To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Gini Pingenot, Director, Open Spaces
Prepared By:
prepared
Michele Frishman, Grants and Acquisitions Manager, Open Spaces
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presenter
Presenter: Michele Frishman, Grants and Acquisitions Manager, Open Spaces; City of Centennial
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Subject:
title
2:30 PM *Joint Project Request for Dove Valley Multi-Purpose Trail Connections
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The City of Centennial will present a joint project request to support the construction of new trails in the Dove Valley area. Open Spaces staff support the project and request that the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) award $826,000 in Dove Valley Working Group funds to Centennial.
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Alignment with Strategic Plan: Good Governance - Understand and respond to community needs, interests, and values.
Background and Discussion: In 2023, the Open Space and Trails Advisory Board (OSTAB) recommended and the BOCC approved setting aside $1.5 million of Open Space Acquisition and Development funds to support projects originating from the Dove Valley Working Group through 2028. This pledge was envisioned to support park, trail, and open space projects planned by the various agencies participating in the newly formed working group, which focuses on the region between I-25 and Parker Road and Cherry Creek State Park to the southern boundary of the County. A total of $1,365,000 of the original working group pledge remains available for new projects.
The City of Centennial proposes constructing eight-foot-wide, concrete trails along Potomac and Blackhawk streets between Fremont Avenue and Broncos Parkway in the Dove Valley area. The Dove Valley Metropolitan District identified these needed trail routes in previous plans for the region, which houses more than 5,000 residents and many more daily commuters.
The trails would provide safe, useful connections for pedestrians and bicyclists between the recently completed and County-funded Fremont Avenue Trail, the busy thoroughfare of Broncos Parkway, and our own Dove Valley Regional Park. They would replace existing, heavily used social trails and would be detached from the roadways to better protect trail users from vehicular traffic.
Additionally, the new trails would provide safe and inclusive access to a new soccer complex on the City’s Potomac Park property, which it is developing in cooperation with the National Women’s Soccer League and Cherry Creek Schools. The complex will include a stadium, practice facilities for the professional women’s soccer team, and soccer fields for use by Cherry Creek Schools and the general public. When fully built, the facility is expected to hold thousands of visitors and players.
Centennial is in the process of completing the design work for the new trails and needs to obtain easements for segments of the trails that would not be located in public right-of-way or on City property. Construction needs to begin as soon as possible due to the aggressive timeline for completion of the soccer complex, which is set to open in spring 2026. Centennial plans to have the trails completed at the same time, and it would be responsible for maintaining them.
Centennial has requested that the County contribute $826,000 toward the trail construction, which is half of the total project cost of $1,652,000. Open Spaces requires at least a 50-percent match for joint project funding, and Centennial would provide the matching funds of $826,000.
Alternatives: Approve, modify, or deny the proposed recommendation.
Fiscal Impact: $826,000 in Dove Valley Working Group funds, which reside in the Open Space Acquisition and Development Fund. The fund balance exceeds this amount.
Alignment with Strategic Implementation Strategies: The attached framework helps Arapahoe County institutionalize values-based, transparent decision-making, documenting how we make decisions and carry out actions to achieve the County’s strategic plan.
Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends that the BOCC award $826,000 in Dove Valley Working Group funds to the City of Centennial to support the construction of the new Dove Valley Multi-Purpose Trail Connections.
Concurrence: OSTAB concurred with the staff recommendation at its meeting on October 27, 2025. The Dove Valley Working Group and Dove Valley Metropolitan District also support the proposed project.