COMMERCE CITY - What do you do with approximately 1,500 tons of leftover dirt?
For a dozen or so city staff members, a handful of volunteers including city youth, and a construction company, coming up with the answer was as easy as riding a bike. You make a BMX freestyle park.
And that's what took shape at the east end of Pioneer Park in the span of about four days. The idea of creating a BMX park surfaced Wednesday when the dilemma with the dirt was realized. The idea was put to paper the next day. By Friday, work and volunteer forces had mobilized to make the idea a reality.
"We knew that we had to move very quickly if we were going to make this work," said Parks Planning and Operations Manager
Mike Brown. Work on the bike park began Friday, April 25, and was mostly completed by the end of the weekend.
The freestyle park will continue to undergo sculpting and fine tuning in the coming weeks. It's designed for bicycles only - including mountain bikes - and is for all ages and all skill levels. Motorized vehicles are not allowed on the bike park.
The freestyle park was sculpted from surplus dirt from Phase 2 construction of the park, which included adding one new baseball field, a skate park and batting cages. The city will officially celebrate the opening of its newest amenities at 60 th Avenue and Holly Street on Saturday, May 24, from 9 a.m. to noon.
"Enough can't be said about our staff," said City Manager
Jerry Flannery. "The crews in Parks and Recreation were able to make something out of nothing, really, and build this bike park for the kids in Commerce City to use. And it happened because they're always thinking of ways to make Commerce City a better place to live."
While not part of the master plan for Pioneer Park, the bike park wasn't built on a whim, according to Brown.
"The BMX park was one of the elements that we knew kids wanted," Brown said. "And we had an opportunity to make it happen. Everything essentially fell into place; and the cost to make it is almost negligible.
"It was all we could do to keep about 15-20 kids from riding on the course while it was under construction," Brown added.
The bike park is located where the water park eventually will be built. Brown says that the water park is still in the plans for Pioneer Park, but it won't be added until funding is secured.
"The bike park will remain until we're ready to build the water park," Brown said.
Even then, don't expect the bike park to go away.
"There's a possibility that it could be relocated and remain as part of Pioneer Park," Brown said. "We'll take a look at it and decide what do. For now, it's another amenity to the park that I think kids will have a lot of fun with."
Ryan Holdorf and
Shea Ferrell, employees with DHM Design, which designed the park expansion, volunteered their time, and later their muscle, to lay out the plan for the bike park. The pair, along with
Josh Olson, who works for Keystone resorts designing and building mountain bike trails, joined city staff members from Parks and Recreation and a half-dozen other volunteers in moving, shaping and packing tons of dirt to make the bike park a reality.
"This likely would have not had ha ppened without their help," Brown said of the three.
White Construction Group used its earth-moving equipment to rough grade the park; city staff and volunteers then began work to shape and pack it.
The ground immediately surrounding the BMX park will be seeded with native grass. Brown said as the dirt mounds compact over time, dust from the park should be minimal and staff can wet it down occasionally to control dust.