Introduction

Our feasibility study evaluates the financial feasibility of creating a new outdoor waterpark
facility, Pikes Peak Water Park, just outside of downtown Colorado Springs, CO.
This includes an analysis of multiple factors that will impact the feasibility of the project. This
study will hopefully be an informative source for our client in determining whether or not it
would be wise to move to a Phase II feasibility study. The market analysis will include details
about how the government of Colorado Springs will be involved in the process of creating the
park, the people who actually make up this community, and a background on where the water
park will be located, which can be seen in Figure 1, in the venue data section. There you will see
a map of where the facility will be and the open surrounding land. The project will be funded
through loans and other means of public financing. The key project assumptions section will go
into more detail on how the park will be financed exactly and where the cash inflows will come
from. The goal for this park is to be a community getaway and offer relaxation to the people of
this area, which is why it is going to be funded through taxes so it will truly be the communitys
park. Not only will the park have rides, games, and slides, but there will also be numerous
concessions stands, as well as a food court located on the property to give the patrons a variety of
dining options. The economic and fiscal impacts section focuses on how Pikes Peak will impact
the economy. It will play a major role for the tourism industry because it will help attract people
from a more broad area and introduce them to the community. The biggest impact it will have is
in jobs because it will help to open up jobs for people in the construction and entertainment
industry for while it is being built and then to help operate it on a day-to-day basis. The
economy of Colorado Springs has a chance to gain a big boost from the creation of Pikes Peak
Water Park.

The goal of this feasibility study is to give the best insight on how Pikes Peak Water Park will
affect the city of Colorado Springs. At the end of this report the city should be able to make a
decision on whether or not they should move onto the next phase of developing this attraction.
Market Analysis
Overview of municipalities
In order to begin the building of the water park, the city and government of Colorado Springs
must verify all the actions taken to create the park. Listed below are the boards and committees
of the Colorado Springs Government that must clear and oversee the creation of the water park:
Building Committee
City of Colorado Springs Public Facilities Authority
City Planning Commission
City/County Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Committee
El Paso County Board of Public Health
Food Policy Advisory Board
Human Relations Commission
Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
Planning Commission
Public Safety Sales Tax Oversight Commission
Regional Building Advisory Board
Regional Building Commission
SpringsTV
Trucking Issues Subcommittee
Public Facilities Authority
City Investment Advisory Committee
Civil Service Commission
Old Colorado City Security and Maintenance District Advisory Committee
TOPS Working Committee
Planning and Development Division
Independent Ethics Commission
Active Transportation Advisory Committee
El Paso Countys Park Operations Division
Including this list of committees that will help to oversee the creation of the park, there are also a
list of permits that must be obtained before construction can even begin. The permits and plans

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must be obtained through the government, contractors, fire department, and the emergency
management team, and they are listed as followed:
Concrete Permits
Excavation Permits
Development Inspection Fee
Traffic Control Permit Fee
Drainage, Bridge, and Pond Fees
Grading and Erosion Control
Sub-Surface Revocable Permit
Water and Construction Permits (Fire Department)
Emergency Plans (Emergency Management Department)
Lastly, the government will implement taxes on the money brought in by the new attraction, as
well as have a tax on the property that it is located on. Listed below are four of the taxes that the
water park must pay to the city:
2% Sales and Use Tax
0.4% Public Safety Sales and Use Tax
0.1% Trails, Open Space, and Parks Tax
0.524% Property Tax
Each of these taxes comes from the revenue or sales that the company will make during the year,
and from property they bought. The state of Colorado offers one of the nations lowest overall
property tax, which allows the company to buy more land and not have to worry about
outrageous taxes on them.

Demographic and Psychographic Data

According to the 2010 census, the population of Colorado Springs, Colorado was 416,427, with
an estimated population of 445,830 in 2014. From 2010 to 2014, the population of Colorado
Springs grew at a rate of 7.06%. Below are a list of some other key demographic numbers on
who makes up the population for Colorado Springs:
25% are under the age of 18
Only 10.9% are over the age of 65
70.7% are white alone citizens

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 6.3% African Americans
16.1% Hispanic or Latino
93% of people who are 25+ are a high school graduate
36.3% of people who are 25+ have a bachelors degree or higher
Mean travel time to work - 20.8 minutes for people over the age of 16 with a job
13.7% below the poverty line
4.9% Unemployed
These numbers help to give an insight into what kind of people make up the city of Colorado
Springs from age, to race, to possible employment. A quarter of the citys population is people
under the age of 18, which is the target market that we are trying to appeal to that would best
enjoy the water park. Also, the city is majority white citizens, however there is still a good
balance of other races in the area to allow the water park to appeal to people of all races and
bring everyone together. With 13.7% of the population below the poverty line and 4.9%
unemployed, the creation of the water park will give the city a chance to give jobs to its citizens
both in the construction industry and also new jobs at the water park. We will go into more
detail on this in the Economic and Fiscal Impact section.

