Parks
Some of the Town’s most beautiful and prominent features are its open spaces, parks and trails. Take a hike with the kids, enjoy the great outdoors or sneak a peak at local wildlife. The Town truly has something for everyone. Most residents agree, Castle Rock has some of the most gorgeous open space and trails in all of Colorado. Download a map, and get out there and explore. The Town boasts more than 53 developed parks and is always looking for ways to increase amenities for the public.
Each year, residents enjoy family-friendly events, concerts, festivals, fundraisers, races, and environmental education and cultural programs throughout Castle Rock’s parks. Free concerts and other community events can be enjoyed at two of our most recently constructed parks; the reimagined Festival Park and the 300-acre Philip S. Miller regional park.
The Park Planning Division provides direction, leadership, and supervision involved in long-range planning, design and implementation of new parks, trails, open-space and recreational facilities. The division also manages major upgrades to existing parks and trails.
Parks planning services
The division updates the Town’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan, Strategic Plan and prepares long-term capital budgets. Parks planning staff identifies and works to acquire property easements and real property. The trails planner provides department mapping services including GIS, technical assistance to developers related to trail constructions and maintenance, as well as guidance and oversight of proper construction and maintenance to user groups for all soft-surface trails.
The division provides a variety of services including conceptual design, development process, project management and community outreach. Parks planning also reviews development applications for compliance with Castle Rock Municipal Code as it applies to parks and open space dedication. The division provides guidance on natural resource planning and environmental education programs, conducts baseline survey and management plans, ensures compliance with the Town’s Habitat Conservation Plan and advises planning staff on federal and state regulatory permitting requirements.
POST Partners
The POST Partners volunteer program is housed under the Parks Planning Division and has coordinated 46,358 volunteer hours since its inception. The Program coordinates trash cleanup, trail maintenance groups, special projects, Eagle and Scout projects, the memorial donation program, Festival of Trees, pet waste station sponsors, etc.
The Park Planning and Development team includes certified parks and recreation executives, OSHA and LEED certified and administrative professionals.
Neighborhood park planning
Future park planning includes the addition of new community and neighborhood parks to maintain current levels of service. As the Town of Castle Rock continues to grow, so will the need for additional neighborhood parks. For additional information, please visit the project updates page.
The Parks Maintenance and Operations Division provides maintenance services to assure that parks, park facilities, trails, town properties and open space areas are safe, open, clean and usable by the public.
Maintenance division services
The Maintenance Division maintains and manages horticultural and natural resources including turf, trees, shrubs, flowers and natural areas, and performs daily maintenance on ball fields, pavilions, restrooms, playgrounds, trails, roadways, downtown streetscapes, irrigation and all other developed amenities. Maintenance and operations staff also conduct in-house construction improvements and maintenance projects. During the winter, staff complete snow plowing on Town priority trails, roads, and public roadways and assist the Streets Division as needed.
The team utilizes Cartegraph, an operational management system, to initiate and track work orders, manage assets, establish life-cycle costs and replacement plans, and track encroachments on public property.
This division hires, trains and supervises full-time and seasonal personnel with 18 FTE’s and 32 seasonal employees.
Additionally, the Maintenance Division assists in multiple special events, and is responsible for the Town’s Downtown holiday lights and Trolley Program. The team includes certified parks and recreation professionals, arborists, backflow prevention operators, playground safety inspectors, Rainbird Factory Certified Maxicom Irrigation operators and CDL drivers.
Cartegraph Operations Management System
As additional parks, trails and recreation equipment are added to serve the growing community, the Parks and Recreation Department implemented the use of Cartegraph in early 2017. Cartegraph is an operations management system technology, allowing for better management of assets and servicing needs. The new software has resulted in improved best practices, organization and strategy in tracking assets, including trees, park benches, fitness equipment and trail surfaces, amongst hundreds of thousands of other items.
Cartegraph also allows for better preventative maintenance on resources such as baseball fields and tennis courts. The software will assist staff in tracking assets and ultimately developing servicing schedules, which will hopefully allow for increased preventative maintenance and decreased reactive maintenance.
More information
Park pavilion rentals
Information regarding park pavilion rentals, including online park pavilion reservation requests and rental fees.
Commercial Activity Permits and Concessions
Information regarding vending and commercial activity within Town parks, including rules, regulations, fees and application information.
Community recognition
Tree City USA
Castle Rock has been recognized as a Tree City USA community since 1986. To qualify as a Tree City USA community, the Town must meet four standards established by the Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters. These standards were established to ensure that every qualifying community would have a viable tree management plan and program.
They include:
- Maintaining a tree board or department;
- Having a community tree care ordinance;
- Spending at least $2 per capital on urban forestry; and
- Celebrating Arbor Day.
Bicycle Friendly Community
The League of American Bicyclists has designated Castle Rock as a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly CommunitySM, recognizing the Town’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, education programs, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies.