Panorama Park saw the biggest neighborhood park renovation in city history. Doing so was no easy task – it wouldn’t have been possible without the community and dozens of subcontractors who helped put everything together. In this article, we’ll go over why the park was renovated, what was done, when the work was completed, and who helped. Read on to see why this area needed a new park so desperately.
Why Renovate Panorama Park?
The existing park was underdeveloped and underutilized. Proud of their neighborhood, a tight-knit community came together to revitalize this chunk of land. Timberline Building Systems Lead Project Manager, Cameron Emick says “Building up the community over there was great, we even have employees in the neighborhood too, and this project was being driven by the community. It was really neat to see everything get built and cater to what [the community] actually wanted and needed.”
Susan Wheelan, the El Paso County Public Health Director says, “It’s exciting to see community members, partners, and long-standing collaborative efforts come to fruition in a tangible way to promote health. The renovation of Panorama Park aligns with healthy living by promoting physical activity through building safe spaces close to where residents live, work, play, and worship.”
What was renovated?
Before the renovation, the area only had a dirt parking lot and some picnic tables. There was an aging playground and pavilion, an old baseball backstop, and an irrigation system that hadn’t been run in several years. It was otherwise run down and in desperate need of some love.
Panorama Park now boasts an array of new features, including a mix of concrete, aggregate, and natural soil trails, boulder terraces with steps, a playground that is universally accessible, a shaded event lawn, a bike park, a youth area with skate features, a climbing boulder, a multi-use artificial turf sports field, fitness stations, and a splash pad.
PANORAMA PARK BEFORE
PANORAMA PARK AFTER
Joyce Salazar, with El Paso County Public Health and RISE explains “Panorama Park is a representation of a vibrant, connected community that offers opportunities for everyone to thrive. The park will serve southeast Colorado Springs as an awe-inspiring, well-designed, and close-to-home outdoor gathering space that reflects the culture and diversity of the community. This renovation project harnesses the imagination of what resident-led change looks like, focusing on the need for equitable solutions and demonstrating the power of collective impact.”
This project was huge. Emick mentioned, “This was so much more than just a swing set and turf.” And it was. With 13.5 acres of carefully crafted, innovative, and beautiful equipment, Panorama Park was described by the city of Colorado Springs as the “biggest local neighborhood park renovation in history.”
The city of Colorado Springs had some major goals with this project. Those included:
- A safe, accessible, quality community destination park within a 10-minute walk for many Southeast residents
- Add new features based on community-driven needs
- Replace aging equipment
- Utilize recognized expert partners to advance resident-led engagement and creative process
- Re-envision the park to address limited opportunities for play and hazardous conditions
Jim Petterson with Trust for Public Land Mountain West says, “The Panorama Park transformation is a case study example of what can happen when a community’s vision for how it wants to connect to the outdoors is heard, respected, and brought to life. Trust for Public Land is honored to have worked with the people of the southeast community and proud to have partnered with the City of Colorado Springs to create a park that will, for decades, be a cherished gathering place for families and a resounding source of neighborhood pride. Panorama Park sets a high bar for future community-driven park design and construction projects across the state and around the country.”
When Did The Renovation Happen?
This large park didn’t come together quickly. It was a collaboration between dozens of subcontractors. Emick said, “It was challenging and required a lot of coordination, with weekly community meetings. Many different tasks were needed for this project, which made it different from a typical park.”
The community began meeting in 2018. Timberline Building Systems and Timberline Landscaping led the project with the City of Colorado Springs Park, Recreation, and Cultural Services. The city used a “Design-Bid-Build” approach, and Timberline Landscaping served as the General Contractor and handled many aspects of the installation.
Groundbreaking on Panorama Park started on 4/19/2021 and the park was completed on 8/20/2022. That’s right- 16 months of back-breaking work restoring and renovating this otherwise forgotten chunk of land. The ribbons were finally cut during a glorious grand opening celebration on August 20th, 2023.
Who Helped Renovate Panorama Park?
