MONTROSE – Montrose City Councilors approved a resolution supporting a grant application to Great Outdoors Colorado for the creation of a whitewater park and improvements to Montrose Recreation District's ballfields, at this week’s meeting. The application may be on hold, however, until next spring.

Councilors, along with city staff and the MRD board, have been discussing contemplating for several weeks now whether or not the application is strong enough for submission in the fall GOCO grant cycle at the end of August.

The two boards met last week with Montrose County Commissioners to ask if the county would be willing to support such an application, with a possible $50,000 match (see the Aug. 2 edition of The Watch); the commissioners responded favorably.

But at the county’s Monday meeting, the commissioners agreed to only support the project if the city was awarded the grant – a disappointment to town councilors, who were hoping for county funds to be put toward supporting the engineering aspect of the project.

In Tuesday's resolution, council directed staff to move forward with a request for quotes for engineering details on the project, which both councilors and staff said should strengthen a future application.

Dennis Erickson, city parks planner, said having detailed plans and cost estimates in hand will lead to a stronger application, further buttressed by having an intergovernmental agreement outlined with MRD, and  confirmed supporters and partners for the project, on the record.

Delaying the application will provide ample time to get that all together, he said.

MRD's board supported that decision, Executive Director Ken Sherbenou said.