May 14, 2023: City Council Work Session, The Future of Hughes Land Discussion

During the March 14th work session, Council and Staff discussed the Future of Hughes, based on the poorly designed surveys, and focus groups, that were conducted by the outreach consultant. Staff and Council downplayed the proposed 80+ acre bmx/mtb bike skills park as a future use of Hughes open space, which was spearheaded by the lobbying efforts of a few small but vocal mountain bike groups.

After significant public controversy about the poor and biased outreach process, the City Council suggested the delay of any additional Hughes outreach efforts until early 2024, which conveniently, is after the November 2023 election in which FOUR Councilmembers are up for re-election (Arndt, Francis, Peel, and Pignataro).

One councilmember (Gutowsky) inquired about the extensive lobbying background of the primary outreach consultant in the mountain bike industry, a conflict of interest and bias that was also downplayed by staff.

We’ll keep our supporters apprised of next steps in the process to protect Hughes as open space for all members of our community. Stay tuned. Thank you.