To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Gini Pingenot, Director, Open Spaces
Prepared By:
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Michele Frishman, Grants & Acquisitions Manager, Open Spaces
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presenter
Presenter: Michele Frishman, Grants & Acquisitions Manager, Open Spaces
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Subject:
title
2:30 PM *Transition of Open Space-Funded Property in Aurora for Colorado Freedom Memorial
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The City of Aurora will present a proposal to make Arapahoe County whole for its previous investments in the acquisition and development of Springhill Park, a portion of which is planned to be used for the expansion of the Colorado Freedom Memorial.
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Background and Discussion: In 2012, the City of Aurora used $465,000 in Open Spaces shareback funds to acquire land for Springhill Park. The property includes the Colorado Freedom Memorial, which honors Coloradans killed or missing in action. The non-profit Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation has planned an expansion to include a two-story visitors' center and a larger parking lot. The City of Aurora has approved these new uses of the park property and therefore divided it into two parks: Springhill Park and the new 5.5-acre Memorial Park, both of which remain under the City's ownership.
Properties acquired with Arapahoe County Open Spaces funds must be used for the purposes provided under the County's Open Space Resolution (#21-263). The construction of the Colorado Freedom Memorial visitors' center on the Memorial Park property is not an eligible use, because it does not serve an open space purpose.
Additionally, the construction of the visitors' center and expanded parking lot would require the removal or modification of Springhill Park improvements funded by a $250,000 open space grant in 2014. The grant funded a restroom, a large picnic pavilion, sidewalks, site furnishings, and landscaping, and it required the City to be responsible for continuous, long-term maintenance of those ameniti...
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