City Council members Tuesday received a healthy dose of public comment regarding the future of Whistler Park in Steamboat Springs.

Steamboat Springs residents lobbied City Council members in recent weeks to purchase a nine acres section of the park currently owned by the city’s school district.

The nine-acre parcel in question has been owned by the school district since 1980, but an agreement rezoned the parcel and merged it with roughly five acres of city land to create the recreational space in 1997.

Valued at just over $3 million as of last year, according to assessor records, the school district’s majority-parcel currently provides playing fields and open space to the surrounding area.

In August, the school district announced it was using state grant money to explore the possibility of developing teacher and staff housing on its section of the park as it faces the prospect of 41% of its staff members leaving in the next five years due to a lack of affordable housing, according to a district feasibility study.

Don Valentine spoke first during the public comment section of council’s meeting Tuesday.

“I have been here a long time and when I started the ski area, I owned 600 acres, the ski area owned 60. I had a lot to do with the planning of what happened. I also founded the Mount Werner Water District in 1966. I was its board chairman and president before they threw me off,” said Valentine.

“All the city has to do is say it is a park,” he added. “We would like to see it stay as a park and if the school board wants to sell it, the city could buy it but there should be no huge price on there because it could literally have 25 units or a condominium in there.”

Council members responded by questioning their own role in the matter but they eventually supported City Council President Gail Garey to speak with the Steamboat Springs School District’s president on the matter.

“Clearly there is a disconnect going on in the messaging, whatever it is I don’t know but at what point should we get involved,” said Council Member Amy Dickson.

Council member Joella West noted that the city’s role in potentially purchasing the school district’s land at Whistler Park presented issues.

“I understand what every single person who has come before us for weeks now is talking about, but we don’t own the property, we don’t currently have a right of first refusal,” added West. “We can’t force the school district to give or sell us a right of first refusal if that is not within their vision of how to accomplish what they need.”

Garey recognized the school district’s intention to use the Whistler Park land to construct school district staff.

“They have a crisis that they need to address, and I certainly do not believe that we are in a position to tell them to sell us your land or give us a first fight of refusal,” said Garey.

“We need to open up the line of communication and have a conversation and establish the ability of having the conversations in terms of understanding what is on the table,” she added. “We would be better served if we talked to each other, and it came straight from one to the other.”

“Whatever form it takes, if somebody walked up top your door and knocked on it and when you answered demanded to negotiate with you to buy your property, you wouldn’t look favorably upon that person, I would guess,” she said.

“That is the real dilemma, I don’t want to tell the school board how to do their business, nor do I think the school board should come in and tell us how to conduct our business, I get stuck on that,” she said.