Plans to build Colorado Springs’ first community park on the east side are moving ahead as city staff prepare to publicly present residents’ feedback that has informed the creation of the park’s draft master plan next month.

The city announced early last year its plan to build the new Norman “Bulldog” Coleman Community Park, a 70-acre mostly undeveloped site in eastern Colorado Springs near the Tutt Boulevard and Barnes Road intersection. The city acquired the site in 1995 and in 2021 traded, through a land exchange with homebuilder Classic Communities, a 23.5-acre sports complex property it owned on Tutt Boulevard for 23.5 acres next to Coleman Park, according to the project website. The added acreage was part of the former Springs Ranch Golf Course. 

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Parks officials held a third and final community forum this week where residents shared their ideas and input for the park’s design and development, project manager Connie Schmeisser said. Following the community meetings and a survey, staff plan to present the information to the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Advisory Board on March 9 and discuss next steps, she said.

The city has been pushing for a community park on its rapidly growing east side for years.

“People don’t necessarily want to drive a long way and on an equitable level would like to see a community park,” Schmeisser said.

Its location near hotels, restaurants and retail buildings and its proximity to existing sports infrastructure like UCHealth Park, where the Rocky Mountain Vibes baseball team plays, and Ragain Field, the former Switchbacks soccer stadium, plus Sand Creek “represents a tremendous opportunity to create an active sports hub and purposefully engage the natural environment into the park’s framework,” the project website states.

The city wants to complete some geological research at the site and continue on designs for a creek channel that will be part of the project, Schmeisser said. They also want to evaluate the cost of the park’s design and construction.

“We need to be able to use this year, essentially, to work through that, and when we feel there’s a plan that’s implementable we’ll bring it back to the public and the Parks board,” she said, noting that the draft master plan “may or may not change” in the meantime as those additional steps are completed.

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The master plan lays out three focus areas, including creating an active sports hub, integrating Sand Creek and other nature into the park site, and amenities such as community gathering spaces where farmers and arts markets could operate, she said.

Officials expect the park will be comparable to Memorial or John Venezia community parks, with sports fields and a playground, the project website states. The process will also focus on trail connectivity and a potential offsite southern detention pond and overlook, Schmeisser said.

The city, too, took residents’ concerns about safety into consideration, she said. Officials plan to implement standard usage hours at the park, install locked gates and security lighting, and plan for primary and secondary emergency access, among other safety measures.

“In the end, the project will be beautiful and I think people will be really pleased to have community spaces close to home,” Schmeisser said.

For more information about the park, visit the project website at coloradosprings.gov/colemanpark.

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