Red Rocks is about to grow — outside the world-famous amphitheater, at least.

Denver city officials have begun the process to add nearly 98 acres of city-owned property to the park that surrounds the 9,525-capacity live music venue. That will enlarge the area within park boundaries by about 11 percent, creating room for potential new hiking trails on gently sloping land south of Entrance 2 along Country Road 93.

Denver Post Library photo archive

“It’s right along Mt. Vernon Creek. There could be some amazing trail additions to this parcel,” deputy parks director Scott Gilmore told a City Council committee Wednesday. “So we’re very, very excited to add this to Red Rocks.”

The city has been on a tear of park designations since 2013, adding 755 acres to official city parks, mostly within city boundaries.

PHOTOS: Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison

The Red Rocks addition, which the full council likely will approve in mid-July, would become the largest single addition in recent years. The park currently is 868 acres.

The addition of Denver Arts and Venues-owned land would expand the narrow piece of the park that now connects to Entrance 2. One exception is a narrow cut-out where a house — deeded to become parkland at some point in the future — is surrounded by the proposed expanded parkland, Gilmore said.

An announcement of the park designation, made by Mayor Hancock recently to coincide with Red Rocks’ 75th anniversary, said Denver Parks and Recreation later this year would begin a trail development planning process. New trails might connect with 2 miles of trails that traverse other parts of the park as well as to Jefferson County’s Matthews/Winters Park, and to the nearby town of Morrison along the creek.