COLORADO PARKS AND RECREATION AREAS TO SEE VARIETY OF UPGRADES

A unique playground built for those with severe special needs may soon see construction in Montrose, Colorado.

The project is set to go up at the site of the Centennial Middle School at 1100 S. 5th Street and will include a ramped play structure, seesaw, swings, a music station, and picnic tables.

Part of the project, to be built by Montrose County, will also include the construction of artificial turf surfacing and fencing.

All of the elements of the playground will be specifically designed for children with significant cognitive challenges and is partly being funded through a $350,000 grant from the Great Outdoors Colorado program.

That initiative funds any number of facility and infrastructure construction and upgrade projects related to recreation and an enjoyment of the outdoors in the state.

Altogether, the group has just awarded some $5.2 million in funding for just over two dozen park, playground, and trail projects in Colorado.

Among the recipients: the City of Greeley, which is receiving $350,000 from GOCO for work at its Balsam Park, a project that will see the transformation of soccer field space into a nature play space with boulders and logs, two shade shelters, and a walking loop around the park’s perimeter.

A two-acre lot once belonging to the former Brick and Tile Company in La Junta will be turned into a universally-accessible playground with climbing structures, wheelchair-accessible spinners and swings, picnic shelters and shade structures through a $350,000 grant.

Another $350,000 grant will go for the development of a 16,000 square foot skate park in the City of Salida’s Centennial Park.

That project will include a variety of ramps bars, and ledges, as well as new restrooms, additional lighting and shade structures.

The various grants awarded by GOCO this year range in size from $130,000 to $350,000.
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According to a statement released by the group, the funding will pay for the purchase of some 85 acres of land, with half of funding providing “new outdoor recreational opportunities to rural and underserved communities in Colorado.”

​By Garry Boulard

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