Greeley, Windsor aim to work together to prioritize outdoor spaces with new agreement

By Kelly Ragan

Greeley City Council voted to approve an agreement with the Town of Windsor that reflects a mutual desire to preserve open land and critical nature areas, particularly around the Poudre River. 

Since both communities anticipate collaborating more regularly in the future, they crafted a formal Intergovernmental Agreement to hash out the roles and responsibilities each would take on. The agreement essentially spells out  joint ownership and management agreements.

According to the city, an agreement like this could help when it comes to getting grant funding. 

Greeley and Windsor have had other agreements in place since 2004 that encouraged cooperation between the two, but this new agreement signals a shift in priorities around the outdoors in both communities. 

Up until this year, Greeley didn’t really have a strategy in place regarding natural areas and trails rather than the general policy guidance in the Imagine Greeley Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2018. 

That changed this year. 

In February of 2021, the city adopted the Get Outdoors Greeley Strategic Plan, a five-year plan that aims to work toward land acquisition, restoration, long-term stewardship, capital project prioritization, and sustainable funding of priority lands and infrastructure. 

“The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of providing parks, trails, and open space as a health-affirming respite from necessary restrictions,” the plan reads. “Combined with economic challenges, parks and public lands face extraordinary pressures, from increased visitation to budget cuts due to lost revenue. While the lasting impacts are unknown at the time of this document, if anything, the increase in visitation is a window into what may come with increased population growth.”

In its 2016 Parks, Recreation, and Culture Master Plan, Windsor noted it “and its citizens place high value on parks, reaction, open space and cultural opportunities.”

The new Eastman River Park Experience is proof of that. 

Windsor is also in the process of developing its own outdoor strategic plan and is expected to adopt a plan in late 2021, according to the city. 

That plan, like Greeley’s, will further define and guide strategic open lands acquisitions and joint management areas, according to the city.