Current Status Of The Union Corridor Open Space Initiative

As of October 1999, the TOPS working committee is recommending that the program not be part of the TOPS program but rather be pursued as a neighborhood adopt a trail program.  They will work with the Garden Ranch residence to help create an informal trail and open space.
 

Open Space Working Committee Details

1) Due to political pressure to balance TOPS funding around the city and the acquisition of 74 acres of land in the University Park/Houck Estate area, funding for this type of project will not be available for 3-4 years without significant political support.  If enough people from our area are interested and get involved, the priority of the project can be boosted.  Other neighborhood groups have been denied and continue to press the open space issues with increasing success as more people become involved.

2) Of the approximately 47 acres of open space in the area, 10 acres are privately held at the corner of Union and Ranch.  Four acres of this land is preserved as a conservation area under the Hillside Overlay planning guidelines.  An additional 3 acres is a seasonal wetlands that would require significant infilling and draining of the area.

3) South of the private land is a 13 acre city owned property that TOPS will help in a status review.  This land can not easily be sold for development and an examination of changing the zoning status to PK (parks) is being reviewed.

4) There is additional city and private land on the hillside of the bluffs to the southeast.  Much of the private land is in the drainage areas of the hill and falls under the Hillside Overlay planning guides.  TOPS does not believe that there is an immediate threat of development in this area.
 

Trails Working Committee Details

1) The TOPS trails program is specifically geared towards the multi-use 10ft wide red gravel trails.  The only small trails are in the regional parks as single track mountain bike trails.  So the informal trail along the toe of the hill does not qualify under their guidelines and a paved mult-use trail already exists next to Union.  In addition, the TOPS program is more than two years behind schedule in creating trails already planned in the 1997 master plan.

2) A TOPS multi-use trail will connect the corner of Austin Bluffs and Union with the new 74 acre open space on the north side of Union.  This trail will follow the usual multi-use construction methods and will turn up the drainage directly across from the Union and Ranch intersection.  There is unfortunately no safe way to connect the informal trail with the formal trail on the north end.  The connection point will be via the bridges and underpass at Union and Austin Bluffs.

3) Chris Leiber has discussed with Larry Larsen about creating a trail easement through the 10 acre private church property that would follow the toe of the hill and the existing neighborhood trail.

4) The TOPS program will help the neighborhood form an adapt a trail program so that basic trail maintenance can be performed.  This is especially important on the south end of the trail where frequent drainage problems often block the trail.  They will assist us in determining the exact land owner at that point and creating a trail easement to cover liability problems.  At this point, it appears that the entire trail's south end is within city owned corridors.  Until two years ago, the city helped maintain the trail along Crocus Lane.