ARVADA — Fred Schmidt is excited about the new park in his Arvada neighborhood.
“The day of its opening, there were a tremendous number of people,” he said, “The next day I drove by, and there were a lot of families and mothers with children playing on the equipment and the playground area.”
He sees the 6.9-acre Britton Park at 69th Avenue and Eaton Street as a catalyst in his community and has started a neighborhood group, which had its first meeting this week.
“I’d like some values to be promoted, like pride in the neighborhood, sociability, people coming together and being able to take care of each other,” said Schmidt.
He said he’s encouraged by the momentum that the community is putting forth and the excitement the park brought.
The park is “a central theme in what goes on — we want to make it as viable, accessible and usable as we possibly can,” he added.
That camaraderie and togetherness is exactly what Arvada city parks manager Mike Lee hopes for in the areas where the city builds parks.
“Part of what these parks do is unify these neighborhoods and solidify these neighbors,” said Lee. “The benefits are community-wide, with neighbors taking care of each other and looking out for each other.”
The .
When the park master plan was conducted in 2001, Lee and his crew administered a year-long study to identify what the community wanted in a park. They held meetings with various interest groups, documented citizens’ opinions and ideas, and analyzed city data, all to come up with the current Britton Park.
During the planning process, citizens who lived in close proximity to the park were encouraged to partake in meetings.
“Britton is a neighborhood park, so what we did was met with the neighborhood,” said Lee. “We went out about a half mile around the park into the neighborhood to hand out fliers, which is the most reliable way to get people to the meetings.”
Their strategy worked. The committee held three meetings, with an average of 70 attendees per meeting.
Residents discussed what they wanted the park to include. A large playground, seating areas, overhead shade structures and bike paths were at the top of their list. When the for two playgrounds (one for children ages 5 to 12 and one for toddlers), two shade structures, a grilling area, bike paths, and plenty of grass and open space.
“The most rewarding thing is finishing the park and having the neighbors know they designed part of the park,” said Lee.
The park also includes a farm theme throughout — something the residents suggested due to the history of the land. The land was originally a truck farm, owned by Allen S. Britton, and residents wanted to pay homage to Britton’s legacy.
To honor the farm theme, there are barn-style playgrounds, a large tractor section of the jungle gym, farm animals carved into the rocks, and farm facts on the boulders.
These details were unveiled to the community at the grand opening earlier this month, where residents stayed until the sun was well down.
The park is one of two new parks this fall — the 3.5-acre Griffith Station Park opened a few weeks earlier at 52nd Avenue and Carr Street.
The $1.55 million cost of Britton Park and the $1.35 million cost of Griffith Station park was paid for by the city of Arvada’s capital improvement program.
Both parks have been a crucial step forward in the city’s plan to invest in underdeveloped Arvada communities.
“The opening of Britton Park, as well as Griffith Station Park, and the soon-to-be-developed Clear Creek Valley Regional Park, demonstrates our commitment to continued reinvestment in the older, more established neighborhoods of Arvada,” said Mayor Marc Williams. “The opening of these parks also furthers our strategic goal of having a neighborhood park within a 10-minute walk of every residence in Arvada.”
Catherine Elsby: celsby@denverpost.com
