Grants help build nature center and park
Aurora Parks & Open Space Department staff have blended a million dollars in gifts and grants to help address the needs of a wide variety of park user groups for many years to come.
The Morrison Family Foundation awarded a $550,0o0 grant to fund the conversion of a 60-year-old ranch house into the interpretive Morrison Nature Center. Located in Star K Ranch, this 200-acre natural open space property is within the Sand Creek Regional Greenway. The 13-mile trail greenway network links three metropolitan communities to the Platte River in Colorado. The Morrison Foundation donation, the last grant to be made by this organization, was combined with funding from the Adams County Open Space program, Sand Creek Regional Greenway Partnership and the city of Aurora to complete the budget for this $1.1 million renovation program. Adams County Open Space Committee cited this project with the Partnership award as a result of the extraordinary multi-agency cooperation needed to bring the project to reality.
Another gift of $500,000 was conveyed to General’s Park by the University of Colorado Hospital Center for Dependency and Addiction Recovery. The center is to be built adjacent to General’s Park in northwest Aurora. Park renovation plans had been in design as the gift was announced, which will facilitate funding the $1.6 million park reconstruction. The 8.8-acre park property had been an 1890’s commercial nursery and later was part of the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. New, large group pavilions, theme playgrounds and restoration of a park pond used by former President Dwight Eisenhower during his cardiac rehabilitation, will be features of the fully accessible park. Two significant commemorative features are planned. The Aurora Veterans’ Commission is planning a bronze sculpture honoring City veterans. Four local Rotary clubs have raised a $100,000 budget for a historical arbor structure celebrating local history within the 100-year anniversary of Rotary. Groundbreaking is scheduled for February 2005, the centennial anniversary of world-wide community service by Rotary International.