Shame on Boulder! Soon to charge "non residents" for parking starting June 27th

I love Boulder (specifically Eldo) and everything it has to offer, but recently found out that Boulder will be charging non Boulder residents $5.00 per day to park at three of the trail head parking lots or $25.00 for an annual pass. Jefferson County doesn't charge non residents at their trail heads.

South Mesa, Doudy Draw and Flatirons Vista trailheads are the three that are mentioned in the article below.

thedenverchannel.com/news/2…

The city will monitor the pilot program and officials will decide in early 2012 whether the fee system should stay in place and possibly be expanded.

EXPANDED??????

I heard they were going to use the funds to stockpile weapons of mass-media destruction. They must have heard China was building a network to compete with CNN to help report the truth

How do they determine who is a Boulder resident? If I slap one of those Mao/Obama Hope stickers on my car can I park for free?

they have been doing it for years on flagstaff. they check out your license plate number to determine if your car is registered in boulder county.

Rick Blair wrote:How do they determine who is a Boulder resident? If I slap one of those Mao/Obama Hope stickers on my car can I park for free?

I imagine they run your plate to see where your vehicle is registered.

NCAR is safe from this and perhaps Chautauqua since that is City of Boulder and not County? I guess the other small trailheads that use street parking.

Trustee John Putnam said he is also interested to see if a fee program will help to reduce parking congestion at the trailheads, especially Doudy Draw and South Mesa, which are typically filled and overflowing early in the morning on sunny weekends.

dailycamera.com/ci_18272782

I interpret that as John Putnam wants to discourage non residents from using Boulders public property. If you don't live in Boulder County you are not welcome!

They will need my $25 to clean up all the beer cans I'm gonna leave in their lots.

Wade,
If you are from Littleton, how are you helping to support the costs of maintaining one of the most extensive (and extensively used) public open space programs in the country? For comparison, Larimer County not only charges out-of-county visitors to park at areas like Carter Lake or Horsetooth, it charges in-county residents as well. It is amazing that Boulder has held out so long.

Peter Beal wrote:If you are from Littleton, how are you helping to support the costs of maintaining one of the most extensive (and extensively used) public open space programs in the country? For comparison,

That is the calculation they have to make I guess. If visitors spending money at bars, restaurants, retail, gas etc are not being attracted at a high enough rate by amenities like trailhead parking then they will do it. I am curious what percentage of users of Flagstaff parking are from out of County.

A town like Golden that is not a destination like Boulder would probably never do this because they want more visitors. Perhaps Boulder is over flowing with visitors.

The real shame will be week day nights. South Mesa will be 3/4's empty yet they will want me to pay to park there. I would be more sympathetic if they were only doing this on weekends.

Peter Beal wrote:Wade, If you are from Littleton, how are you helping to support the costs of maintaining one of the most extensive (and extensively used) public open space programs in the country? For comparison, Larimer County not only charges out-of-county visitors to park at areas like Carter Lake or Horsetooth, it charges in-county residents as well. It is amazing that Boulder has held out so long.

I volunteer on Trail Restoration projects in Boulder County, Jefferson County and Douglas County. Not a monetary contribution but probably more significant than an annual $25.00. I will no longer volunteer if I have to pay!

Edited to add - I would be less offended if everyone (including residents) were charged the daily $5.00 or annual $25.00

Rick Blair wrote: A town like Golden that is not a destination like Boulder would probably never do this because they want more visitors. Perhaps Boulder is over flowing with visitors. The real shame will be week day nights. South Mesa will be 3/4's empty yet they will want me to pay to park there. I would be more sympathetic if they were only doing this on weekends.

There were some Washington State parks that implemented a similar parking fee. This was not a destination area like Boulder is. All the locals parked on the side of the road just outside the fee area. The fee lasted about 3 months before they realized how much the park usage was being affected.

I personally think it is a good thing to pay for maintenance of the resources we use. That said, we have a lot of access use fees to pay living in the Front Range. I wish they had something like Washington has, which is an annual pass that gets you in any park in the state. Local or national park.

Rick Blair wrote: The real shame will be week day nights. South Mesa will be 3/4's empty yet they will want me to pay to park there. I would be more sympathetic if they were only doing this on weekends.

Right. It would make more sense to simply charge the fee on the weekends, when usage is at its highest. While I don't like the fee, I somewhat understand - South Mesa is crazy busy on the weekends.

That said, I think a significant contributing factor to the high use of certain Boulder trails is that there are no moutnain bikes allowed and dogs are permitted to be off leash. If Jeffco would get their act together, institute a dog voice/sight control program like Boulder's, and designate a few trails that have low Mtn. Bike usage as off-leash, some of the pressure on the Boulder trails would likely be reduced.

HaHA, pay up, suckers! We actually have plans to put tollbooths on all roads leading into Boulder where you'll have to both pay up and show them your Cool Card. What?!... you don't have a Cool Card? Now ain't that a shame. I hear Fort Luton has some unique attractions, maybe check them out.

/sarcasm

Wombat wrote: I wish they had something like Washington has, which is an annual pass that gets you in any park in the state. Local or national park.

I imagine anyone with a state park pass will just park in the Eldorado Springs State Park and walk to the trail heads (its not that far, less than a mile), but all that will do is cause even more congestion in the state park where we all like to climb!!!

JoeP wrote:If Jeffco would get their act together, institute a dog voice/sight control program like Boulder's, and designate a few trails that have low Mtn. Bike usage as off-leash, some of the pressure on the Boulder trails would likely be reduced.

Agreed!

JoeP wrote: Right. It would make more sense to simply charge the fee on the weekends, when usage is at its highest. While I don't like the fee, I somewhat understand - South Mesa is crazy busy on the weekends.

It would be interesting to see resident/non-resident usage statistics, along with a projection of how much they think fees will reduce peak load. My guess is South Mesa will still be a zoo on weekends, even with the non-resident fee.

interesting topic with quite a few facets. it could also be asked why someone from county A comes to boulder to hike. why doesn't county A have any trails they can hike on? boulder spends money to have these trails available. why doesn't county A spend money on trails? etc.

Change hike to climb slim, the just isn't rock in every county. Good parks drive sales tax dollars among other things. Look at jeffco and mtbs. When I go ride with my friends we eat dinner in golden cause on the whole, boulder mtb sucks compared to jeffco.

Just to clarify...residents of BOULDER COUNTY (not just the City) are allowed to park for free. This includes Lafayette, Louisville, Nederland, Ward, Jamestown, Longmont, Hygiene, Niwot, Lyons, Superior, parts of Erie and Broomfield, as well as unincorporated Boulder County.

Are people seriously bitching over $5? Do you think it's free to maintain all of this land/trails/parking lots/etc? If you don't pay their taxes, why do you think you should use their resources for free? I've never been, but I won't mind paying the $5 to park when I do go. Especially considering I'll already be paying $10 in gas just to drive in from out of Boulder County.

slim wrote:why doesn't county A have any trails they can hike on? boulder spends money to have these trails available. why doesn't county A spend money on trails? etc.

Have you really never traveled outside of your town to experience something different? Just because there's a great hike 5 minutes from me doesn't mean that I don't want to experience other great hikes 60 minutes from me...