The Town of Carbondale chose to locate its new Recreation Center and Promenade Park on an abandoned rail yard site next to Town Hall, one block from the commercial core, and adjacent to the regional trail system which links Carbondale to the entire Roaring Fork River Valley. The landscape around the building and parking lot – also a former snow dump site – has been transformed into a community garden demonstrating landscape zones which represent the broad array of plant communities found in the region. The gardens also present strategies for use and cleansing of stormwater runoff by directing parking lot and roof drainage into bioswales. Signage describing the different systems and plant communities in the garden provides an educational component. The park includes soft surface trails, a picnic shelter, benches, bike parking, an outdoor bouldering structure, and a direct pedestrian link between the regional trail and the commercial core. DHM provided site planning, garden design, GOCO grant assistance, and LEED point assistance.
Carbondale Recreation Center
Carbondale, Colorado
