Green Valley Ranch is a 1300 acre master planned community with over two dozen residential neighborhoods, conveniently located near shopping, work, entertainment, and cultural facilities.
With an emphasis on water conservation, the landscape architectural theme for the community works with the climate, natural setting, and lifestyle of the people who work there. Southwest Ranch, Hacienda, and Spanish Eclectic architectural styles are blended throughout the community.
THK Associates was retained to develop conceptual design ideas for a major segment of the Legacy Loop Trail from Mesa Road north along Monument Creek to the Rock Island Rail Line and then east to Shook’s Run. The conceptual design was completed for inclusion in a Spring 2015 Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) grant application.
The work included creek access to Monument Creek within the Work Projects Administration (WPA) flood wall at both Mesa Road and Uintah Street. The goal was to activate the creek area by creating access down to the creek in several key locations adjacent to Colorado College.
Additionally, a trailhead was developed at Fontenaro Street and Monument Creek with a new pedestrian bridge across a tributary to Monument Creek. The trail alignment along Monument Creek and the Rail Line was established as a part of the conceptual design effort. All concepts were communicated with perspective sketches and 3-D renderings.
As a part of the New Pueblo Freeway, THK Associates Inc. master planned mitigation measures for Mineral Palace Park caused by the widening of I-25. The result of this effort was a Park Restoration Plan for the entire park. Mineral Palace Park was originally constructed in the late 1800’s and was originally constructed as a tourist destination, housing a spectacular rose garden and the largest mineral collection in the world at that time. The grounds around the Palace consisted of an elaborate garden with botanical displays, flowerbeds, a lake and walking paths. The Palace also functioned as a community gathering place housing many community functions. In the early 1900’s, the City of Pueblo took over the ownership and maintenance of the park. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, major renovations occurred in the park as a part of the WPA program. Also, by this time, the Palace had been torn down. Since the early 1900’s, Mineral Palace Park has survived as the only regional park in the north half of Pueblo.
Due to the park’s long history and the importance of the park within Pueblo’s park system, City, community and business interest in the park was very high. THK lead a very intense public involvement process to develop a Master Plan for the park. This Master Plan will become part of the required mitigation for widening I-25.
THK also helped establish the Friends of Mineral Palace Park. This group includes the city, business and concerned citizens to help with the maintenance of the park, and to form a partnership with the city to assure that the park continues to be a vibrant element of the city.
For this project, THK Associates developed a master plan for 6 miles of the Big Dry Creek corridor between I-25 and 160th Avenue. While the City of Thornton had already created ‘pearls’ of open spaces along the South Platte River and Niver Creek, Big Dry Creek was the last remaining ‘open space pearl’ needed to create a complete system of open space corridors in Thornton. Big Dry Creek provides outstanding opportunities for passive recreation and wildlife habitat and encompasses almost 300 acres of open space areas that have been preserved through acquisition by Thornton and Adams County.
The master plan assessed these publicly-owned parcels from hydraulic, geomorphic, environmental, social and recreational standpoints and created a framework for these areas to be connected both to each other and to the larger networks of trails, parks and open spaces. The key to creating an effective and implementable framework in the master plan was to understand that successful riparian corridors are complex systems that cannot be completely ‘controlled.’ By preserving and protecting a wide corridor that the Creek could move within without negatively impacting infrastructure (such as roads and buildings), we were also able to create a plentiful wildlife habitat alongside recreational amenities including a regional trail system and environmental learning opportunities.
Currently, THK is providing final design services for Phase 1 improvements including 2500 L.F. of creek restoration and a trailhead.
THK is also completing final design on 3 additional segments of trail that will be completed by Jan 2021.
The Big Dry Creek Pilot Project was a priority project identified in the Big Dry Creek River Corridor Master Plan completed by THK. The City partnered with the Urban Drainage Flood Control District to bring contractors on board early to collaborate during the design process. The project is broken up into 2 phases, Floodplain Restoration and Passive Recreation. Set for construction in September 2019, the floodplain restoration plans were successful in achieving a no-rise certification. While preliminary stages showed a slight rise on site, THK expanded a natural drainage area to eliminate the rise in the floodplain while increasing biodiversity, promoting natural drainage, and creating a more enjoyable user experience. This project is also setting a precedent for environmental permitting through its data collection and monitoring.
THK is working with the City to complete the Passive Recreation Plans. The plans will include a portion of the Heritage Regional Trail, a connector trail, a new pedestrian bridge, a trailhead, secondary trails and opportunities for creek access.