by Bill Knowles
TRINIDAD — The Greenway Master Plan was reviewed before the Trinidad City Council last Monday evening during a work session. In the plan was a view to the future of the Purgatoire River, and how it can be used for recreation, agriculture, and enjoyment.
Jeff Shoemaker, the Executive Director of the Greenway Foundation, and Dean Pearson, Founder and Project Manager of the Architerra Group, both out the Denver, presented a series of conceptual designs based on what can be accomplished along the river over time.
In this “ever changing plan,” which has already been through several public meetings where stakeholders and the general public were able to make suggestions, the “idea of what can be done,” according to Shoemaker, has taken shape. “The ideas are what we think can be accomplished based in reality.”
In other words, the plan is still malleable.
The slides that Pearson presented showed three zones of development. The line of development zones moves from west to east and are the civic zone, the active recreation zone, and the passive recreation/riparian zone.
The civic zone would include areas of the city from Nevada east to Commercial Street. The active recreation zone involves the areas between Commercial Street east to Linden Street. And the passive recreation/riparian zone goes from Linden Street east to Kit Carson. Each zone has areas of development that will involve either the river or an area that is close to the river and allows for easy access to the river or trails that parallel the river.
The major area of development in the civic zone involves a major expansion of Cimino Park to involve the athletic field close to the Holy Trinity Catholic Church. The old athletic field would become an area that large gatherings could happen because of event festivals or musical festivals.
A dam is envisioned in the active recreation zone at Chestnut. It would allow for pedestrian traffic and would have areas where walkers could sit and relax. This idea was a point of discussion with the Picket Wire Ditch because that is where the gate is located, and they wanted to make sure they could access water when calls were made.
These were some of the ideas advanced by Pearson during the presentation.
The public will have a chance to see the drawings, ask questions, and make comments during a presentation to be held at the A.R. Mitchell Museum this Thursday, Nov. 11, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
