The city of Grand Junction is replacing the landscaping at the Fifth Street and Riverside Parkway interchange to make the area more sustainable to maintain.
Parks and Recreation Director Ken Sherbenou said the design of the landscaping that had been in place resulted in significant issues for upkeep and maintenance. The irrigation system that had been installed would freeze and result in insufficient water flowing to the plantings, he said. The plantings themselves were also an issue.
âThere were a lot of poor choices for plant selection,â Sherbenou said. âFor example, roses were put in the interchange and those belong at the Lincoln Park Rose Garden not at the Fifth Street interchange. The plant life in the original design was not really appropriate for what is a landscape such as the Fifth Street interchange.â
The Grand Junction Parks and Recreation Department Horticulture Division is increasing the number of flowers and other plant material it can plant around the city this spring while reducing the
In Grand Junctionâs Sherwood Park, a microcosm of the cityâs tree management program has unfolded over the past few months with 50 new trees being planted and two older diseased trees removed.
Parks and Recreation Director Ken Sherbenou said the city has an inventory of thousands of trees throughout the city, which is kept to monitor the health of the cityâs urban tree canopy. Using a software system to track the trees, the cityâs forestry staff, who are licensed arborists, will mark down which trees need to be removed.
âItâs a constant process of maintenance,â Sherbenou said. âObviously, it breaks our hearts when we have to remove trees, but there are ones who just have to come down because of risk of them falling. So itâs a public safety issue.â
A plan to expand the bike playground and add a splash pad to the Dos Rios development will not be going forward after the City of Grand Junction was not approved for a Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) grant.
Parks and Recreation Director Ken Sherbenou said the city applied through GOCO for a Resilient Communities grant for the project. That grant program is intended to help communities respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by advancing outdoor recreation, stewardship and land protection projects.
The Grand Junction proposal fit into the program in two ways, Sherbenou said.
During the pandemic, Mesa County saw the highest increase of park use in the state. That included river access and amenities like the Las Colonias River Park. Sherbenou said the proposal would have provided additional area for water recreation while also helping with economic development.
The Grand Junction City Council voted unanimously Wednesday evening to adopt the Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Master Plan, which identified around $150 million in potential capital projects over the next decade.
Parks and Recreation Director Ken Sherbenou thanked everyone who had been involved with developing the plan, including the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and Great Outdoors Colorado, which provided grant funding. The plan was developed through 2020 in partnership with consultant Greenplay, LLC.
âThis is the culmination of a lot of work, particularly in 2020 that weâve been engaged in,â Sherbenou said. âA lot of public input has been received that has really driven this plan â that is the plan that is the vision for this communityâs parks and recreation system.â