GaryThomps

​​Hi



Demolition is complete, the track is gone. ​On a lighter note, ​I had a meeting with the ​city and ​county to ​ask them to open a public track. The​ county​ said they didn't have much land available but the city said they would be happy to work with me to find a spot. They said that if a suitable location can be found, then we would probably have to be in charge of build and maintenance. So it sounds like, ​IF​ it happens, it would be ​very similar to our last arrangement. I'll keep working it and let you know if anything ​good comes out of this.



Gary

Skigeek

iTrader: (4)

Great work Gary!

GaryThomps

Forgot to post this one, should be dated 12-06-2016

Hello RC People,

I met with several members of the city parks and recreation department yesterday to discuss the details of building a new RC track in the Colorado Springs area. We talked about two potential sites, one at Charlotte and Barnes, between Sand Creek and the sports ball stadiums. The other is at Mark Dabling and Filmore near the steel yard. These are the two best sites that the city could come up with. The short story is that both sites have pros and cons.

Barnes
Close to previous location
Plenty of flat land
Whiny neighbors across the creek, they already complain heavily about sky sox.

Mark Dabling
No neighbors nearby to complain
Restrooms, water, and possibly electricity
Small, strange shape and grade

Whichever one we end up choosing, the arrangement will be much like the previous one with the Church For All Nations, the city will own the land and we take care of everything else. Here are the next steps going forward, we'll have to do several things:

1. Have a community meeting, the city will arrange this. It gives all the neighbors a chance to complain about noise and dust and traffic. I'll need as many of you as possible to attend this, we need to outnumber the naysayers.
2. Have a board meeting, this city will arrange this. This will give us the opportunity to tell our story, why we need a track, how much we love our toys and have no place to play with them, etc. I'll need as many of you as possible to attend this as well, they need to see that we are serious about this.
3. Raise money initially for the build, maybe $3000 for all the material and equipment. Perhaps i can do a kickstarter or something for this part
4. Raise money continuously for maintenance and insurance, maybe $1500 annually. Hobby Town said they might be willing to cover part of this. The old track generated about $750 annually in donations so we'll need to step up our game here

I've attached a map of both sites, please go check them out and send me your preference, i'll take that into account next time i speak to the city. I'll let you know when the community and board meetings are far enough in advance that you can put them on your calendar and let your bosses know that you need to take a long lunch that day or whatever.

I think that's all for now, thanks for your patience,

GaryT

GaryThomps

Hi

I met with the city again today, this time on site at Coleman Park (barnes and charlotte). The parks and rec department drove my truck around and all seemed very excited about the future track, so it is still looking very promising and we are going forward with this plan. It will be a long and slow process so please be patient. The Gossage site will remain a backup plan for now in case something goes wrong with the process for the primary location.

Today, we talked about:
1. Having a large main track very similar to our last track, 90 x 150 feet, with two decks, one large and tall one the south side of the track and a smaller and shorter one on the west side
2. Two smaller tracks, one mini-scale, and one rock crawler
3. We might need a tall fence on the east side to reflect some of the nitro noise away from the houses on the other side of the creek. Those residents are apparently already pretty whiny about the stadium
4. Funding. We will be responsible for the insurance and maintenance, probably about $1500 to $2000 annually, our local hobbytowns have said they might be willing to cover a portion of this. We are still ironing out details regarding the build, the city may fund the building materials for the track, or may not. If they do not, we will probably have to do a kickstarter or gofundme for all of this up front, i estimate it will be $3000 to $4000 for all of the pipes, decking, tractor rental and gas, etc.
5. Meetings, i have one more with the parks staff in January and then we'll start in with the community and board meetings in the spring and summer. I'll need a lot of you to join me for those. The community meeting will probably be on site, we should bring and demo our cars to show the neighbors what we will be doing over there.
6. Timing, probably get final approval in autumn 2017, maybe even spring 2018. Sorry about that, the wheels of city government turn slowly.

Thanks,

GaryT

GaryThomps

Hi

Negotiations have come to a halt on the Bares location, we're going ahead with the Mark Dabling location unless something better can be found. I assume the timeline is reset, and we're looking at fall of spring of 2018 for groundbreaking.
I'll let you know when I have more info.

Gary

davinco

iTrader: (60)

Hey Gary! As a fellow RC guy thanks for all your efforts on this. Though I likely won't ever make it down there to run the track I appreciate all your efforts to keep something going there in the C-Springs!

Redgrinde

Gary,

Do you have an established club or group with a website? I looked through some of the posts but I didn't see anything specific.

More on topic, what about private land? If you're going to have to provide the labor and insurance then a small bit of land outside of city limits should suffice... I believe as a club you can apply or maybe just join Roar which would insure the track and all roar members racing/bashing on it... Alternatively vacant land insurance might work.

GaryThomps

Hi

We have a facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/RC-Mania-Co...0218230492178/

Yes, i have started looking at private land again, the city has become unresponsive.

Gary

Redgrinde

Thanks for the updates Gary, good luck!

GaryThomps

Hello,

Good news, the city has finally responded regarding the Gossage track site, apparently it is still going forward, albeit very slowly. The next meetings have been set up for July 13th and August 10th, 2017.

Not so good news, I think I'm ready to give up on this, I'm looking for someone to take over leadership of this project. I'll set up a meeting with you, pass on what knowledge I have about managing an RC track, I'll get you in touch with my contact at the city, I'll give you what equipment I was able to salvage from the last track, I'll hand over the facebook page, etc.

Here is a short list of the major things you'll need to be responsible for in order to make this a reality:
1. This RC "club" will need an official name, and will probably require a little more cohesive organization than it currently has, we kinda fell apart after the closing of the previous track.
2. Do some sort of fundraising, go fund me, kickstarter, etc. to get enough cash to build and insure the new track.
3. Design the new track layout
4. Organize a volunteer force to build and maintain the track, I know there there several folks with tractors etc. that are willing to assist with the build
5. Continue to work with the city parks and rec department to complete agreements / approval meetings, etc.

Let me know if you're interested, if there are several interested parties, perhaps we could form a panel of sorts and share these responsibilities.

Thanks,

Gary Thompson

Slimshiesty

Gary,

Where does everything stand now?
Did you handover the keys to someone else?

I was in R/C's for a while, and got out.. now getting back in.
Im at Barnes and Powers.

Let me know what i can do to help, or if there is another area we can try to work.

GaryThomps

Hi

I handed off the flag to Jessie Rhodes. The city is treating him the same way they treated me, with extreme slowness and very little communication. Last i heard, we are still a go for the goose gossage site, but i have no idea on a timeline. I've reached out to several land owners on the east side of town, (such as banning lewis ranch) with no luck. There is a new track in peyton, between falcon and calhan somewhere, on hwy 24 but i think they do mostly races, whereas our track was mostly open play. You can drive at coleman park, which is public land between sand creek and the sky sox stadium at charlotte and barnes, but only when there's no game. That's all i know.

Gary

ljl23

iTrader: (11)

Any updates? I know it's been quite a while, but I'd like to see how it's doing.

GaryThomps

Hi

No, nothing that i know of, i'm sorry.

Gary

RCTrackStar

Watching this thread closely.