Steamboat Springs City Council discusses possibility of $11M cycling grant
By MIKE LAWRENCE, STEAMBOAT PILOT & TODAY
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — A potential $11 million windfall for tourism-related biking infrastructure in Steamboat Springs, if granted by a state commission, would come with plenty of caveats and questions that remain to be answered.
Ongoing operation and maintenance costs tied to the new infrastructure, marketing expenses to promote Steamboat as a cycling destination, and even the possible use of taxpayer dollars to help with construction of mountain bike features at Steamboat Ski Area, for example, all could eat into city funds in future years should the windfall come through. The Colorado Economic Development Commission could decide in December whether to select Steamboat as one of two entities to receive a slice of future state sales tax revenues through the Regional Tourism Act approved in 2010.
It looks like Steamboat could have a decent chance.
“I originally thought this was going to be an extreme long shot,” Winnie DelliQuadri, the city’s government programs manager, told the Steamboat Springs City Council on Tuesday night in Centennial Hall. “I (now) actually think that we have a chance at getting these dollars because I think we can sell the state’s Economic Development Commission on how biking can be like skiing in the state of Colorado.”
DelliQuadri said meetings at the Colorado Municipal League’s annual legislative workshop, held last week in Denver, changed her mind about the city’s chances at a 30-year revenue stream that would fund improvements for the city’s Bike Town USA project.
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