Park illustration provided by Design Concepts

by Terri Wiebold

Plans for the approximately 37-acre park on the Lagae Ranch parcel between the proposed American Academy Charter School and God’s Grace Community Church are moving forward and the park design is beginning to take form.

“The new park will be an amenity that has something for everyone,” stated Axel Bishop, principal and lead engineer for Design Concepts, the landscape architecture firm the Castle Pines Parks Authority* has retained to model the park. “One focus of the design will be to provide recreation opportunities for all generations and to promote activities that are family friendly,” he stated.

Preliminary conceptual plans for the park include: multi-use athletic fields, a tot lot and playground, restroom facilities, large and small picnic shelters, a formal promenade, loops of trails through the natural areas, boulder gardens for climbing, a community plaza, native areas with a “passive” adventure area, and plans for future tennis courts. One special feature that is being considered is interactive water play. According to Bishop, this could take the form of a sprayground, a meandering stream, a wetland area, or it could include a combination of all three.

“This is an evolving process and it is by no means complete,” said Castle Pines Parks Authority president, Sandy Colling. “We have done some general planning to conform as much as possible for the over lot grading to begin,” he said, “but we will need a lot more input as time goes on.”

All submittals for zoning, planning and building the park will go through the City. Hearings on Lagae Ranch are scheduled for mid-August, and all plans are subject to City Council approval. “If all goes well, we hope to begin breaking ground in early September,” said Chris Fellows, principal of HF Holdings, LLC, and the developer of the Lagae Ranch site.

Working in partnership with the developer, the church, the school, the CPN Metro District, the City, and the residents of HOA 1 (who’s homes back to a significant portion of the park) has allowed Design Concepts to develop a comprehensive park plan that utilizes the space to its maximum potential in a functional and cost-effective manner.

According to Colling, working in cooperation with all parties involved will result in significant cost savings to the Parks Authority and ultimately to the community.

“This park is envisioned to be ‘THE’ place to meet as a community and share the great outdoors,” stated Bishop. The name of the proposed park has not yet been decided, but the Parks Authority is open to suggestions.

Parks Authority meetings are open to the public and are held the third Thursday of every month at the Community Center, located at 7404 Yorkshire Drive from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. All residents are welcome to attend to share ideas for the new park.

*Editor’s Note: The Castle Pines Parks Authority is a governmental alliance formed in 2000 to plan, fund and build parks and recreation facilities for the CPN community. It is funded by dues residents pay to the CPN Master Association. Currently, the Parks Authority has approximately $3.8 million in reserves to build a park(s) in CPN.