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City of Grand Junction receives $75K grant for Matchett Park

Caitlin Row
crow@gjfreepress.com

A Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) grant for $75,000 was recently awarded to the City of Grand Junction to fund large-scale, master-planning efforts for Matchett Park located off Patterson Avenue. The grant was officially awarded to the city June 11.

Currently, Matchett Park remains largely undeveloped, and the City of GJ was waiting for GOCO support to design a vision for the 205-acre open area featuring flat farmland and an Indian-wash section (desert, hills and cliffs). The park is also home to an 18-hole disc-golf course.

“It’s really good news,” Recreation Superintendent Traci Wieland said of the $75K GOCO grant. “… And it will assist us in securing an outside consultant to help us with that effort.”



It will take the rest of the summer to locate and hire a consultant, Wieland confirmed, and the master-planning process for Matchett Park will cover outdoor components only.

“The GOCO grant will allow for park planning, and it could include a footprint for a rec center,” Wieland said. “The GOCO funds are not for planning a rec center.”



The City of Grand Junction has considered Matchett Park to be a possible location for a community recreation center in the past, however City Council members said at their June 17 regular city meeting that more research is needed before that determination can be made.

Wieland explained that council believes the city needs to do more “digging in the community to see if there’s a priority for that particular type of facility. There’s currently no timeline in place to plan for a city-owned rec center at this time.

Many Grand Junction residents asked for a new community recreation center in a TABOR survey sent out by the city earlier this year, Wieland told the Free Press in May. A May 3 article in the Free Press also stated that city officials took note of that request when they began considering what uses Matchett Park could fulfill for the community.

To gather input for the planning process, initial meetings with neighborhoods close to Matchett Park have informally started.

“We’re going to make a huge effort to get with Matchett Park users and area neighborhoods” as the planning process progresses, Wieland said.

To contact city council directly on whether they should support a community recreation center, call 970-244-1504 and leave a message. To email specific council members, their email addresses can be found here: http://www.gjcity.org/City_Council.aspx. Or email City of GJ Recreation Superintendent Traci Wieland at traciw@ci.grandjct.co.us.


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