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Planner recommends renaming downtown civic area to 'Boulder Creek Park' after community vote
Summary
City planner Charlotte O'Donnell told the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board that community engagement — including youth input — produced two tied creek‑based frontrunners and staff recommends 'Boulder Creek Park' as the preferred name; PRAB will consider formal action at its June meeting.
City planning staff recommended the advisory board endorse “Boulder Creek Park” as the new name for the downtown civic area following a community engagement process that included youth participation and nearly 300 votes for two creek‑focused name options.
Charlotte O'Donnell, city planner, summarized the outreach and said a data-cleaning pass revealed two creek‑based names tied after duplicates were removed. “We heard a lot of love for the creek,” O'Donnell said, explaining that respondents viewed the creek as the park’s defining feature and that including “Boulder” links the site to its signature waterway.
Why it matters: the renaming precedes an action item to be considered at PRAB’s June meeting and will affect branding, signage and interpretive materials tied to design phase 2. Staff said the name choice will not erase historical context — interpretive signage and storywalks are planned to preserve Olmsted-era history and Indigenous narratives.
Youth engagement: Chelsea Hackett of Growing Up Boulder explained that students’ participation focused both on demonstrating democratic process and on imagining the park’s future uses; several youth-preferred names such as Sunset Plaza and Creekside Gardens will still influence placemaking and programmatic choices.
Next steps: staff said they will bring formal action language for PRAB consideration in June and, if adopted, coordinate sign design, interpretive content and public communications around the new name.
Context: staff emphasized that naming is one element of Phase 2 civic-area design and that programmatic decisions (festivals, markets, interpretive installations) will reflect community input gathered during this process.
