The City of Grand Junction, in partnership with Mesa County School District 51, is seeking community input through an online survey to update the Chipeta Elementary school play yard.
The City of Grand Junction and Mesa County School District 51 have an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) regarding Chipeta Elementary School. Under the agreement, the city maintains the play yard, which is intended to double as a public park during non-school hours. The city and District 51 received a $25,000 grant from the Colorado Health Foundation (CHF) to fund the planning and design of a reinvented play yard. A primary focus is to address the sometimes muddy and often hard-packed play yard and overall provide better service to the community. Since the property serves as both a play yard for school children and a park for the general public, community input is being sought to provide a vision for what the space could look like.
During the school year, the play yard at Chipeta Elementary School is used heavily by children who attend. In the evenings, on weekends, and during the summer, the Chipeta Elementary play yard doubles as a public park for the community, city recreation programs, summer camp, and for use by the Eureka Science Museum.
The planning process is anticipated to occur over the course of this year with another grant application to the CHF expected to request full funding of the proposed renovation.