Steamboat Springs City Council received an update Tuesday on the West Steamboat/Core Trail expansion project as part of its regular meeting. The discussion centered around the acquisition of necessary easements, negotiations with property owners and potentially exercising eminent domain on two properties.

The city began designing the West Steamboat Trail Project in 2021 and produced a sequenced plan, formed into three phases, with an end goal to add 2.4 miles of trail to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety conditions in the area west of downtown beyond city limits. 

Fully funded in 2024, construction of the first section of the project will see the trail extended from the Snow Bowl Plaza to Sleepy Bear Mobile Home Park along the south side of U.S. Highway 40, but an anticipated start date for the work at the beginning of last year was delayed.

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“To date, we’ve acquired easements from several property owners, including Sleepy Bear Mobile Home Park, the Yampa Valley Housing Authority and Williams Family Partnership, which we closed on late last week,” said City Engineer Matt Phillips. “We’ve also got permission to go across the Fournier Property.”

Two significant easement deals remain outstanding — those with the Steamboat Springs KOA and Snow Bowl Steamboat.

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City staff met with KOA representatives on March 7 to discuss terms, including compensation for the impact on existing campsites, explained Phillips. The city had previously acquired a surplus parcel from the Colorado Department of Transportation with the intention of trading it to KOA for the easement, allowing KOA to redevelop and offset lost campsites. 

“We were really expecting to hear from (KOA) a few days later, which would’ve been early last week, and we have yet to hear back from them on the acceptability of our counter (offer),” Phillips said. 

The Snow Bowl easement deal is also pending, with negotiations delayed due to previous litigation involving neighboring properties. Those litigation issues have been resolved, according to Phillips, so the city expects to finalize the deal within a couple of months.

The city also faces an environmental clearance challenge from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“We’re leveraging CDOT to help us have those conversations with HUD to kind of ease that process and hopefully get a determination that we have satisfied their requirements. Hopefully there’s somebody that still works at that agency to make that decision,” Phillips said, referencing the frenzy of changes from the current presidential administration in funding and operations at federal agencies. 

The current best-case scenario, according to Phillips, is that the city acquires all easements by mid-June, goes through the approximately month-long bidding process, then opens bids around early August. 

“After that, we award the contract,” Phillips said. “We’re really looking at mid-September before we’re turning any dirt. That gives us six weeks to get some work done this year before our winter moratorium kicks in again.”

“You won’t see trail by that point, but we will have an opportunity to go out there and do our survey, do a lot of earthwork, and get some of the utilities in the ground,” he added. “So that would leave the bulk of the trail construction, an underpass, to be done next year in 2026, and then probably a couple months in 2027 to wrap up construction and all those lingering project items. Not great news, but news nonetheless.”

Council member Michael Buccino expressed frustration with the pace of negotiations, suggesting that eminent domain could have expedited the process. 

“The nice thing about that is there’s … about a four- to six-month project from start to finish. It’s a relatively known duration of time and you know what the outcome is,” Phillips responded. “You also risk losing the progress we’ve made so far, which, if I was to be honest with you, I’m feeling decently about.” 

City Attorney Dan Foote clarified that the time frame for eminent domain refers to gaining possession of the property, not completing the project, which would require additional time for evaluation and trial.

Council President Gail Garey suggested issuing a request for proposals contingent upon easement acquisition. CDOT’s process, however, requires all easements to be in hand before bidding can commence, said Phillips. 

“When you talk about moving dirt, what if we did a soft-surface trail? Would that move us faster in terms of … making it safer for the kids and the people and getting everybody off the highway?” Garey asked.  

“There’s a few things with that,” Phillips said. “For one, a lot of the granting agencies … would not approve of a soft-surface trail, namely CDOT. The other is that utilities have to go in before the trail does, so even if we moved forward with a soft-surface trail, that wouldn’t be something that is realistic to be on the ground until next summer.” 

Phillips added that the city could do a soft-surface trail in the interim if the city paid for it, but it would require considerable logistics that, in his view, would be a waste of council’s time and city money, and would be unlikely to be accomplished successfully. 

Buccino suggested drafting a resolution drafted for the council’s next meeting.

“Exercise eminent domain on these, and we can do this in parallel with negotiations,” he said.

Councilor Bryan Swintek voiced his agreement with Buccino. 

“If you were to adopt such a resolution, then that would allow us to move forward with the preliminary steps that we have to take before we can file, and that would be making a formal offer to the property owner,” Foote said. “That would allow us to get to a position where we could file whenever it became convenient or necessary.”

“We are hopeful that the negotiations are going to be wrapped up quicker than we could get there with eminent domain, but you know, nothing is certain,” Foote added. “And so if we start moving forward with these steps, that gives us a certain path forward. Yeah, these processes can happen in parallel, but of course, sometimes you get this authorization, we file in court, that may cause the negotiations to break down … one thing can influence the other.” 

Council concluded the discussion on the West Steamboat Trail by directing staff to prepare a resolution for eminent domain options on the KOA and Snow Bowl properties for a future council meeting.