Great Outdoors Colorado on Tuesday awarded three grants to La Plata County, including $327,857 to help the town of Bayfield expand Joe Stephenson Park.
GOCO also awarded $33,000 for two area projects that will employ Colorado Youth Corps Association crews:
The Ignacio School District Trail Project will help connect schools to their communities and remove barriers for residents who want to access the outdoors.
The other project will create fuel breaks across the Newmyer Conservation Easement in Durango.
The money will help Bayfield acquire 23.6 acres to connect the park to two pieces of town property and provide more access and recreation opportunities at the Pine River, Town Manager Chris La May said Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re excited to get additional access to the Pine River for recreational opportunities,” La May said.
The town has an agreement with the Bayfield School District to purchase the 23.6-acre parcel, appraised at $425,000. The Pine River flows through the parcel. The town will cover the difference in the cost of the land over the grant amount, La May said.
The recreation opportunities are yet to be fully developed, but the park definitely will be able to provide a place for anglers, La May said. Also in the planning stages is a whitewater park for kayaks, he said.
On the land, soccer or other types of ball fields are possible.
It was the third time Bayfield applied for the Joe Stephenson Park grant.
“Perseverance pays off, I guess,” La May said.
Bayfield previously earned a $160,000 GOCO grant in 2005 to help develop ball fields at the park and a $14,650 grant in 2003 to help build a skatepark.
The GOCO Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved $2.3 million in small-town grants to eight communities at a meeting in Colorado Springs. The grants will be leveraged for an additional $1.3 million in funding, GOCO said in a news release issued Tuesday. GOCO received 44 applications requesting $12.6 million in funding for small towns and unincorporated parts of the state – more than five times more funding than was available in this grant cycle. Unsuccessful applicants are allowed to apply again in 2015.
johnp@durangoherald.com
