Festival Park Environmental Analysis & Permitting

Informed by ecology, a downtown park expansion enhances the quality of life within and downstream of a Front Range community.

Located along Colorado’s Front Range, the town of Castle Rock is known for its vibrant small-town character and scenic vistas. These qualities are supported by the town’s many trails, open spaces, and parks with creeks and gulches that wind through its landscape. One park centerpiece, Festival Park, is a hub for community events and home to the town Christmas tree. When the town sought to expand the park to better serve its growing population and expanding lineup of events, they wanted to do so in a way that would align with one of the cornerstones of a recently revised master plan: responsible growth.

As the ecological consultant on a collaborative design team led by Design Workshop, Biohabitats performed a wetland delineation and ecological assessment to determine any potential impacts and helped integrate an existing creek and green infrastructure into the park design to manage stormwater, enhance wildlife habitat and improve wetland ecology.

The project earned a 2018 Merit Award for Design from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the 2018 Best Project Award from ENR Mountain States in the Landscape/Urban Development category.

TAGS

• Assessment+Monitoring
• Ecological Restoration