Another packed meeting last night. The public showed up in force anticipating the big reveal of appraisals, building envelopes and details regarding intended commercial use. Instead, they got an out-dated lecture on conservation easements, an outline of 8.5 acres of the area that will be commercially developed and that was it. There were some fantastic comments made by many people. Since it always comes down to the money, we will focus on that right now. We, unfortunately, were not given any sources for the appraisals nor were assumptions by parcel given (i.e. PK versus residential zoning). So, let's start with the new appraisals presented last night. They value the 189 acres of Strawberry at $1,581,000. That's FASCINATING as the El Paso County Assessor values that land at $2,383,111. The value the Incline Parking lot at $580,000. Also fascinating as the El Paso County Assessor values that land at $15,442.31. Their math said Strawberry plus parking = $2,257,000, but that math actually equals $2,161,000. Oops, they did it again. Bottom line, they presented data which shows the land the Broadmoor is getting (Strawberry plus the parking lot is worth $2,161,000) and the City is getting land worth $3,300,000. Hey, not so fast there, City. Listen to this: If one uses El Paso County records and doesn't level out zoning differences, the City is getting $1.2 million and the Broadmoor is getting $2.4 million. But wait -- there are significant zoning differences. Digging further, an apples to apples zoning (meaning Bear Creek is zoned at PK like Strawberry), then the land the Broadmoor is swapping is worth a whopping $758,513.64. The land they are getting is worth $2,398,553.56. That's a 3 to 1 financial advantage for the Broadmoor. How on earth could an appraiser have moved 5.5X to report data showing a 1.5 to 1 financial advantage for the City -- which, by the way, is NOT what the Gazette initially reported as the appraised value advantage of 2 to 1 favoring the City? Moreover, these numbers from the El Paso County assessor value easements at assessed values. According to the US Forest Service, trail easements are typically valued at $1,000 per easement as the landowner still retains financial ownership of the property. Since the US Forest service negotiates more trail easements than anyone in the United States, it certainly seems that they have the most experience in this area. Using that approach, the Broadmoor land is worth $740,671.68. As Gomer Pile said, "Surprise. Surprise. Surprise." There's a GIGANTIC chasm between data in the El Paso County Records (no bias there) and what these appraised values are showing. We say, "Show us the Money!" Show us how you arrived at these numbers. No disclosures regarding the appraisal sources (i.e. who did them and who paid for them) nor regarding the assumptions. Obviously, though, it doesn't take an Einstein to realize that valuing 8.5 acres of Bear Creak land at $1.4 million and 189 acres of Strawberry at $1.58 million does not compute. We have asked Parks for both the source of the appraiser(s) as well as the assumptions/math used to arrive at these shocking values. You should ask also. We seem to struggle getting these answers sometimes. Email Karen Palus, kpalus@springsgov.com, and copy the City Council, AllCouncil@springsgov.com. If enough of us ask, they'll have to give us the data eventually. We have a right to see it. We wish we had more details to report like: what structures are planned, what is the intended use, how many more shuttles are they estimating (our math gives us about 80 more a day on a 3 event per day schedule - yikes!)....seems like these details are not for public consumption just like the meadow won't be either.