12 Nov 2012
City approves contract to purchase Pediatric Partners’ Horse Gulch trailhead parcel
A 1.6-acre trailhead parcel at the mouth of Horse Gulch is now under contract for the City to purchase from Pediatric Partners following an approval last week by the Durango City Council.
The Santa Rita Trail is slated to run behind Sonic and connect at a new parking lot at the mouth of Horse Gulch. Image courtesy of Kevin Hall, Durango’s Natural Lands, Trails and Sustainability Director.
Approval to go under contract came after Pediatric Partners acquired the larger 2.86-acre Building Specialties site from the estate of Steve Osborne for $1.7 million in October.
The City’s closing on the trailhead parcel will follow the Planning Department’s approval to subdivide the 1.6-acre parcel from the larger 2.86-acre lot. The City would also share in the cost of removing the currently-existing large white shed structure on the east end of the lot.
Redevelopment of the trailhead at Horse Gulch to accommodate 17 vehicles is scheduled to coincide with Pediatric Partners’ redevelopment of the old Building Specialties site as a pediatric medical office complex.
Also to be included in the trailhead area will be irrigated trees, asphalt parking, new signage and a short section of the future Santa Rita Trail. When funding is available, Trails 2000 and some Natural Lands Board members are hoping to see a bathroom and picnic table with a shade structure constructed there.
Durango’s Natural Lands, Trails and Sustainability Director Kevin Hall said that developing the trailhead will provide a cleaner look to Horse Gulch– a front door to the City’s recently purchased 1,000 + acres of open space parcels.
Here’s a look at how Santa Rita Trail would spur off of Animas River Trail. Image Courtesy of Kevin Hall, Durango’s Director of Natural Lands, Trails and Sustainability.
Spurring off of the Animas River Trail would be a concrete multi-use trail “that will one day pass through the trailhead as it connects to the trail along Goeglein Gulch Road,” according to agenda documentation from Hall at the City Council meeting where the parcel purchase was championed.
Plans for connecting the Santa Rita trail to Horse Gulch trailhead are preliminary, but Hall says the crossing of 8th Ave. might occur along the drainage, possibly through a reconstructed box culvert.
A tie in with the Animas River Trail is likely at the US 550/US 160 low bridge, he said, although formal engineering plans on the trail have not been completed.
This building will be removed and replaced with a paved parking lot following the closing on the Pediatric Partners trailhead parcel by the City of Durango.
