The Cortez Parks, Recreation and Forestry Advisory Board is seeking a grant in partnership with the Montezuma Inspire Coalition to buy playground equipment for City Park.
At an unofficial public meeting on Friday, several members of the board discussed plans to replace the current playground with a more “nature-oriented” one. Parks and Recreation Director Dean Palmquist said that if the grant application goes through, the new equipment will be made to look like trees, rocks and other natural elements in an effort to make kids more comfortable with playing outside. To help with the equipment’s hefty price tag, he’s asking for Inspire’s help to write a state grant application.
Palmquist showed the board some samples of possible designs for the playground, including a climbing net and concrete balance equipment made to look like a mountain.
“The whole thing of the Inspire Coalition is to get the kids out climbing, and get the feel of a rock, the feel of a log,” he said. “Of course, we can’t get real stuff into the playground, because it wouldn’t be certifiable.”
Montezuma Inspire Coalition is one of several organizations in communities in Colorado that benefit from the Inspire Initiative, an effort by Great Outdoors Colorado to fund projects aimed at getting more kids to play outside.
He said City Park’s playground needs to be replaced because the equipment is starting to fall into disrepair, and the city wants to secure equipment as soon as possible. But the playground designs he showed will cost $150,000 or more to build, so the city will need a substantial grant in order to get them.
Palmquist said he had submitted a request for proposal to the Montezuma group on Thursday, asking them to write a GOCO grant application, to be submitted by August. It’s a competitive grant, he said, and only about half the local Inspire coalitions in Colorado will receive one.
“This is about a 50-50 crapshoot if our project gets funded,” he said.
But he added that the Montezuma Land Conservancy could become the city’s fiscal agent on the project, and having a community land trust on their side could earn them some points with GOCO.
Not enough board members attended the meeting to make up a quorum, but those who were there expressed their enthusiasm about the project. Board member Paul Adams said he liked the natural look of the sample playground designs Palmquist showed.
“It looks fun,” he said. “Look at those kids, having a great time.”
The board also used the unofficial meeting to judge submissions from in the Arbor Day poster and poem contest. Elementary students from Kemper, Lewis-Arriola, Mesa and other local schools had about a month to submit a poster design or a poem about trees and their role in the community. Winners will be announced at the city Arbor Day celebration on April 27.