A little less than two years ago Friends of Red Rock Canyon raised over $77,000 to protect White Acres as public open space. Those who contributed intended that their contribution would assure permanent protection for White Acres. And, indeed, Colorado Springs' TOPS program does offer a measure of protection.
However, when a GOCO grant contributes to the purchase of open space, as it has for both Red Rock Canyon and Section 16, GOCO requires a conservation easement to provide still further protection. A conservation easement assures that, were the city to ever sell the property, the conservation values of the property would continue to be protected. (i.e. If the city were to ever sell the property; it could only be sold as open space, not for development.)
Conservation easements are costly. The conservation easement for Red Rock Canyon was a significant expense for the TOPS program. But, we have the opportunity to have White Acres protected by a conservation easement at no cost to Colorado Springs' taxpayers if the easement can be folded in with the Section 16 conservation easement.
THERE IS ONE CHALLENGE. We need to demonstrate to the City of Colorado Springs that a White Acres conservation easement would be a good idea.
The White Acres conservation easement will go before City Council on May 24 at 1:00. It is reasonably clear that there will be a Parks Department recommendation to accept the easement and a Legal Department recommendation to reject it.
Our presence at the May 24 Council meeting will certainly influence whether Council accepts the conservation easement, or not. We strongly encourage any of you who can to attend the meeting.  And/or your e-mail to any of our Council members, supporting a White Acres conservation easement will help greatly.
A couple of significant points which you might want to mention:
1) White Acres is unique in being part of the larger Red Rock Canyon - Section 16 Open Space, and all three properties will soon be treated as a single property in a new Master Plan. Both Red Rock Canyon and Section 16 will be protected by conservation easements. So, it makes especially good sense that White Acres should also be protected by a conservation easement.
2) Together, our private contributions toward the purchase of White Acres accounted for over 7.7 % of the purchase price, almost the same as GOCO's 8.0 % contribution toward Red Rock Canyon. We deserve the same protection for our open space investment as GOCO has for its investment.

Please do what you can by:  sending your e-mail supporting a White Acres conservation easement to a City Council member, contacting your city council representative directly and/or attending the City Council Meeting on May 24th. 
Thanks!
The Friends of Red Rock Canyon

• Val Snider, Councilmember At-Large                     VSnider@springsgov.com        719-385-5485
• Scott Hente, Councilmember District 1                  SHente@springsgov.com        719-385-5487
• Angela Dougan, Councilmember District 2               ADougan@springsgov.com      719-385-5493
• Lisa Czelatdko, Councilmember District 3                LCzelatdko@springsgov.com   719-385-5470
• W. B. (Bernie) Herpin Jr., Councilmember District 4   BHerpin@springsgov.com       719-385-5492
• Tim Leigh, Councilmember At-Large                       TLeigh@springsgov.com        719-385-5491
• Brandy Williams, Councilmember At-Large               BWilliams@springsgov.com     719-578-9800
• Jan Martin, Councilmember At-Large                     JMartin@springsgov.com        719-385-5486
• Merv Bennett, Councilmember At-Large                 MBennett@springsgov.com     719-385-5495
• Lionel Rivera, Mayor                                           lrivera@springsgov.com         719-385-5986