City Government
Snow Park Slides Over To Eagle Island
December 20, 2013 
Ryan Neptune isn’t about to let any snow melt under his skis. He has cut a deal with the Idaho State Parks Eagle Island venue to test his snow terrain idea.
Plans for a snow park on land owned by Ada County and leased to the city of Eagle have hit the skids while commishes and Eagle officials bicker over use of the land and price of property in the event of a sale.
The new plan at the State of Idaho Eagle Island facility is to use the hill behind the water tube to make snow and create a small hill with two runs, one for tubes and sleds and perhaps, one for skis and boards. Using snow makers, the concessionaire will produce enough snow to create a pretty amazing snow play area. All snow gun equipment is portable, and can be removed after each use. A snowcat, just like what is used for grooming park and ski trails will be used to shape and prepare the snow for use.
Concessionaire Neptune will also be permitted to rent items (sleds and so forth) from the pavilion located near the bottom of the run. There will be a couple of features built into the snow such as humps and hills on the run for the skiers and boarders. The tube hill will be relatively simple to allow for small children to safely use.
There has been no modification of the park, with the exception of removing one larger tree, and three more small trees. The concession operator is required to compensate the park by planting additional trees. Other than that, there will be no physical features of the park altered.
The agreement with Mr. Neptune is for one year through a temporary concession permit. If at the end of the season, IDPR and Mr. Neptune feels the service worked well, they can pursue another, perhaps longer term agreement. If not, both parties chalk it up to “we tried something new and it wasn’t quite what we hoped for.”
The concession operation will provide 5% of gross receipts in revenue to the park and also hopefully increase park use during the slower winter months.
Water will be pumped from the lake and portable toilets will be available since the rest rooms are not heated for wintertime use.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Dec 22, 2013, 8:56 am
Good place for it. Let’s hope this works out and they forget the bike park area.
Dec 22, 2013, 7:00 pm
And, as we all know road traffic and parking will all take care of themselves.
Dec 22, 2013, 10:56 pm
It seems pretty sensible to me that the restrooms be heated for this effort. Who wants to play helicopter when trying to hover over the disgusting stuff in the portapotty.
I think this is a pretty good idea and will provide a recreation opportunity here in the valley. I hope the price to use this is reasonable enough for it to be attractive. Mr. Neptune seems to know what he is doing.
Dec 24, 2013, 1:41 pm
The Eagle Island State Park sounds like a more appropriate fit for the proposed snow terrain park to be located, rather than the Ada-Eagle Sports Complex. The Eagle Island State Park location would ameliorate many of the current issues that the Ada-Eagle Sports Complex location has. Eagle Island State Park is a much more appropriate location and would alleviate the problems with the neighbors, noise and lighting. And there is a water source, rather than using precious water from the aquifer. All of which have been plaguing issues with the proposed snow terrain park at the Ada-Eagle Sports Complex location. Additionally, the conflict about the interpretation of the lease terms between Ada County and the City of Eagle would go away.
Now that Ryan Neptune has successfully gotten a pilot snow terrain park established at the Eagle Island State Park, do we need a second snow terrain park at the Ada-Eagle Sports Complex and within the Eagle City Limits with all of its inherent problems?
We can applaud for Ryan Neptune in selecting a more appropriate and less controversial location for his snow terrain venture. The City of Eagle should embrace the Eagle Island State Park as the “new permanent” location for their proposed snow terrain park.
EDITOR NOTE–Joan, well said and we would certainly agree with your summation.
Dec 24, 2013, 7:13 pm
The sports complex in Eagle is a much better spot for this type of recreation. Eagle Island is too small and doesn’t have the elevation drop available at the existing bike park.
The bike park was already allocated and zoned for recreational use (water hungry baseball and softball fields were on the original plan). So parking and the limited lighting required were planned for anyway. I live next to the Bike/sports complex and couldn’t be more excited to see more family recreational opportunities developed in our area. Anyone who is against this park for simple NIMBY rational should have done their homework before moving in… it has always been a multi use sports and recreational designated area.
The park needs to be moved permanently to the Eagle bike park and let the fun begin!
Jan 8, 2014, 5:02 am
We bought our place in the late 1980’s, in a subdivision that was built over 30 years ago, long before Eagle leased the land from Ada County, and, I’m guessing, probably before you were born. This was when Eagle had a stop sign and a squirrel crossing at the intersection of Eagle Road and State Street, before they had to re-route the highway around the center of the city of Eagle. This was also before when the Ada County land, which includes the Ada-Eagle Sports Complex property, was purchased with landfill monies to be a landfill buffer and not to be developed. What kind of home work would that be, Glenn? Hindsight? Foresight? The Eagle Island State Park appears to be a good place for the snow terrain park to reside. Or Mr Neptune can purchase land himself and not use public lands or taxpayer money for his business venture.