Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Centennial Park topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Plan calls for Centennial Park 'adventure hub' as a $1 million pilot to kick-start riverfront work
Summary
As part of the Western Gateway Initiative, consultants proposed converting the former maintenance building at Centennial Park into a youth-oriented "adventure hub" with climbing features, gear lockers and multi-generational programming; the consultants estimated the pilot at about $1 million and recommended it as an early demonstration project.
Consultants presenting the Western Gateway master plan to the joint Cañon City City Council and Planning Commission meeting on June 17 recommended an early pilot at Centennial Park: repurposing the former maintenance building as an "adventure hub" focused on youth programming, gear storage and river-oriented education.
Christopher Marsenoski and Nick Jabs said the maintenance building is already a large shaded structure, has been cleaned out by parks staff and could be adaptively reused with modest retrofits that avoid "substantial improvements" that would trigger lengthy floodplain permitting. "There is the opportunity to transform that maintenance building into a youth-oriented activity space... it would be a relatively modest investment of about a million dollars," Marsenoski said.
The consultants described the proposed hub as a multigenerational facility with climbing and all-wheel sports features, shaded gathering and flexible event space for food trucks, classes and river training. Port noted potential partners and users could include river education groups (RG Rio was mentioned) and the police department would retain access and use of the site for patrol and river safety if needed.
Consultants and commissioners discussed constraints and opportunities: because the building sits in the floodplain, crews should pursue only non-substantial retrofits to avoid triggering more onerous floodplain permitting, or else plan for floodproofing or removal. The pilot also functions as a demonstrable near-term project to show progress and strengthen grant applications for larger Western Gateway investments.
Planning Commissioner Ashley Smith and multiple council members supported the pilot concept as a way to engage youth and show early progress. Ryan Stevens, city administrator, said staff would include Centennial Park pilot items in the written report and pursue pilot-phase funding alongside the broader plan.
