City will vote on buying 37 acres in North Cheyenne Cañon

The Colorado Springs Trails, Open Space and Park Working Committee will vote Wednesday on whether to buy 37.4 acres in North Cheyenne Cañon, land officials have long sought but lacked the money to buy from would-be developers.

The committee decides how to spend the city’s TOPS sales tax. According to the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting, city officials have reached a deal to buy the land for $650,000, which includes a $137,000 donation to the city in the form of a “debt retirement” from the sellers.

The property is near Helen Hunt Falls, at the juncture of gates to High Drive and the closed portion of Gold Camp Road. It is flanked on three sides by the park and on one side by Pike National Forest. It was once owned by city founder Gen. William Jackson Palmer, who built a cabin there.

Palmer passed the property on to his administrative assistant. Many attempts by the city to buy it over the years failed. In 2005, it was bought by three local couples who formed Rare Properties. They paid $900,000 and put it on the market for $1.75 million and talked about dividing it into up to six lots for houses.

The TOPS committee meets at 7:30 a.m. in the city parks department building, 1401 Recreation Way.