Board OKs first phase of Valmont park construction

45-acre parcel to include bike park and disc-golf course

By Zak Brown (Contact)
Thursday, June 4, 2009

BOULDER, Colo. — After more than a decade, a plot of land Boulder voters envisioned as a park with community-wide appeal took a major step toward reality Thursday night.

The site review for the first, $4.5 million phase of the Valmont City Park was approved unanimously by the Boulder Planning Board, clearing the way for a 45-acre section of the park that will include a bike park, trails, a dog park, a “tot lot” and a disc-golf course.

“When the idea for this park first started, it was meant to be an active park that coul

Photo by Marty Caivano Jasmine Wong plays with her dog, Bella, on the south side of Valmont City Park on Thursday.

d be a place for several different activities,” said Alice Guthrie, a superintendent with Boulder Parks and Recreation. “And we really think we’ve accomplished that with this plan.”

Voters approved a tax to pay for the park in 1998.

Construction is expected to start this summer or fall on the first of three phases of Valmont City Park, which in all covers a 132-acre parcel in northeast Boulder. The first phase is expected to be finished in about a year.

The bike park — which includes several different levels and types of terrain, such as dirt tracks and a cyclocross course — is already being designed with help from the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, which has donated $70,000 to the project.

The bike park is “the first built anywhere, that we know of,” Guthrie said.

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JOIN THE BOULDER CYCLE SPORT ‘CROSS TEAM!

It’s NEVER too late to think ‘cross and that’s the way we like it within the ranks of the Orange and Black of Boulder Cycle Sport!

On Thursday June 11th, at 7:30 PM, BCS will be hosting our yearly team kickoff and informational meeting. If you have been interested in trying ‘cross, we invite you to come and learn more! The core of this team is about teaching and evangelizing the beauty of this sport…getting YOU excited to participate while having immense amounts of fun, improve your skills and brag to your co-workers come Monday how you frolicked in the mud with your friends all weekend!

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Hup hup, buttercups! The leaves may be green now but they will be-a-changin’!

Money Shoes - Photo Graham Watson

So breakaway specialist Philippe Gilbert got himself a Giro stage yesterday. And while I'm stoked for the Belgian, nothing slipped past me as the sex that donned his little piggies caught my eye more than his stylish win putting out the watts to stay ahead of Voeckler.

The grainy images on Universal Sports were not good enough for me to see until I saw Graham's photo on Velonews. Validated. Oh God. These are 'the ones'. Boing!

I guess I will need to win a couple of cycling monuments before I get my fully custom Sidis. Hmm. Sidi, you'd KILL IT like Oakley or Nike of you had a 'Customize my Italian Kicks' feature on your site. Charge an extra hundy and rich dudes would for SURE lay out $600 bucks for custom Ergos.