area Session, 6 – 9 p.m.
- July 14th – Trails and Trailhead Focus Area Session, 6 – 9 p.m.
- July 15th – Management and Operations Focus Area Session, 6 – 9 p.m.
The planning process is funded by Great Outdoors Colorado and the Hill Family Foundation. The final plan will be presented to the Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs City Councils in February 2011.
For more information, please contact Aimee Cox at 719-385-6532 or aicox@springsgov.com.
THE INCLINE IS PRIVATE PROPERTY AND POSTED NO TRESPASSING. PUBLIC ACCESS ON THE INCLINE IS NOT ALLOWED. TRESPASSING ON THE INCLINE IS ILLEGAL.
