Project Steering Committee

Project Steering Committee

The consultant team will be guided by the City-appointed Project Steering Committee. The Steering Committee members include representatives from the Open Space Advisory Committee (OSAC), Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PARAB), Manitou Arts Center, Pedestrian and Cycle Manitou (PaCMaN), Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District, Manitou Springs School District, City of Manitou Springs, and citizen representatives. Feedback from stakeholders, interested parties, and the public will be summarized for Steering Committee consideration in developing preliminary and final design.

The Project Steering Committee adopted the following Guiding Principles to provide direction when considering design options, technical and jurisdictional requirements, and available funding.

Guiding Principles

This process seeks to develop a trail system that reflects the vision of the community while simultaneously considering new opportunities for trail experiences in a natural setting, ADA accessibility, access to businesses and destinations, safety, creek corridor protection and restoration, neighborhood compatibility, trail connectivity, a uniquely Manitou cultural, historic and arts experience, technical considerations, and available funding.

The design alternatives assessment and final design will:

…strive to protect vegetation and habitat the contribute to livability and environmental health throughout the corridor by employing an intentional strategy for sensitive Creekside ecosystem protection and, when needed, restoration of areas impacted by trail construction.

…explore opportunities and responses to the unique historic districts traversed in these segments of the Creek Walk

…embrace opportunities for unique trail experiences.

…strive to integrate clarity of wayfinding that assists trail users’ intuitive navigation from adjoining jurisdictions’ multi-use trails to the multi-tiered routes and experiences in the Creek Walk Trail system.

…incorporate the collective lived-experience of the leadership, stakeholders, neighbors, and community participants with the Jacobs team’s technical skills and analysis to produce a Creek Walk that is responsible, responsive and endures over time.

…consider the risks to safety and trail infrastructure damage during flood events along with the benefits of all grading and, while not compromising design integrity, strive to minimize changes in the floodplain that would trigger Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) regulations that could dramatically slow the project progress.

…include opportunities for green infrastructure and low impact development (GI/LID) such as bioswales and detention ponds to filter runoff from Manitou Springs’ parking lots, streets, and adjacent development.

You can contact and provide input to the Project Steering Committee here.

*Note: The Hiawatha Gardens transformation to a multi-modal transportation hub is not part of this project and remains the responsibility of the Hiawatha Gardens Task Force. This project will recommend an approach to connect the Creek Walk to the Hiawatha Gardens site..