We are pleased to announce that two major Mountain Parks projects are in contention for Denver’s anticipated 2017 General Obligation (GO) Bond request.
The “Park Structures and Infrastructure” project would request $2.0 to $4.5 million for renovating shelters, historic features, and general infrastructure throughout the Mountain Parks system in order to bring facilities up to modern standards.
The “Morrison/Genesee CCC Camps” project would request $4.0 to $6.5 million for renovation and rehabilitation of the historic Morrison and Genesee Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps located in Red Rocks and Katherine Craig Mountain Park.
According to a Denver Parks and Rec presentation, “This project provides foundational funding to allow an extremely beneficial partnership opportunity that can assist in the continued restoration of these facilities while also activating them with youth career training and education activities.”
This partnership would allow the Denver-based, national nonprofit Historicorps to relocate their headquarters to the Morrison CCC camp, and to make significant contributions to historic preservation work throughout the mountain park system.
The Morrison camp is of national historic significance as one of the only nearly-intact CCC camps remnant in the United States of 2,500+ camps that were created between 1933-1942 during the New Deal era.
Together, the two Mountain Parks projects represent $6-$11 million of the total $136-$252 million of “department prioritized” Parks and Rec projects. In each instance, the lower figure in the range represents the minimum viable funding for a project and the larger amount portrays the full estimated project cost.
Overall, this compares very favorably to the 2007 Better Denver Bond in which no specific Mountain Parks projects were included in the final $95 million of Parks and Rec projects.
At the foundation’s most recent board meeting, Scott Gilmore, Deputy Director of Parks and Rec, attributed the Mountain Park’s inclusion in the 2017 GO Bond priority list to the Denver Mountain Park Foundation’s ongoing advocacy and promotion of the Mountain Park system over the past decade.
These department recommendations will be considered by the GO Bond Parks and Recreation Stakeholder Committee during their final meetings April 20th and 27th, before the committee makes their final recommendations.
After selecting a final list of proposed rehabilitation and capital infrastructure projects, Denver plans to seek bond authorization from voters in November 2017.
The Denver Mountain Park Foundation requests that interested parties attend the final committee meetings to voice support for these two projects.
For full information, please see the foundation’s official position statement below, and details about the public comment process.
Resources:
Denver Mountain Parks Foundation position statement in support of proposed 2017 GO Bond projects
Excerpt: 2017 GO Bond Mountain Parks project descriptions from “department priorities” presentation
Full Denver Parks and Rec 2017 GO Bond department priorities presentation
2017 GO Bond Stakeholder Committee Information (official Denver site)
Committee Meeting information:
Parks and Recreation – Project Deliberation & Recommendations
Apr 20 2017 – Apr 20 2017
Start Time: 9:00 a.m.
End Time: 11:30 a.m.
Location: Montclair Civic Center “The Molkery” – 6829 E. 12th Ave., Denver
Parks and Recreation – Project Recommendations
Apr 27 2017 – Apr 27 2017
Start Time: 9:00 a.m.
End Time: 11:30 a.m.
Location: McNichols Civic Center Building – 144 W Colfax Ave, Denver, CO
- Committee meetings will be open to the public and will begin with a comment period of up to 15 minutes. Each speaker will be limited to 3 minutes or less depending on demand and the committee chair’s discretion.
- Individuals who want to speak at a meeting must sign-up no less than 24 hours prior to the start time of that meeting, by e-mailing 2017gobond@denvergov.org.
- The e-mail must include the prospective speaker’s name and the specific project/s the speaker will address.
- Meeting notes will be provided and uploaded to the project website.
- If you need language interpretation, contact 2017gobond@denvergov.org no less than 48 hours before the scheduled meeting.
- Si necesita interpretación lingüística, póngase en contacto con 2017gobond@denvergov.org por lo menos 48 horas antes de la reunión programada.