Erie is moving forward with the design and construction of two neighborhood parks simultaneously, although the exact funding sources for the parks have not been secured for the millions of dollars they will cost.

The Erie Town Council unanimously directed town staff to move forward with Compass Neighborhood Park and Morgan Hill Neighborhood Park at a special meeting Tuesday evening. However, the council gave staff the opportunity to look into not fully developing the Morgan Hill park and leaving some of the area as open land.

The Compass developer dedicated 10 acres of land for parks, and the Morgan Hill developer dedicated 14 acres, Parks and Recreation Director Luke Bolinger said. Because the average size of a park in town is approximately 7 acres, Mayor Andrew Moore suggested the possibility of not developing all 14 acres of the Morgan Hill park and instead leaving a larger area of open land. However, because the Compass park will serve both the Compass and Parkdale neighborhoods, as well as any other community members who travel to the park, the council and staff agreed it should be developed at its full acreage.

The conceptual plan for the Compass park includes a large playground, a tennis or pickleball court, picnic shelter and large field.

“We wanted to make this a truly inclusive park,” Bolinger said. “We want to make sure you can come here and really do anything.”

He said that due to the large park and how it will serve a large portion of the community, the conceptual park plan includes a water play feature.

Bolinger said that residents of the Morgan Hill and Compass neighborhoods have been promised local parks for years. Moore said that the feeling of buying into a new neighborhood and then realizing that some of the amenities are not coming feels like somebody “dropped the ball.”

If a phased approach is taken, where both parks are constructed at the same time in sections, the design for the Compass park is expected to cost $300,000, with 2027 construction to cost $4.2 million and a second phase of construction to cost $7.9 million. The design for Morgan Hill park is expected to cost $550,000, with construction to cost $5.1 million for the first phase and $7.2 million for the second phase. Bolinger said the costs may change due to inflation.

Sara Hancock, finance director, said that it is hard to definitively state what the funding sources for the parks would be that would generate immediate funding. She said that staff would have to analyze which projects could be put on hold to pool money to fund the parks. Bolinger said that while grants are never guaranteed, the town has previously partnered with Great Outdoors Colorado and other grant sources to help fund park space.