Design Concepts
Pickleball Court Design: Maximizing Fun and ...

Pickleball is one of the hottest trends in recreation right now, and for good reason. It’s a welcoming sport that offers an abundance of fun. It’s known as a ‘game for everyone.’ Pickleball encourages physical activity to improve people’s fitness and wellness. As park designers, we see pickleball on the agenda for most of the park projects we work on.

Pickleball Court Design: Maximizing Fun and Functionality
Guest User
Erie Community Park: Third and Final Phase

This summer we celebrated the grand opening of the third and final phase of Erie Community Park. 12 acres of features were added to this park extending its value to the community. The park is consistently filled with people enjoying all it has to offer, and we could be more excited to see that enthusiasm.

Erie Community Park: Third and Final Phase
Design Concepts
Outdoor Classrooms: Now More Than Ever

This past year, schools all over the country were forced to allow fewer students inside and keep classes physically separate from each other, making their outside spaces a hot commodity. In many cases schools had to scramble to figure out ways to make this happen with little time to plan. We propose that to better equip schools for the future, more time, funding, and attention is needed to design these outdoor learning environments in ways students, teachers and the neighboring community can enjoy throughout the year.

Outdoor Classrooms: Now More Than Ever
Design Concepts
Two Hunters Park: A Tribute to Mark Martinez ...

Parks all around the world are known for igniting emotions of hope, peace, and optimism. Two Hunters Park, a commemorative park honoring the lives of Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin of Firestone, CO is no exception.

Two Hunters Park: A Tribute to Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin
Schools
Design Concepts
Helping Our Community Grow

We worked alongside these supporters for several years with continuing development on Lafayette Elementary’s garden as well as their three playgrounds. Recently, we began replacing raised flower beds in areas being reestablished.

Helping Our Community Grow

"Transportation"

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Golf Cars - The Follow-Up

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For those interested in the follow-up to my last blog on the Town of Erie's consideration to allow golf carts on some city  streets, you can get the full story here.

Basically, the decision was made to allow golf carts as a mode of transportation, with certain restrictions. To me, this represents a big step in changing the way people think about how they get around and will ultimately make Erie's neighborhoods quieter, safer, and friendlier. It may also lead to some changes in the way streets and neighborhoods are designed. More compact and better connected developments may be one outcome of this decision.

And while golf carts may not be as pollution-free as walking or riding your bike, it is likely that they are an improvement over the 200-horsepower automobiles that people are currently using for local trips around Erie. Happy motoring, Erie!
Rob Layton
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Small Towns Setting New Trends?

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Erie, Colorado continues to be a small town with big ideas. Design Concepts was pleased to be the designer for their new Erie Community Park, which is turning out to be a real winner in terms of building a sense of community and bringing new visitors to town. But the big story today can be found in the Boulder Daily Camera's article on theTown's consideration of allowing golf carts on some of its streets. Kudos to Erie for its willingness to think outside the box and weigh the options for alternative forms of transportation.

I'm sure that the discussion will be an interesting one at the Town Board tonight, as there are plenty of pro's and cons to consider. Breaking out of our automobile-centric mold in this country is not an easy task. But at least they are having the discussion. Best wishes to the folks in Erie, whatever you decide to do.

Oh, and a tip of the hat to Lyons, the other Boulder County town that has lead the way on this issue!
Rob Layton

Design Concepts is an M/WBE, SBE Landscape Architecture design firm with the City and County of Denver and a DBE under the US Department of Transportation’s Colorado Unified Certification Program (UCP).