Fraser River Corridor Master Plan/Survey

Michael Turner  I   Winter Park Times.com

Community Meetings on Fraser River Corridor

Community Meetings on Fraser River Corridor

The Town of Fraser recently hosted a multi day envisioning session and open forum discussion that included a series of open house presentations, tours and social events all aimed at developing the Fraser River Corridor Master Plan, a plan that is intended to enhance the 120 Acre, 2 mile stretch of river from Rendezvous entrance to Safeway known as Cozens Ranch. The plan is in its development stages and the Town of Fraser is seeking input from the community to create a vision for the property that identifies open space needs, goals and strategies to activate this under-utilized asset.

The Corridor is a unique piece of land that “has a lot of  potential” according to Brandon Parsons, with THK Associates Inc., a professional consulting firm out of the Denver Metro area.  “It is unusual to see a large diverse piece of property in the center of a resort community that has so much natural potential.”

The town of Fraser received a grant from Great Outdoors Colorado, GOCO, and matched funds to start the process and entered into a consulting agreement with THK and other entities in August.  The town has invested nearly $90,000 in the project’s development phase so far. Fraser Town Manager Jeff Durbin said “We are committed to see this one come to life. We will work hard to deliver what the residents want with this open space.”

Catherine Trotter, Town of Fraser said, “This is a great start. We want the community to get involved and express their ideas.”  The overall goal of the project is to create a community driven vision for the open space and to protect, connect and inspire! “We want to focus on incorporating the Fraser River more into the Town of Fraser and into the lives of the residents and visitors” Fraser Town Manager, Jeff Durbin.  Our desired outcome is to showcase Cozens Ranch Open Space to one and all and allow the natural beauty of the river corridor to positively impact people of all ages without having a negative impact on the wildlife population.

THK has been a project leader across the front range since the late 1960’s, Parsons said, “we want to support all aspects of the Fraser River Corridor, Cozens Ranch project” from the envisioning stages to the planning landscape architecture. THK is responsible for the design of numerous sustainable parks with healthier floodplains by de-channelizing rivers and re-shaping the landforms to increase flood volumes while establishing healthy riparian areas with trails and environmental play areas that become highly valued natural resources for the community.

A rough draft of the plan is expected early next year. Specific projects have yet to be identified but the envision sessions had produced a theme of increased trail and river connectivity, high use park development on the Safeway end and preservation of natural space on the upper reach of the property.

The Fraser River Master Plan is still in the developmental stages and your input is important to the master planning process! A key piece of this planning process includes involving local residents to leverage their expert knowledge about where they live and the environment around them. The feedback you provide will help guide the Master Plan team in understanding how you currently use the Cozens Ranch Open Space, how you would like to use it in the future and how you would like to see this area improved overall.

Fraser River Corridor Master Plan Community Survey

The Town of Fraser has begun the process of developing a Master Plan for 120-acres of the Fraser River Corridor through Cozens Ranch Fraser River Corridor Master Plan IdeasOpen Space (project area – Rendezvous Road to CR 804). The Fraser River Corridor Master Plan will create a community driven vision for the Cozens Ranch Open Space that identifies open space needs, goals and strategies to activate this under-utilized asset. This Master Plan aims to build a consensus for the planning effort that will protect the land, river and wildlife while increasing river access, recreational activities and educational opportunities in order to connect residents and visitors to the beauty and serenity of the Fraser River.

The outcome of the project is to protect, connect and inspire! “We want to focus on incorporating the Fraser River more into the Town of Fraser and into the lives of the residents and visitors” Fraser Town Manager, Jeff Durbin.  Our desired outcome is to showcase Cozens Ranch Open Space to one and all and allow the natural beauty of the river corridor to positively impact people of all ages without having a negative impact on the wildlife population.

Your input is important to the master planning process! A key piece of this planning process includes involving local residents to leverage their expert knowledge about where they live and the environment around them. The feedback you provide will help guide the Master Plan team in understanding how you currently use the Cozens Ranch Open Space, how you would like to use it in the future and how you would like to see this area improved overall. Please allow 15 minutes to complete the survey. The survey results will ultimately be included in Master Plan report.

Please complete this survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FraserRiverMPSurvey and visit the Town of Fraser’s website for more information about the project http://frasercolorado.com/. Please do not hesitate to contact Catherine Trotter (ctrotter@town.fraser.co.us) or Brandon Parsons (bparsons@thkassoc.com) with THK, with questions or for more information.

The survey will run from October 13, 2017 – November 30, 2017.  The results of the survey will be posted to the Town’s website in January of 2018.

LINK TO SURVEY:    https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FraserRiverMPSurvey

“Any projects that come out of this are going to be vetted through the public process,” said Brandon Parsons, design lead for THK. “We need to let the public determine what those projects are. We’re going to talk to the town and see what projects develop through the process, then we’re going to work with them to go after grant funding.”

“River access would be my main thing,” said Fraser resident Tim Hubbard. “I think it’s a great asset to the community of Fraser and to be able to take advantage of the river a little more easily I think would be fantastic.”

Others voiced that they would like to see more recreational structures such as playgrounds, stages or bike parks added in the area.