Lottery funds to pay for Falcon dog park, Colorado Springs park for kids with disabilities

March 24--Colorado Springs' second playground for kids with disabilities and a new park for pooches are among the projects that will materialize in the Pikes Peak region as a result of $645,000 in grants from Colorado Lottery proceeds.

Great Outdoors Colorado announced award recipients Friday.

The City of Colorado Springs received $350,000 to install ranch-themed playground equipment, a shaded sandbox and universally-accessible restrooms, picnic tables and parking at the under-construction John Venezia Community Park at Briargate and Union boulevards.

"The grant enables our community to build its second fully-inclusive playground in the city, for people who have any sort of limitations to play without any boundaries," said Tilah Larson, a senior analyst for the city.

The playground will be for people who have physical, emotional or cognitive disabilities.

John Venezia Community Park is the first new park to be built in Colorado Springs in 25 years. It's scheduled to open July 8, which is when the new playground also will debut.

El Paso County is also getting $45,000 to turn a 10-acre property into a dog park that will feature a trail built by Mile High Youth Corps, a parking lot, fencing, benches, trash receptacles, signs and landscaping.

Falcon Dog Park will open in October in Falcon Regional Park, off East Highway 24 and Eastonville Road.

"It's going to be such a community asset," said Elaine Klecker, El Paso County planning manager for community services and parks.

"Dog parks are about exercise and socializing for people and animals," she said. "They serve as a nice gathering place."

More than 70 percent of Eastern plains residents listed a dog park as their top priority during the planning process for Falcon Regional Park, which opened in 2015.

"Dog parks are very popular," Klecker said. "They're constantly in use."

She expects 20,000 to 30,000 users at the Falcon Dog Park annually.

It will be the third county-owned dog park; a fourth park also is scheduled to be constructed this year, Klecker said, at Fountain Creek Regional Park.

The two projects were among 27 statewide selected for outdoor recreation grants, said Laura Cardon of GOCO. Nine school projects also are being funded, including two in Colorado Springs.

Cardon said need and local support are two of the factors in determining grantees, who are required to match 25 percent of the funds, with 10 percent being cash contributions.

Requests for grants were three times the amount of money available, she said.

Other local projects receiving grants:

(ASTERISK)Two schools in Colorado Springs School District 11 will get $110,000 each to upgrade their playgrounds. Both projects were planned with the help of a student-led design process.

Edison Elementary, a Title I school, will get new equipment, boulders for climbing, two outdoor learning areas and a shade structure.

The school yard will be called Edison Park at Venetian Village to honor the heritage of the area, which in the early 1900s attracted Italian homesteaders who worked as coal miners and farmers.

Academy ACL, a K-8 charter school that serves gifted students, will build an outdoor classroom, grassy space, small caves, a walking bridge, an elf village created by grassy mounds and shade structures, and a butterfly garden with quiet seating. Prior to applying, students raised $29,500 for the project through a school-wide read-a-thon.

Renovations will be finished in August.

(ASTERISK)El Paso County received a $30,000 grant for the public outreach and planning process for the 495-acre Kane Ranch Open Space, east of Fountain. The open space has sweeping views of Pikes Peak and the southern Colorado Front Range, and planning will set priorities for potential improvements, including new recreational facilities and cultural services.

GOCO has donated $51.6 million to El Paso County projects, including at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Ute Valley Park, the reconstruction of the Manitou Incline, Colorado Springs'Legacy Loop trail and others.

The Pikes Peak Region was also named a GOCO Inspire community and is part of a $25 million initiative to entice kids to play outside.

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