Jefferson County squeezes brakes, rejecting first-of-its-kind bike park with lift access in Conifer
The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners gave the thumbs-down Tuesday to a Conifer downhill bike park.
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The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners gave the thumbs-down Tuesday to a Conifer downhill bike park that proposed 16 miles of winding trails descending an 830-foot vertical drop — all of it served by a chairlift.
The 2-1 vote against granting the Shadow Mountain Bike Park a special use permit followed a nearly six-hour hearing. The decision came nearly four years after the project was first pitched under a different name. The 250-acre project would have been the first dedicated lift-access mountain bike park in Colorado.
Commissioners Andy Kerr and Lesley Dahlkemper voted against the project, while outgoing Commissioner Tracy Kraft-Tharp voted for it.
Barbara Moss Murphy, founder of opposition group Stop the Bike Park, said the rejection of Shadow Mountain Bike Park was “a wonderful feeling.”
“We are grateful the county commissioners agreed with us in a resounding vote against a commercial bike park that does not belong in a residential neighborhood with winding two-lane roads and only one way in or out in case of a wildfire,” she said in a statement released minutes after the vote was taken.
The final “no” vote came six weeks after the Jefferson County Planning Commission recommended against approval of the bike park in a 7-0 vote.
Neighbors have complained since 2021 that the proposed park would funnel too much traffic onto narrow and winding Shadow Mountain Drive in Conifer and would negatively impact wildlife in the area.
Project proponents claimed Shadow Mountain Bike Park would provide a much-needed amenity in cycling-crazy Colorado.
“If expansion of recreation in Jefferson County is going to be evaluated against land use recommendations from 2011, people better get used to overcrowded trails and not expect anything new,” Shadow Mountain Bike Park co-founder Phil Bouchard said after the vote Tuesday. “But ultimately I hope people watching this process don’t get discouraged from pursuing their passions.”