Now we will dive into the psychographic data and show how the people of Colorado Springs
usually spend their money compared to the national average. If you reference the following
chart, it shows how the citizens of Colorado Springs choose to spend their money against the
national average.
Consumer spending in Colorado Springstop
National Average 100
Below Average Above Average
100
Total Household Expenditure
100
Contributions
98
Insurance
99
Clothing
100
Education
99
Entertainment
101
Food

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100
Health Care
100
Household Furnishings
101
Shelter
100
Household Operations
100
Other
100
Personal Care
100
Reading
100
Tobacco
100
Transportation
101
Utilities
101
Gifts
99

For most of the categories they are right about at the national average or even below for how
they choose to spend their money. However, they are above the national average in four
categories according to the chart, and two of those four areas are entertainment and
transportation. This means that the citizens of Colorado Springs like to spend their money on
entertaining activities and are willing to pay extra money either on their vehicles or how they get
places. The combination of these two areas shows that these citizens are willing to spend their
money on entertainment and do not mind spending the extra money to get there.

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Venue Data
The location of the water park will be at 7980 Black Forest Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80908,
and cover 9.44 acres of land. Below is a map that shows where our location will be.

The area within the black box will be the location of Pikes Peak Water Park. The land is
relatively flat and already has a large building constructed on it that will be used by the park as a
main building. The venue will be located just outside of downtown Colorado Springs, to the
northeast, and is only a 20-30 minute drive to the venue depending on which part of the city you
are leaving from. There are three separate airports located within a two hour drive of the
location: the Colorado Springs Airport, which is 30 min away; Denver Airport, which is an hour
and 20 min away; and Boulder Municipal Airport, which is two hours away. The chart of the
following page will show the average temperature for Colorado Springs.

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This chart depicts the average temperature, precipitation, and daylight that the location will
receive throughout the year. The park is an outdoor only facility, so it will only be open six
months out of the year, May through October.

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Project Description
This project focuses on providing the citizens of Colorado Springs and any other guests, a
summer water park where they can go enjoy themselves with friends and family. The city
government and the people running the boards and committees, will be heavily involved in the
creation of the park to help give their community a fun place to go as well as the opportunity for
new jobs. The new park will be located just outside of the city to avoid heavy traffic and to
allow for open spaces for the park. There is also open land still available around the park, which
will give the park the opportunity to grow and expand depending on its success. Colorado
Springs has a quarter of the population being made up of people under the age of 18, which is the
target market for this park because they are the ones most likely to attend with their parents. By
having a large number of people under the age of 18 it gives the park a broad audience to try and
market and draw to the new attraction and give the possibility of success. The number of people
in poverty and unemployed in this area is a little high, however with construction needing to be
done and a new water park being built, it gives the citizens who are unemployed a chance to go
out and get a job where needed to help reduce not only the unemployed rate, but also those who
live in poverty. The venue may be a outside of the main city, but a combination of the fact that
most people from this area drive over 20 minutes to work and they enjoy spending money on
entertainment provides positive reinforcement that the water park will be successful a this
location and the people will come. This project is going to give the people of Colorado Springs a
getaway during their hot summers, and just go to a water park and relax during the day because
there are no beaches around. Pikes Peak Water Park will provide the people with not only a
family friendly getaway, but it will also provide jobs to the people and help boost their
economy.

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Key Project Assumptions
Financing Options
The Pikes Peak Water Park is a water park for the people and city of Colorado Springs, so it will
be paid in full through taxes on the community. The goal for this project is to give back to the
community and help provide long-term jobs and entertainment for the community, so that is why
the finances for this project will be coming from taxes. The cost for the land alone is $795,000
and the actual construction of the water park can vary anywhere from $10-20 million depending
on how nice and new the attractions at the park will be. Even though the project will be funded
from taxing the community, donations from the community will also be accepted in exchange for
naming rights on individual attractions. The project will be publically financed and the money
will come from revenue bonds.

