Hide Article Text (OCR)
BOB JACKSON Gazette TelegraphNEW CITY PARK: Bill Ruskin, director of the Colorado. Springssoon-to-be-dedicated Ute Valley Park The regional park isBy Dru WilsonGT Staff WriterIf you sit quietly on the rimrock for a while you might see a hawk circle down the canyon or a deer creep timidly from the brush. You will forget for a time that just beyond the next ridge lies Colorado Springs with all its houses, people and city noise■opThe rimrock is located in thesoon-to-be-dedicated Ute Valley Park. The park is 329 acres of natural beauty in a small valley running north and south between Wilson Road and the Rockrimmonsubdivisions north of the Digital Equipment plant.Bill Ruskin, director of the Colorado Springs Park and Recreation Department, said it has taken five years and the cooperation of several hundred private and public individuals to put together the jigsaw puzzle of land acquisitions that were necessary to create the city’s fourth largest regional park.“Ithink that cooperation has been an important factor, Ruskin said With all the new companies establishing here, the large number of employees plays a part in creating a demand for park facilities. Public and private agencies working together help each other to accomplish goals that eventually benefit everyone,Ruskin saidI think it is fortunate to havebeen able to put this together now. If we had not started five years ago it might not have been possible, Ruskin said.Park and Recreation Department, looks over the interior of thenorthwest of the city, just east of Wilson Road (see map below)The efforts to create Ute Valley Park began in 1976, Ruskin said, when Digital Equipment announced it would move to ColoradoSprings. The company selected its 360-acre location west of Interstate25. The DroDertv included whatpropertyhad been previously designated as a possible school or park site The shifting of sites began and the idea of preserving the natural valley as a secluded bit of the historical and geological heritage of the region was born. V.The acquisitions were assisted by the Chamber of Commerce, the Parks Advisory Committee andCommittee. RuskinOpen Space said the groups spent many hours reviewing plans and studying maps to come up with recommendations on how to fullfill the parkplanThe first pieces of the puzzle, Ruskin said, involved the purchase of 29 acres from the ColoradoSprings Industrial Foundation, which in turn donated two dif ferent parcels for an additional 77 acres adjacent to Popes Bluff Park.Next came the purchase of 128 acres belonging to the Paradise Ranch. Ruskin said more acres had been considered,'i but Vindicator Drive, which now marks the northeastern boundary of the park, would have cut through that segment of park.nother 55 acres adjacent to the Digital property was donated by Rockrimmon Land Co as part of its subdivision requirements for dedicating park and school land.At this point, Ruskin said he had some fear the plan would not be completed because the City Council had indicated it did not wish tocommit the amount necessary to make the final purchase.But Digital, which had helpedSee PARK, Page 2B
Newspaper Details
Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Mon, Aug 31, 1981
Page 15
Full Page
Clipped by
Pikes P.
CO, USA 10 Aug 2021
Other Publications Near Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs Gazette
Colorado Springs Independent
Colorado Springs Weekly Gazette
Ranchland Farm News
Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph
