On March 3, the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners approved the master plan for Falcon Regional Park, presented by the El Paso County Park Operations Division. Following the BOCCís approval, the parks division submitted a grant application to Great Outdoors Colorado to help fund phase 1 of the project, said Elaine Kleckner, park division planning manager.GOCO will make a decision on grant recipients by June 18, Kleckner said. Meanwhile, the department will continue to finalize the design ó a process she said could take a couple months. If the department can get a contractor on board by the end of April, construction on the park could begin in the late summer or early fall, Kleckner said.The timeline also depends on whether the county receives the GOCO grant. ìIf we donít get the grant, we would continue fundraising and would try to submit another application in the spring of 2016,î she said. ìWe do need that grant to proceed with phase 1. We donít have a lot of other options, but there are other grants, and we will continue to explore what those are.îKleckner said the Eastern Plains Chamber of Commerce donated $1,000 to sponsor the parkís dog park. Ben Kley, chairman of the board, said the chamber is supportive of the project. He said he was told that the dog park could be expanded by raising more funds specifically for that area.ìWe wrote a letter (to GOCO) showing our support and explaining how we were going to raise the funds,î Kley said. ìWhen they see that there is community involvement, they feel the grant is a better investment.îThe chamber has planned an electronic recycling fundraiser April 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Falcon Broadbandís parking lot. For a small fee, people can bring their old electronics for recycling. All the proceeds from the fundraiser will go toward the dog park, he said. Additionally, Kley said the chamber is planning to talk to some of their partners to see if the materials needed to construct the park can be purchased at a discounted rate.Kleckner said there will be additional public meetings regarding the progress on the park; those dates and times can be found on the countyís website once they have been finalized.