Revenue Sources
The water park will bring in revenue through a few different options. Revenue will be brought in
through different admission offers, concessions stands, and parking. There will be both free and
pay-to-park lots, with the paying lots located closer to the entrance of the facility. Throughout
the park there will be several different food vendors to quench the guests hunger and help to
generate more revenue. Lastly, there will be several different admission offers to get into the
park such as, hourly or daily passes, weekend or weekly passes, or even a summer pass that gives
you access all summer. All of these different options will be available throughout the summer to
allow the guests the most flexibility to decide on when they want to come and enjoy the
park. The revenue brought in to the company will then be distributed to help pay back debt, be
put away, put back into the company to enhance it more, or give back to city for helping it get
started.

Growth Rates of Income and Expenses

According to some experts, Colorado Springs has been one of the slowest cities to recover from
the recession, and job growth is not as strong as other cities. Prior to building this water park,
the job growth rate is 1.9%. By the addition of this water park it will help to increase the job
growth rate by creating new job opportunities for everyone. The current median household
income for Colorado Springs is $61,558 per year with an income tax at 4.63%. The biggest

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expense that the water park is going to face is going to be getting the water to the park and then
maintaining the cleanliness of it. Aside from the water expense, all the other expenses will just
be electrical and maintenance expenses when needed to keep the park running and up to date.

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Economic and Fiscal Impacts
Two of the major work force industries in Colorado are technology and tourism, both will have
an increase in job force once the water park goes into construction. The park will be a great
tourism attraction because people will come to visit the waterpark and then in turn visit the city,
which will help build tourism and boost the economy. As for technology, with some rides
requiring machines to run them and keep them operating, the park will need technology experts
on site that know the machines and how they work so it will help boost that work force even
more. In general, the park will open up job opportunities for thousands of residents in the
Colorado Springs area giving them work either on-site at the waterpark or being a part of the
construction and contractor crews who help with the original creation of the park. In the
following figure, it shows how job growth in Colorado has consistently been better than the
national average.

Colorado is already ahead of the national average when it comes to creating jobs for its people,
thus this will add to their above average job growth. However, Colorado Springs has had a

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relatively low job growth percentage over recent years, and the follow chart depicts this.

Even though the overall state of Colorado has a good job growth rate, the community of
Colorado Springs has been lacking. This project will give the community an opportunity to offer
numerous jobs to the people of their community in all different areas of work such as
construction, operations, hospitality, and others. The creation of this water park will help the
economy grow because it will get more citizens back into the work force and improving their
area. With the creation of the park it will give the community a place to go relax and have fun
and keeps them in the local economy instead of traveling outside their community and spending
their money elsewhere. Due to the fact that the park will be open for the months of May through
October, it will give the kids and families another alternative to how they want to spend their
summer, and another option to build the areas economy and not going outside the community.
All in all, this water park will have a major impact on this communitys economy because it will
allow for more jobs for the residents, and a new place for them to go and spend their money,
which will go back into the community, without having to travel too far.

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Conclusion
Pikes Peak Water Park is a great opportunity to bring new revenue, economic and job growth,
and to greater enhance the community of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The city should look to
pursue Phase Two of the feasibility study to possibly begin the planning for the construction of
the water park. This project can bring numerous to perks to Colorado Springs through the
construction and operations of the facility, as well as bring in new revenue and tourism. The
state of Colorado has above average job growth, meanwhile Colorado Springs is on the lower
side, so by building this water park it will create new jobs for construction workers, facility
managers, maintenance, and other areas. The purpose of the park is to not only be for the public
to use, but it will also benefit the overall community. In order to give back to the community
that will be helping to finance the park, portions of Pikes Peak Water Parks income will be
given back to the community government so that they can redistribute the wealth to better certain
aspects of the area. Not only will this park give the local residents a new summer activity to
partake in, it will also be a tourist attraction to bring in new people to the area. The new park
will attract more people to the area which will help the restaurants, retail stores, and hotels of the
area so the whole community has something to benefit off of the creation of this park. Overall
this park would be a great addition to the community as it will grow the economy, create new
jobs, help to generate revenues for local businesses, and it will give back to the people by giving
a portion of the parks income to the community.

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