Title
Recognition of the Colorado Parks & Recreation Association Columbine Award for Renovated Park Design Presented to Panorama Park
Presenter:
Britt Haley - Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director
Body
Summary:
The Colorado Parks & Recreation Association Awards Program is intended to recognize and celebrate the individuals and organizations that contribute to the success and value of parks and recreation in the state of Colorado. Designed to bring attention to its recipients, the awards program highlights the successes of association members and community champions. On Thursday, September 28, 2023, Panorama Park received the Columbine Award for best renovated park design.
Background:
Panorama Park is a 13.5-acre neighborhood park located in Southeast Colorado Springs. To say Panorama Park was a special project would be an understatement. Attention for this park sprung to life through organized resident leaders, community partners, philanthropy, and community-centered design; a real lightning-in-a-bottle kind of project made possible through partnership. City Council’s sustained and enthusiastic support for this project was a keystone to its success.
As a neighborhood park, Panorama serves Southeast Colorado Springs. Over 3,400 residents live within a 10-minute walk. In Southeast, many neighborhoods are geographically isolated, disparately served, and inundated by negative indicators for equity and health. The area has some particularly distressing statistics, as identified by El Paso County Health Indicators and American Community Survey data:
• Extremely limited health services, including zero primary care providers
• Disproportionately high incidence of youth violence
• 10-12 year lower life expectancy
• Limited tree canopy, resulting in hotter temperatures/heat island effect
Despite area hardships, Southeast residents dedicated their time and energy to rally around the renovation of Panorama Park and the opportunity to create recreational equity while also helping to address wellness trends and health disparities.
As an agency, our department also faced challenges in building trust in the community. By partnering with resident leader groups like RISE|Southeast and national experts like Trust for Public Land (TPL), the Parks Department was able to overcome these barriers. In that process, Southeast residents were invited to the table to not only suggest amenities or participate in surveys, but they drove design concepts. By engaging a Youth Advisory Council (YAC) with RISE|Southeast, partners and staff were able to reach new demographics of residents and build priceless ownership for the park.
The renovation project at Panorama Park has been creating community impact since its early vision. The collaboration between partners, the empowerment of community voices, and the trust built in the process are all examples of positive change at the heart of this project. The park itself, which is now full of resident-prioritized amenities and recreation spaces, is buzzing with attendance and use, a vast change from the park prior to renovation. On any given day, the park is full of families, mothers with young children, teens, seniors, organized sports, youth programs, walking groups, and scheduled community events. Over 1,000 people came out to support the Grand Re-Opening of this park in August 2022. This park has become a community destination not only for Southeast neighbors but for all residents in Colorado Springs.
On a practical level, collaboration across different teams and city agencies helped to ensure long-term project success. The expert conservation staff collaborated on soils, native seed, and irrigation. The Forestry Division not only reviewed every plan set for tree selection, but they were also actively involved in tree inspection at the nursery, on-site, and supervised the contractors planting on-site. The design team worked closely with the City Stormwater enterprise staff to propose and explain the progressive design concept, troubleshooting all aspects so to not compromise the creative design while meeting MS4 Permit detention and water quality criteria.
The effectiveness of this project is already influencing local community engagement and how the Parks department approaches park design and development. Mayor Yemi Mobolade, recently created a new Office of Community Affairs to capitalize on community power across the city. Panorama Park is an excellent example of the success that can be achieved when resident leadership, community partners, and professional staff, come together to problem-solve and shape the future.
The Colorado Parks and Recreation Association recognized the design and renovation elements, and the strong community engagement in support of this incredible project with the Columbine Award for Best Renovated Park Design.
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