Estes Park town and school boards weigh land swap for new police station

A land swap between the Estes Park School District and the Town of Estes Park could be on the horizon. On Sept. 9, the Town Board of Trustees and Estes Park School District Board of Education held a joint study session to discuss the possibility.

During the meeting, members of both boards discussed the proposed land exchange that could clear the way for a new police department facility. For more than an hour, town staff presented the case for the swap, leaders posed questions, and both boards agreed no decision would be made until the school district’s master planning process provides more clarity.

The meeting itself was notable because it was the first time in memory that both boards convened together as full bodies. “This is the first time that both boards have sat down and talked as two boards,” said Mayor Pro Tem Marie Cenac, who previously served eight years on the school board. “But I think it’s great that we’re sitting here talking.”

The proposal on the table

Deputy Town Administrator Jason Damweber, with support from Town Administrator Travis Machalek and Internal Services Director Paul Fetherston, outlined the town’s proposal: a swap of about three acres known as Top Field, located at Community Drive and Brodie Avenue, in exchange for town-owned land of comparable size and value on Manford Avenue. The Manford parcel already houses the district’s Career and Technical Education building and lies adjacent to the school’s practice field.

Damweber stressed the district would not lose overall acreage. “If this land swap were to happen, the school district would not be losing properties,” he said. “It would just be a different parcel.” For the town, he added, the location would be “ideal when we’re looking for a new site for the police station,” with central access and room for parking and secure setbacks.

“Top Field was identified as the best and most viable option, really because of its ideal location, size, and the possibility of swapping for a similarly situated parcel adjacent to school property,” Damweber said. “I also want to be clear. This is a proposal from the town to the school board. We have no preconceived notions. We think it would be a great site for a police facility, but we also understand how decisions get made, and the need for community engagement in this process.”

The proposed facility would be roughly 30,000 square feet, replacing the department’s current space of about 13,000 square feet scattered across locations inside Town Hall. “Our police department has long been past its useful life,” Damweber said, citing a 2022 facilities plan that deemed the building “entirely inadequate.”

Fetherston clarified this was the ideal size because “when you build a facility, you don’t want to build it just for your current needs because it’ll quickly outgrow itself. So 30,000 square feet is looking forward to the next 10 to 15 years.”

The price tag is steep—north of $30 million—and construction would take about 18 months once started. Staff emphasized that any transfer of town land would almost certainly require voter approval.

“This is really the very beginning of discussions between the two boards who will be the decision-making bodies,” Damweber said. “Very importantly to note, if both boards choose to proceed, which will not occur without the school board’s desire to do so, the proposed transfer of the town’s land would very likely require voter approval.”

Weighing benefits and concerns

Although the idea of a police station next to the schools has generated controversy online, the meeting itself was notable for its measured, civic tone. Trustees and school leaders alike framed their questions around feasibility, transparency, and timing rather than opposition. 

“Thank you for the presentation and addressing some of the concerns that I, too, have seen on social, in the grocery store, or over email,” said Town Trustee Kirby Hazelton. “I’m wondering, first of all, and you talked about this a little bit in your presentation, but I’m wondering if you can expand just a little bit on the other options?”

Fetherston explained that staff, working with Infusion Architects, had scoured the community for viable sites. “We have looked at least in the last year at 18 properties specifically. That does not include all of the town locations, because we’ve looked at town locations that have deed restrictions,” he said. “There’s no rock we haven’t turned. We’re willing to look at any property.”

Hazelton pressed further, asking whether the town had approached owners of properties not on the market. “Correct, we have,” Fetherston replied. “We have approached property owners whose properties are not on the market, who have declined to consider their properties.”

With other options limited, Damweber outlined the potential benefits of a Top Field station. He argued that the location would enhance student and staff security, shorten response times during busy summers, and even deter bad actors. 

“Part of the planning would absolutely be to figure out how we address traffic challenges,” he said, noting that the station could be designed to improve pick-up and drop-off flow on Brodie Avenue. Relocating the playground closer to the school was another advantage, along with opportunities for positive community-police relationships.

Concerns remained, however. School Board Director Brad Shochat and Town Trustee Bill Brown pressed for clarity on why three acres were necessary.

“Is there any idea of what the minimum acreage requirement would be?” Brown asked. “Because it’s possible, on this site in particular, that it could be shared with the school district in some way, shape, or form, if we don’t need the whole three acres.”

Fetherston answered that three acres was ideal, but “we’ve even looked at two-acre parcels. It would be a real squeeze. We’d have to give up something.” Cenac suggested structured parking above or below the building as an alternative, though staff warned it would add expense.

The conversation also touched on urgency. “I’ll keep Chief Stewart quiet on this one. Yesterday—20 years ago,” Damweber quipped when asked about a timeline. He quickly added, “The reality of possibly 2029 is concerning, and that’s if we move right away.”

“I’ll caveat that one a little bit, as soon as possible, recognizing that we would rather wait a little bit longer for the best solution than rush a sub-optimal solution forward,” Machalek added. “So we don’t intend to put time pressure on the school board or your staff as you’re working through an important master planning process, but we are interested in what sort of engagement with the community, what you need from the town, if this is going to be part of that conversation.”

School board considerations and next steps

For the school district, the main issue is timing. Superintendent Ruby Bode reminded both boards that the district is about to launch a 20- to 30-year master plan for its facilities, with the help of outside consultants.

“As far as moving on to next steps, I don’t feel like I could make a knowledgeable or confident recommendation to my school board of whether or not we want to go into negotiations or look for this opportunity,” Bode said. “The main reason for that is we don’t know what we’re doing yet with our students and our facilities and our grounds and our school district, and we need to.”

Board President Stacy Ferree agreed that committing to a land swap without that framework would be premature. “It’s difficult to say, ‘Yes, let’s move with the land swap when we haven’t done our master plan,’ because we don’t really know what that’s going to look like,” she said. At the same time, Ferree and other board members expressed interest in at least continuing conversations to determine if the idea is viable.

Board Treasurer John Davis suggested that architects brought in for the master plan could evaluate the police station proposal alongside their other work. “They would come and see this presentation, what’s going on, and they would have an idea of whether it’s feasible or not, even before the master plan is done,” he said.

Bode closed the session by encouraging her board to take time to reflect and seek further input. “I hope that my school board members get all their questions answered and their wonderings and their curiosities,” she said. “If we decide to go into engaging in this conversation more, or even negotiations, we would certainly hold multiple opportunities for joint community engagement sessions where we could hear from our community.”

Mayor Hall underscored that no commitment had been made, but that communication channels were now open. “It’s fundamentally the school board’s call as to whether to proceed with discussions,” he said. “So the door is still open for information exchange discussion. Thank you so much for your participation in this apparently revolutionary getting together of the two boards. Let’s not stop now—I like the idea of being a revolution of communication channels.”