Local Rec Center in the Works

        Sophomore Jordan Frye spends six hours driving to an ice rink for figure skating practice each week, along with Conifer athletes from countless other sports.

        They have no other choice.

        Conifer’s outdoor fields and courts are often rendered useless by snow and the closest recreation centers are 30 to 40 minutes away, leaving students to navigate long drives, expensive gas, and inflated out-of-district entry prices. A proposed local recreation center, however, seeks to change this.

        With the 19.5 acres next to The Homestead neighborhood in Morrison, 10 minutes from CHS, the proposed MEC collective plans to build tennis, basketball, and volleyball courts, an ice rink, and a handful of other facilities.

        “It would absolutely be helpful for me,” Frye said. “I’d be able to skate more without having to spend so much time in the car.”

        Though athletes would particularly benefit, the MEC Collective would give Morrison, Conifer, and Evergreen residents of all backgrounds a place to come together and make connections, in addition to providing a constructive outlet for youth to socialize with their peers. 

        “It would’ve been nice for my family a few years ago when I couldn’t drive and my brother, sister, and I would spend all summer doing nothing,” Homestead resident and Conifer sophomore Natalie Pinarretta said.

        The MEC collective is not the first rec center to be proposed in the mountain area, but the four previous attempts to construct or improve nearby recreation facilities have been entirely unsuccessful. In 2018, for instance, a bond was proposed that would improve Evergreen’s Wulf and Bunchman recreation centers, but the tax hike associated with this bond kept it from being passed. The MEC Collective avoids this barrier to construction by being privately funded.

        The lack of increased taxes, however, do not warrant unconditional support for the facility. The sheer scale of this project coincides with a host of challenges, which were discussed with the community during a pre-development meeting on Wednesday, April 16th. 

        Several Homestead residents who attended the meeting voiced concerns around the segment of highway 285 that would be used to access the rec center.

        “I don’t want traffic at the entrance to go up,” Pinarretta said, a sentiment that was echoed in the reflections of several residents who already wait as long as ten minutes to make a left turn across the highway to access their homes. Many cited the need for an overpass or changes in turn lane structure to keep the roadway safe, and the MEC collective announced plans to hold a traffic study in the coming months to better evaluate the hazards associated with exiting the highway. A variety of other concerns were also addressed, which can be found on the MEC Collective’s FAQ page.

        Despite these concerns, many Homestead residents are excited for what a rec center has to offer the community.

        “It’d be nice to have an area that everyone in the neighborhood could walk to, especially all the kids,” Pinarretta said.

        Even those that wouldn’t be able to walk to the MEC are enticed by reducing their 35 minute drives to 10 minutes.

        “It would be a tremendous help to cut down the amount of extra hours I drive to practice on my own time,” softball player and sophomore Lauren Thomas said.

        The MEC Collective requests that those in favor of the project write letters of support, which can be submitted via the collective’s contact page. These letters will be referenced in discussions with the Jefferson County board regarding land use, permits, and next steps for the organization.

        Even if the MEC Collective is able to gain the permission necessary to begin construction, access to the facility could be years away… but the optimistic countdown timer on their website is already in motion.

        502 days, 14 hours, and six minutes.