ARVADA —After 12 years of planning, two parcels of Arvada land in the middle of urban neighborhoods are being developed into parks.
Both will help the city fulfill its mission of having a neighborhood park within a half-mile of every resident, said Arvada city parks manager Mike Lee.
“Our goal is to not just build new parks in the new residential areas but to also look at some of those older neighborhoods and try to give them park improvements, also,” Lee said.
Bulldozers and other construction equipment are scraping the ground at 52nd Avenue and Carr Street for the development of 3.5-acre Griffith Station Park. Head east, and work is underway at 69th Avenue and Eaton Street for 6.9-acre Britton Park.
The two projects totaling $2.8 million are expected to be completed by the end of summer.
Finding open land in urban corridors is a rare opportunity, so city officials knew they had to act when both areas were identified in 2001 as lacking park access.
Two property owners with houses on acres of land were approached in 2003 and asked to consider selling to Arvada when they no longer wanted the property. It took almost eight years with no guarantees, but both decided creating parks would be good land use. The city purchased the properties in 2011 for $1.9 million.
“Yes, it was always a concern,” said Mayor Pro Tem Mark McGoff of the possibility developers would snatch up the land. “We made our wishes known to the owners that we’d like to buy it for a fair price and, thankfully, no one came in and doubled the price.”
Griffith Station Park will pay homage to the neighborhood’s history of being next to a now-defunct rail transit system. The park will include a trolley station theme, with imitation rail ties crossing sections of sidewalk and play equipment modeled on trains. Pedestrian lighting, landscaping and a connection to the nearby Interurban Trail are also included.
Britton Park will have a more natural look, with native grasses covering sections of the park, and playground equipment and other features modeled to give the feel of a farm.
“Most of what affects the design of Britton Park is the beautiful views to the mountains and the surrounding area, because it’s elevated,” Lee said. “That really shaped where we put the pavilions and seating areas.”
Both will include utility and drainage improvements on nearby streets.
A series of three heavily attended neighborhood meetings took place for each site to get a feel for what the community wanted.
The result is a plan that seeks to provide an opportunity not only for youngsters to play, but also for adults to exercise, gather in a location close to their homes and eventually be connected to a larger network of regional trails and bike paths.
That’s a great use of city funds, said resident Teagan Burns, who was walking her two dogs north of Griffith Station Park last week.
“When I first saw the construction equipment out here, I thought it was going to be new apartments,” Burns said. “It’s kind of rare to see land being developed for a park, so I think it’s a great idea and great for the neighborhood.”
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729, abriggs@denverpost.com or twitter.com/abriggs
