Amid some local angst, planners of a scenic gondola and mountain bike trail network in Colorado’s central mountains are celebrating “another little piece of the puzzle.”

That’s how Mary Jane Loevlie described Idaho Springs voters approving a land swap in this month’s general election. Owner of the historic Argo Mill and Tunnel, Loevlie is the brains behind the vision that broke ground this summer — a vision that counted on better defined property lines between a private landowner and the city-owned Virginia Canyon Mountain Park.

Those were lines near the higher reaches of the park, near the scenic, under-construction gondola destination and trail system launch site called Miners Point. With voters authorizing the swap for roughly the same acreage, “it’s gonna make a much better layout for the park,” Gary Moore said.

He’s executive director of Colorado Mountain Bike Association (CMBA), the nonprofit that has opened the first 12 miles of long-anticipated trails in Virginia Canyon Mountain Park. The group will be able to build more trail thanks to the land swap, Moore said.

Perhaps even more essential, he noted, was access granted by a formerly private road.

“That will save us a ton of time and money when it comes to construction and maintenance,” Moore said. “I think more important is the safety aspect, the fact we’ll be able to get first responders up there to help somebody with a problem so much more quickly.”

The land swap passed with 64% of the vote.

“We got a little nervous” the week leading up to the election, Moore said. “There was some online grumbling.”

While mountain bikers have praised the trails, not every Idaho Springs resident agrees.

In a Facebook post, CMBA recognized “several reports of poor behavior from mountain bikers” and pleaded with visitors to park in suggested spots around town, as mapped on the group’s website.

Read one response: “It’s appalling to see what’s happened to our town in just a few weeks.”

And another: “The town has been here for over 150 years. My family included. It and the residents do not need to endure this type of disruption and disrespect to endure and thrive.”

Parking was “a huge issue,” read another comment. “It seems to me that that should have been thought out beforehand.”

Officials have pointed to a traffic study showing the town could handle projected visitation. Plans are in the works for a parking structure to be built above a current parking lot near downtown. The Argo has plans to build its own structure sometime after the gondola opens. Rides could start as soon as next winter, Loevlie said.

Complaints were expected with the initial influx of mountain bikers, she said. “It’s probably only gonna get worse before it gets better when the gondola comes. We’ll be having five times that many people.”

Local business owners have welcomed the development, with Mayor Chuck Harmon calling it “probably the biggest thing to happen to the city of Idaho Springs since the gold rush.”