Englewood seeks Arapahoe County grant to fund Centennial Park upgrades including bilingual story walk and fishing docks

Parks and Open Space Manager Adrian Torres presented a grant proposal for Centennial Park that staff intend to submit to Arapahoe County. The Centennial project budget is approximately $700,000; staff said they will apply for a $500,000 county grant and use a required 25% match from the city's Open Space Fund (about $200,000) to complete the budget.

Torres described planned improvements that would be funded by the grant and matching dollars: replacement of two fishing docks (both to be ADA accessible), installation of 10 solar lights around the walking path, a bird blind near the Oxbow area, three viewing scopes, wildlife informational signage, and a bilingual (English and Spanish) story walk consisting of 20 pedestals between the playground and the ballfield parking lot. The Englewood Public Library will rotate story-walk books seasonally, Torres said.

On funding steps and schedule, Torres said city council must approve submitting the grant application and that staff plan to seek council approval on April 7 and to submit the grant on April 11; grant awards are typically announced in July or early August, he said. Torres also said the budget figure of about $700,000 includes design and construction and that the city will use Open Space Fund matching dollars as permitted by the fund's rules.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the required match and the walking loop length (project staff said the Centennial loop is roughly 0.9 miles and that staff would add start/finish markers so users know their distance). Torres asked the commission for letters of support to accompany the grant application.

If awarded, staff said work would proceed according to grant and design timelines and that some features require procurement lead time. The commission agreed staff should pursue the grant and that supporting letters would be distributed to commissioners.