Colorado Springs City Council threw its support behind a plan to legalize public use of the Manitou Incline on Tuesday.

Council voted unanimously in support of the Manitou Incline Site Development and Management Plan, a collaborative work by land owners, city governments and the U.S. Forest Service. The plan has been a year in the making.

Click here to see a copy of the plan

Councilman Scott Hente, who has spent many hours climbing the old railway bed west of Manitou Springs, has pushed for the plan from the get-go. He was excited to see it move forward because getting so many private and public institutions to agree is rare.

"There were people who told me the Cog Railway would never go along with this plan, now were putting a trailhead in the cog parking lot," Hente said.

The plan goes before the Manitou Springs Open Space Advocacy Meeting on Feb. 28; the Manitou Springs Planning Commission, March 9; and the Manitou Springs City Council meeting on March 29. All begin at 7 p.m. at Manitou Springs City Hall and all are open to the public.

Before the Incline becomes legal to climb, it will require a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service.

Incline Project Manager Sarah Bryarly said it's common to wait two years for a special use permit. But she said the Forest Service has agreed to process the permit in six months. Once the permit is in place, the Incline will finally be legal, ending 20 years of hikers trespassing there.

Councilman Sean Paige asked about funding, if the task force had considered charging to climb the Incline or place metal donation boxes at the trailheads. He had some concerns about the high cost of the plan which, in its first year, calls for $120,000 worth of improvements. The whole plan, which is projected to take four-to-five years to finish, will cost nearly $1 million. None of that money is currently available.

Bryarly said the Incline Task Force, which directed the creation of the plan, preferred a donation-based system. The new Incline Friends group will be largely responsible for raising the money. But funds will also come from grants and sponosrships. There may also be some Trails Open Space and Parks funds available.

Councilman Bernie Herpin asked about the Incline Plan's "no-pets"  rule, which prohibits dogs on the Incline. He also was concerned about the plan's "dusk-till-dawn" rule which allows for climbing during daylight hours only.

Bryarly said that both rules were the decision of the Incline task force.

"In the public workshops, for every person who wanted to include dogs, there was one who did not," she said.

Ultimately, the task force chose to keep pets off the Incline for safety reasons, but there are plans for a "Dogs Day" on the Incline, allowing pet owners to make the hike with their four-legged friends.

Dusk to dawn follows the same policy of Colorado Springs city parks. It was also included for safety reasons.