With rumors swirling over the future development of a majority section of Whistler Park owned by the local school district, Steamboat Springs Superintendent Celine Wicks said Friday she wanted to be clear.

“We don’t know what we want to do with Whistler Park because we haven’t had the chance to get all the research done yet,” said Wicks, as she sat behind her desk at the school district’s Seventh Street office.

“The issue is, and this is where people are getting ahead of themselves, is that land is not for sale,” she added. “It is absolutely not for sale right now until we are able to evaluate all of our options.”

The roughly 9-acre parcel in question, located south of Walton Creek Road and east of U.S. Highway 40, has been owned by the school district since 1980, but an agreement with the city that year rezoned the parcel and merged it with roughly 5 acres of city land to create the complete current recreational space.

According to county assessor documents, the school district acquired its parcel at Whistler Park in 1980 from developer Don Valentine and fellow developer John Adams for roughly $134,000. Nine years later, deed documents show the city gained land representing its portion of the park, roughly 5 acres, for $0.

In the deal with Valentine and Adams, the school district arrived at a “right of first refusal” agreement with the developers that gave them the opportunity to accept, or reject, any offer to sell the property within five years of the date on which the district acquired the land: April 21, 1980.

“That expired after five years,” noted Wicks of the agreement. “It has now been 40 years.”

The history of how the park came to be in its current state can be traced to Valentine, a local legend and early developer in the city, who stood before City Council members earlier this month and urged them to preserve the open space.

“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.”

Last week, Valentine told the newspaper that he remembered selling the land to the school district with a condition that it would not be developed and would remain as a park. He said any future action by the school district to develop housing for teachers would affect the neighborhood.

Valentine specifically took issue with an appraisal produced for the school district that pegged its land value at Whistler Park in the $3.4 million range.

“If you put employee housing there, whether it’s teachers or not, it is still employee housing. It is going to change the whole place,” said Valentine.

“I am very, very familiar with appraisals,” he added. “Any developer who would pay that is crazy.”

According to a copy of the appraisal, the value of the land at Whistler Park was determined based on an analysis of comparable sales in Steamboat Springs, including four developments involving the Yampa Valley Housing Authority.

The appraisal also noted that development on the school district’s land, while benefiting from “adequate public wet and dry utilities” available to the area, would likely require the construction of a bridge connecting U.S. Highway 40 to the neighborhood on Stone Lane.

The city has planned to construct the bridge connection on Stone Lane — but earlier this month, city council members voted to not fund the work as part of its 2025 capital improvement plan.

According to Wicks, a grant secured from the state’s Department of Local Affairs two years ago led to the school district exploring construction of staff housing on its land at Whistler Park.

Should the district not pursue the development of housing on its land at the park, Wicks said the sale of the property was still important. She said the school district’s Whistler Park land is one of three parcels it owns in the city that Wicks said is being explored for potential housing development.

In addition to a 2.5-acre parcel located near Sleeping Giant School, there is also a nearby 22-acre parcel owned by the school district referred to as the “Barber Parcel.”

When the grant language was written, Wicks said the grant application suggested the school district was seeking to build 125 housing units across its 9.2-acre parcel at Whistler Park — but that is not the case.

If development were to proceed, the superintendent said the district hopes to construct 10-20 housing units on 2 or 2.5 acres of the property with an intent to reserve the remaining land as open space and park property for residents.

“I can definitely say that we never had any intention of building mass-housing on all 9.2 acres,” said Wicks. “Our vision was a smaller development … and then leaving the rest as a park because we know how important it is to the Whistler community there, but then also if we had housing there, it would be important to the people that we would have in that area as well.”

Wicks said the roughly $3.4 million appraisal is based on the existing conditions surrounding the property. She added that the individual behind the appraisal told her if added infrastructure was introduced, the value would be higher.

The superintendent said that while developing and/or selling the property represented options for the school district, no decision has been made on how to move forward.

“Everything is on the table,” said Wicks. “We have never said we are going to build; we are open to any possibility — we just have to get it done.”

The push to create housing to serve the school district’s needs is not related to a decline in student population, according to Wicks, who reported student-to-teacher ratios at the elementary level in the school district are 20-1. At the secondary level, populations are 25-1.

“I came from the Front Range and our elementary levels there were like 30-1 on the elementary level,” said the superintendent.

As the process related to exploring development on the parcel continues, Wicks said there is still a possibility for the district’s Whistler Park land to be sold — but that would most likely come at “free market” price.

“We as a school district, the board specifically, have a fiscal responsibility to the Steamboat Springs School District and the kids of this school district,” she said.

“It would have to be sold at top-dollar because we will need those funds to pay for if we are building units or if we are buying into units that somebody else is building,” added Wicks.

As residents have pressed City Council members over pushing to purchase the school district’s land to maintain Whistler Park’s current form, some have questioned how the school board and the city are working together to find a solution.

“Whistler Park is an issue that is important to members of the community … it is certainly an asset as it serves a number of the neighborhoods in the area,” said City Council President Gail Garey.

“But we also have a huge housing crisis, as (Wicks) pointed out, we are at risk of losing a significant portion of their teachers. So, that is obviously something that is critical to our community as well,” she added.

Garey and Wicks both said the school district’s board and City Council have not planned to meet in a joint session. Wicks noted that council members are welcome to attend school board meetings, and that she has also offered to speak at council meetings.

Garey said she hoped there would be continued engagement between the local entities.

“From a City Council perspective, the school district is working to solve the housing need for their teachers. Obviously, this is a major priority for City Council as well, in terms of making sure we do everything we can to house our critical and essential workforce,” she said.

“The goal is really to open the lines of communication,” added Garey.