I sent an email to our councilmen and got this response. Sounds resonable to me but I am not all that informed.

Thank you for your email regarding the proposed Open Space and Mountain
Parks Visitor Master Plan (VMP).

City Council members have received numerous emails and letters on the
various issues surrounding the VMP, and there has been a very lively
public debate through op-eds, letters to the editor, newspaper articles,
and in public forums. Clearly there is tremendous interest in the final
outcome of the VMP.

In this message, I would like to state my strong support for the process
that has taken place to date and my optimism for how this plan will be
finalized. Notwithstanding the rhetoric and posturing that is currently
going on from people on all sides of the issue, the proposed plan has
been developed with extensive and thoughtful input from the Community.
The Open Space Board has contributed greatly; the OSMP Department staff
has contributed greatly; the Visitor Plan Advisory Committees have
contributed greatly; and the Community Group Forum has contributed
greatly.

At issue now is not whether City Council should choose the Board's
proposal over the Community Group Forum's proposal over the staff
proposal, but for the City Council to draw on all of the expertise and
information from all of these groups, and make informed decisions on
those areas in the VMP for which there currently is not agreement, i.e.
nighttime curfews, competitive events, off-trail access in the Habitat
Conservation Areas (HCAs), dogs, and the so-called "precautionary
principle" or "dealing with uncertainty."

Council will formally begin our consideration of the Plan this Tuesday,
December 14 from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. The Study Session will take place in
the Council Chambers and will be televised on Channel 8. During this
Study Session, Council will have the opportunity to ask the Board, the
OSMP staff, Community Group Forum representatives, and VPAC
representatives questions about the Plan and the various alternatives
that have been proposed. We will then give staff direction on how to
further draft the Plan on these outstanding issues.

A revised draft Plan will be available early next year, which will
commence a public review. It will next go to the Planning Board and Open
Space Board for their review and recommendations, and in the spring will
come to Council for our final consideration.

I remain very confident that this process will allow City Council to draw
upon the tremendous wealth of expertise that we have in our community-our
OSMP staff, Open Space Board of Trustees, the member groups of the
Community Group Forum, the Visitor Plan Advisory Committee members, and
the many concerned and well-informed community members-to make informed
decisions resulting in a Visitor Master Plan that allows public access
where it is appropriate while ensuring the long-term health of the lands.

Again, thank you for your email.

Shaun McGrath
Boulder City Council

This report was given by a climber in attendance last night:



Trail Planning & Projects -
Off-trail use in Habitat Conservation Areas -
These two topics concerned the climbing community.
Council members were open to comments in a favorable
manner and some had already agreed to work with the
Access Fund regarding the problem with the
aforementioned crags. The access problem deals with
the main trail heading to these crags dead ending into
private property; then back to open space land to
where the crags are located. Boulder will not promote
a trespass into this land; but they did seem to
indicate they were willing to work out the access in
some way. Whether that means gaining an easement right
from the landowner or development of a better managed
trail system is planned to be discussed with the
Access Fund and Council. So it appears that while
access is in danger, the access is being worked on.
The Council was very much willing to try and work with
the climbing community.

However - still an unclear issue was the
classifications of open space lands and how these
classifications would affect climbing areas. The
Council was at odds regarding classifications and will
work on this plan further. It seemed the issue was
preservationist versus recreational visitor use.