Holiday Closure
All City of Boulder administrative facilities, public libraries and Age Well Centers will be closed Monday, May 29, for the Memorial Day holiday. Some facilities and services will be open.
Project Overview
Located in north Boulder on Violet Avenue between Broadway and 19th St., this 8-acre site will become the city’s newest neighborhood park. This undeveloped park site has been open to the public since 1987 as a natural area; however, improvements will increase access to and amenities at the site.
The site is currently known as “Violet Park,” but engagement and the city’s naming policy will inform a new and final name for the park when it opens. The name and character of the park should reflect local hopes and dreams for the site.
Building on past relationship-building and engagement with stakeholders, neighbors, children, youth, and families, Parks and Recreation staff is developing an engagement plan that centers children, youth, and families in the Boulder Meadows neighborhood as leaders in the design process. The tentative project timeline includes:
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Community Engagement & Early site activation: Starting Summer 2023
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Design & permitting: Fall 2023 – Summer 2024
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Build – Late 2024 - 2025
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Activation – 2025
Parks and Recreation is collaborating closely with other city departments on transportation and stormwater needs at and near the site. We are investigating ways to use green infrastructure to reduce flood risk along Fourmile Canyon Creek as well as connect with surrounding neighborhoods, the new NoBo library, and other community spaces.
Stay tuned to the website and sign up below to receive future updates on the process.
Project Updates
After early analysis, staff identified a need to address floodplain and wetland issues as this project is designed. Due to these issues, the project completion is now anticipated to be later than anticipated. The timeline will be updated when appropriate floodplain permitting timelines are finalized.
Meanwhile, staff are onboarding three bilingual community connectors with meaningful connections to the Boulder Meadows neighborhood who will help design and implement an inclusive engagement plan.
BPR has also coordinated with staff in the City Manager’s Office and Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) to confirm the project approach to tribal engagement. To award grant funds to the city from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the National Park Service recently completed tribal consultation through established federal practices, during which Federally recognized tribes did not express interest in the project. To understand and support tribal interests in sites and projects moving forward, BPR staff will follow progress on a citywide process to engage Tribal representatives in a formal ethnographic study.
Boulder Parks and Recreation (BPR) staff are initiating an integrated, inclusive, and accessible design process for what will become the city’s newest neighborhood park.
Staff presented initial details on this process to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB).
Park Improvement Pre-Planning with CU Boulder
Parks and Recreation has had the opportunity to work with a CU Environmental Design class to engage students in developing some ideas for what the park could look like, and to provide some initial concepts for the park design. Staff anticipate that if the neighbors enjoy some of the design themes, and if they meet the design and operation standards of the department, that these ideas can be further explored through a formal design process. This initial neighborhood engagement allows the community to share their goals and desires for the park, respond to some of the design themes presented by the students, and gives an opportunity for the students to have a real life experience in facilitating a community meeting.
The open house occurred on November 21, 2019 at Crest View Elementary along with several other North Boulder Public Works projects. Four student groups presented their master plan concepts and recorded community feedback. This feedback will be retained by staff and used to initiate the formal design process.