Project Overview:
- Project Manager:
- Cameron Emick
- Superintendent:
- Luke Campbell, Michael Emick
- Engineer/Designer(s):
- Jesse Clark (Stream), Kerri Liljegren (Stream), Ryan Taylor (Muller)
- Other Key Personnel:
- Connie Schmeisser (CS P&R), Joyce Salazar (RISE Community Advocate)
- Key Subcontractors:
- Even Preisser (Concrete), Sprinturf (Artificial Turf), Retting Electric (Electrician)
Subcontractors:
- Colorado Springs Parks Recreation & Cultural Services
- Trust for Public Land
- RISE of Southeast Colorado Springs
- Even Preisser Inc (Concrete)
- Phantom Concrete (Skate Park)
- Art of Concrete (Glass Seeded Concrete for Splash Pad)
- Renner Sports Surfacing (Post Tensioned Basketball Court)
- Mountain West Precast (Precast Restroom)
- Sprinturf (Artificial Turf Field)
- Retting Electric (Electrical)
- Brooks Plumbing (Plumbing)
- Martin Marietta (Asphalt)
- Rocky Mountain Recreation (Playground, Fitlot, and splash pad)
- Flowride Concepts (Bike Track)
Timberline completed 60% of the work with its own workforce and equipment. The remainder was accomplished with and had help from fantastic organizations and subcontractors. Timberline owns several companies that each played a part including Timberline Building Systems, Timberline Rock ‘N Roll, and Timberline Landscaping. On top of that, dozens of subcontractors worked together to complete this massive project.
Timberline Building Systems was responsible for the demolition of the former park, site clearing, grading, installation of stormwater, stormwater management, sewer, and domestic water systems, all structures, placing the aggregate base material, boulder steps and terrace walls, and the overall management and coordination of all components.
Next, Timberline Landscaping completed all work on pavers, sod, trees, shrubs, grass, site amenities, irrigation, landscape boulders, wood and rock mulch, and the breeze/gravel pathways. They will continue doing the maintenance on the park to keep it beautiful!
Then, Timberline Rock ‘N Roll delivered almost 6,000 cubic yards of topsoil, exported over 10,000 cubic yards of fill dirt, and delivered and provided all mulch and aggregates that were required for the project.
Finally, Timberline Trail Craft helped build a perimeter fence for construction and provided input/trails for constructing bike tracks and site trails.
How Was The Renovation Completed?
The Panorama Park renovation required much more coordination than a typical construction project. It was crucial for the success of this project to have the community be a part of the design and construction of the park. Timberline held weekly meetings with several members of the city staff, community members, multiple members of the design team, dozens of subcontractors, and not-in-contract contractors as well.
Speaking on the challenges of such a massive project, Emick says “I had the support I needed from our team, so I was definitely able to lean on some other people’s strengths to pull this all off.” That’s part of why there were so many subcontractors – with the huge amount of unique equipment being installed at the park, each feature required different industry experts to be involved to ensure safety and reliability.
Establishing grades created a unique challenge due to the complexity of the proposed contours which were designed to minimize the amount of export material from the site. It was obvious right away that the weather would greatly affect this drastic change in the grades, and crews would have to be vigilant in our management of storm water and sediment control. This provided concerns regarding the long-term sustainability of the project.
Access control for the project was also a key area of challenge and concern. The park is surrounded by a neighborhood development and adjacent to Panorama Middle School, meaning that the impact on the school and residents needed to be minimal. Thankfully, the project was completed without any incidents or complaints from the school.
Panorama Park - formerly a Sad Space, Now An Award Winning Park
As you can see, this massive park was a collaboration between Timberline entities, the City of Colorado Springs, and dozens of subcontractors. The community had specific needs for this park, and they came to life over a 16-month period. This wasn’t easy, but focusing on collaboration and communication with both the community and subcontractors helped ensure everything came together smoothly.
Britt Haley with Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services says, “I am so proud of our community. Together, we completed the City’s largest renovation of a neighborhood park – an undertaking more substantial than any of us could have done alone. We are excited about the future of Panorama Park and eager to serve the surrounding neighborhoods with diverse programming in a safe, accessible, and inclusive environment.”
In September 2023, Panorama Park won a national award for best renovation. This was through the National Association of Landscape Professionals. Panorama also won a merit award from ASLA, and the Columbine Award from CPRA. Timberline Building Systems, along with its family of Timberline One companies, Timberline Landscaping, Timberline Rock ‘N Roll and Timberline Trail Craft joined together for a company picnic to celebrate the recognition.
Colorado Springs Councilmember Yolanda Avila says, “The southeast community is overjoyed and filled with gratitude over the transformation of Panorama Park, the largest neighborhood park renovation in the city. So many people invested their time, energy, and talent to this project, and I’d like to thank everyone who rolled up their sleeves and committed to being part of Panorama Park.”
Former Mayor John Suthers added “The renovation of Panorama Park would not have been possible without the generous support we received from private and nonprofit partners and the passion of southeast community members. Collaboration paved the way for southeast Colorado Springs to have a world-class destination park that will be enjoyed by generations to come here in Olympic City USA.”
Although universally accessible, this park is more than just a quick visit. Emick says “you’ll want to spend the whole day there.” which is easy to do with the sheer volume of unique equipment available. Rest assured, there’s certainly something for everyone here. Thousands of people have since enjoyed the cutting-edge park which will continue to be a Colorado Springs icon.
