Summit County just announced that it’s closed on the purchase of the Florence Gillmor parcel, near the Highway 40 frontage road. That means some new trail planning for the Snyderville Recreation District.
The 460 acres located east and southeast of Home Depot includes some area that can be developed but will also have some open space held by the Recreation District, as well as the Triangle Parcel.
The purchase price was $10 million, including $7 million of the District’s open space bond money. District Director Brian Hanton said they still have about $3 million in open space funds left.
Hanton explained the connections they’re making from the Gillmor property.
“We had to lay out a trailhead and a small trail network, that would connect to the Rail Trail, would connect over into where our new Silver Creek Park will be in that Silver Creek development—hoping to create more connectivity,” Hanton continued. “Where you could come from the Silver Creek neighborhood, go under Highway 80, come across that property and then go into Round Valley, or continue down the Rail Trail. I’m just trying to keep the options open for that connectivity through the area.”
He added they will connect to Round Valley via the wildlife underpass at Highway 40.
“That was put in, probably in 2014,” Hanton said. “We hope to put in a trailhead just outside of that, and help alleviate some of the pressures in that Highland Drive trailhead, and even on the Quinn’s side—just getting those people that are coming up from the valley, and hopefully using that as the focal point of starting some trail networking around there.”
Hanton said they have worked closely with the EPA, and they won’t have to pay for mitigation of the historic mine tailings on the property. But they will have to be careful about the recreation activities on the land.
“If soils are disturbed in a big way, then we have to take care of that immediately,” Hanton explained. “But we know the EPA does have plans to remediate that whole stretch. But it needs to happen upstream first. So, it would be silly for them to do that downstream when there’s contaminants coming from further up in the water.
Hanton also addressed the fact that mountain biking can be tough on soil. “We would bring some soils in and top it. But the trails wouldn’t go over the highly contaminated areas. There might be like a boardwalk that would connect over that lowlands area, that that would get you to the Rail Trail. They’ve done some extensive testing out there, and the areas that we had planned the trail would be in the safer zones.”
He said they’re not adding much additional bike trail area.
“It’s a looped system,” Hanton continued. “There’s three different loops which would come out to two or three miles of trail. But it would be a good variation from what we currently have. The terrain, it’s not steep, but it would be good for some beginners—those that maybe have some challenges on the trails, and just get their wheels under them a little bit better.”
