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Residents living in West Denver recently agreed to move forward with plans to bring Denver’s Re-imagine Play project to Paco Sanchez Park—a park that’s located between council districts 1 and 3.
This is exciting news for two reasons: (1) most park investments have occurred on the east side of the city; (2) this park would provide a modern, multi-generational green space for a community in need of updated parks.
The Re-imagine Play project was originally envisioned for Denver’s largest regional park, City Park. However, plans were stalled after neighborhood residents raised several concerns.
According to a Denver Post news article, Denver City Councilman Paul Lopez (District 3) encouraged the Parks and Recreation department to consider bringing the park to West Denver. The Councilman spoke to fellow Councilwoman Susan Shepard (District 1), who’s district borders district 3, and the two agreed that updates like this would be ideal for Paco Sanchez Park.
Parks and Recreation officials began looking at developing a new playground for City Park in 2011. As part of the process they sought the community’s input in selecting a park design. The original design that the community voted on was one of a futuristic looking project, which was estimated to cost anywhere between $4.5-$5 million at the time, and span over a total of 13 acres. Because Paco Sanchez Park is a smaller park, the City Loop project would most likely be scaled down.
On July 30, 2014, Councilman Paul Lopez announced on his Facebook page that over 75 residents from three neighborhoods: Villa Park, Sun Valley, and West Colfax, attended a community meeting to show their support for bringing the Re-imagine Play project to their part of town.
Read more about this here, and check out this video for an idea of what the park might look like. Visit the Parks and Recreation page for more on the Re-imagine play project.
By The Numbers
33
percent
of Latinos live within walking distance (<1 mile) of a park
