by Terri Wiebold

In November, the Castle Pines North (CPN) Metro District Board of Directors approved a Community Landscape Master Plan to be implemented during the next four years.

The Metro District formed a committee last July to look into a more unified approach to landscaping the CPN community. Representatives from the Metro District, the Master Association, City Council, and four citizen volunteers serve on the committee. With the help of Norris Design, an award-winning planning and landscape architecture firm, the committee developed a CPN Community Landscape Master Plan.

“We wanted to come up with a unique identity for Castle Pines North in terms of landscape,” said Norris Design Senior Associate John Giefer. According to Giefer, the design intent for the plant palate is to be Xeric in nature and is to work well with the topography of the area, including a variety of colors, forms, and textures. The hardscape will include boulders and will tie into the natural landscape of the region.

The committee’s primary focus is on areas of immediate impact like roadway center medians (illustrated above), the areas between the street curbs and sidewalks, open areas across from T-intersections, and entrances to the community. “We want people to feel like they are passing through the design element and entering into the community,” Giefer said.

According to committee member Jeff Huff, the plan is one that can be implemented during the next four years at an estimated total cost of $1.1 million. The committee identified 20 zones in the community, three of which will be the focus of Phase I in 2009 – the Community Center (as the eastern entrance into the community), the Monarch Road marques (as the northern entrance) and the Daniels Park Entrance (including round about and corners as the west entrance) The Metro District has budgeted $250,000 for Phase I and hopes to begin work in January.

Huff said that water conservation was a primary driver in the plan, and that the Metro District could potentially save in excess of 700,000 gallons of water per year.

Norris Design put together a fantastic and colorful presentation of what these improvements in the Castle Pines North community might look like. To view the presentation, go to www.cpnmd.org.