Parks and Wildlife Redevelopment Plan | CPW

As big, established parks age, park managers and administrators overseeing those parks experience unique challenges. They may find that infrastructure and operational routines that once served their communities well are no longer ideal, and merit improvement or redesign. With budgets often tight, though, knowing how to prioritize improvements, as well as the best strategies to bring planning goals to fruition, may prove difficult.

This was the problem facing Colorado Parks & Wildlife management when they came to us in 2014 looking for input. Tasked with helping park managers envision future changes as well as developing concrete steps toward implementing those changes, our landscape architects created the concept of the redevelopment plan. A redevelopment plan incorporates all of the standard features of a typical master plan, with the addition of a step-by-step, detailed guide for implementation. In essence, we helped CP&W create not only a vision for what their parks might become, but a detailed road map for achieving that vision.

Focus Areas Define Design Alternatives, Cost Estimates, and Phasing Plans

The first step toward creating a successful redevelopment plan was conducting a baseline conditions inventory. This involved working with park managers, staff, and park users to gain an understanding of the park’s infrastructure constraints, opportunities for operational improvements, and unmet needs. Our team then used this information to identify focus areas for change and development and to design alternatives, complete with cost estimating and phasing plans, for the parks’ future evolution. Our redevelopment plans took into account multiple factors – projected programming and facility changes as well as the resulting potential changes in park use, staffing needs, budgeting, and more. All of this was broken down into discrete, detailed, measurable, flexible steps.

Initially asked to formulate redevelopment plans for Boyd Lake State Park in Loveland and Eleven Mile State Park in Lake George, our team was later asked to do the same for Highline State Park in Loma and Stagecoach State Park in Steamboat Springs. Together, CP&W and our landscape architects created a vision for the future of these parks which is not only desirable, but achievable.