Frisco unveils new conceptual plan for Peninsula Recreation Area

A map of Frisco recreation paths is pictured Thursday, Feb. 13. Frisco is working on conceptual plans for the Peninsula Recreation Area.
Liz Copan / ecopan@summitdaily.com

FRISCO — Upgrades likely are coming to the Peninsula Recreation Area in the near future.

Last year, Frisco town staff anticipated moving forward with a new operations building at the site, an 807-acre parcel, including 220 acres of town-owned land off Colorado Highway 9. But concerns regarding ballooning construction costs and the site of the proposed building, which overlapped with a pair of utility lines running underground, ultimately killed the project.

New designs are in the works to develop a more comprehensive vision and project-implementation plan for the attraction. In August, Frisco contracted Lose Design out of Denver to help town staff develop a new recreation area plan, which the group presented to Frisco Town Council members for the first time Tuesday night.

“We’ve been putting all this into a comprehensive plan, really looking at a holistic approach at the (Peninsula Recreation Area),” Frisco Recreation Director Diane McBride said. “We’re looking at the operations we currently do, our future operations, revenue and nonrevenue generating opportunities, and what we want this whole area to be.”

Bram Barth, associate vice president of landscape architecture at Lose Design, was in attendance at the meeting to provide insight into the initial concepts, calling the plan a “hundred thousand foot” view that’s yet to dive into nuanced details like funding or phasing.

The base plan calls for a number of improvements, perhaps most notably the concept of a “recreation village,” which would include the development of a new activity center to the northeast of the Nordic Center and creating a space in between the centers and the Day Lodge for event programming or potentially an ice rink in the winter.

The plan also points to new options for pedestrians and motorists, with potentially expanded parking areas around the site, creating better and more cohesive signage and entryways, and constructing a bypass path running parallel to Highway 9 for pedestrians to more easily make their way through the park.

Other ideas for the peninsula include a new wedding arbor and event center in the northeast portion of the site, near the Dickey Day Use trailhead, that could serve as another revenue-generating opportunity as well as redesigning the boneyard to the southeast with a dog park or trailhead pavilion.

A conceptual rendering of potential changes to Frisco’s Peninsula Recreation Area.
Courtesy town of Frisco via Lose Design

Travis Aldrich of The Peak School was also in attendance at the meeting to pitch a potential relocation of the school from Main Street into the boneyard, a concept that includes working with the Summit Nordic Club and Team Summit to provide new Nordic courses capable of hosting college and university races.

The idea was met with some hesitation from council, and while Peak School is expected to return to discuss the concept in more detail in a future work session, council member Deborah Shaner pushed her fellow officials to consider the idea.

“(The Peak School) is an asset to our town,” Shaner said. “I encourage staff and council to please entertain their ideas. They have some really good ideas, and I personally don’t want to lose them.”

Overall, the council largely seemed to be on board with the early direction of the plan. The next step will be to present the concept in more detail to members of the public, tentatively planned for the second week in March, with hopes of coming out with a more finalized plan sometime in April.

“This feels a lot more comfortable than previous proposals that we’ve seen that have felt a little more mismatched,” council member Jessica Burley said. “… Everything I see here serves a unique purpose.”

“This is really something that now we can move into the phasing perspective and the funding perspective and start prioritizing things,” council member Dan Fallon added. “I think you did a really nice job on this.”

via:: Summit Daily