On Jan. 7, the El Paso County Parks and Leisure Services Department presented three master plan concepts for the 215-acre Falcon Regional Park at a public meeting at the Meridian Ranch Recreation Center. The park will be located north of Falcon High School and east of the Meridian Ranch Development, and will include active recreation areas; as well as open space, according to the county website.Elaine Kleckner, project manager with the parks department, said the three concepts were developed by N.E.S. Inc., based on input received from the first public meeting last November and a survey posted on the countyís website.ìWeíve been working with the consultants, N.E.S., to look at the three concepts to merge them into one preferred alternative,î Kleckner said. ìThey are due to deliver us a draft master plan by Jan. 30, which would include the graphic portion and the written portion.îKleckner said the draft master plan will go through an internal review and then be presented to the parks advisory board Feb. 11. The parks board will hopefully endorse it and take formal action to recommend it to the county commissioners, she said. The BOCC has final approval.ìWe have been approved to spend about $900,000 on phase 1 of construction,î Kleckner said. Several sources, including regional parks fees, TABOR refund money and a potential grant from Great Outdoors Colorado will fund the project, she said.ìWe will continue to update the website and will post the master plan on there, once itís been determined,î Kleckner said. Construction should begin on the park at the end of 2015, assuming everything runs smoothly through the approval process, she said.
