Vail takes first step in reimagining a popular town park and Gore Creek access area
Gore Creek Promenade Renewal project will move through numerous town boards before returning to Town 撸先生
Courtesy image
The Vail Town 撸先生 took the first step in what could lead to a reimagining of the Gore Creek Promenade park on Tuesday, approving the town manager to enter into a contract with a landscape architecture firm.
But while the $203,450 contract to EDSA, Inc., was approved unanimously with much support from the council, the process of redesigning the promenade is far from complete, said Gregg Barrie with the town’s public works department.
“Next step is refine the design,” Barrie said, “and then we’ll get into the actual final design review process.”
As part of that process, the project will move through the town’s Art in Public Places Board, Design Review Board and Planning and Environmental Commission before returning to the Town 撸先生.
Humble beginnings
Barrie, on Tuesday, updated the council on Gore Creek Promenade Renewal project’s concept design thus far.
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The plan started in 2022 as an examination of turf grass maintenance in the promenade park, but like many small issues, much larger questions occupied the topic’s core. Before long the town was considering its essence as a hub of outdoor recreation tourism in the Rocky Mountains and one of its most basic attractions 鈥� access to the creek that runs through it.
“The reality is people want to interact with Gore Creek 鈥� it’s why they come down to this park,” Barrie said. “They come from out of town, they don’t get a chance to play in a mountain stream, and they love that they’re able to do that here.”
In investigating why the turf grass in Gore Creek Promenade was so difficult to maintain, the town saw many people wedging themselves into relatively narrow corridors to access the creek. Examining those concentrated access points and use areas revealed a host of other issues related to the promenade park, including a lack of seating areas, uneven flagstone, stream bank erosion, lack of ADA access, and bike racks not in ideal locations.
The public works department started working through a plan to revise the park, focusing on the revitalization of the lawn, programming and events, and protection of the riparian corridor.
Revitalizing the lawn includes looking at enhancing durability; diversifying gathering places; providing versatility; examining grading, drainage and soil structure; and reducing concentrated access points.
Concerning programming and events in the promenade park, the public works department is hoping to provide improved visibility, ADA accessibility, shade, family-friendly activities, seasonal programming and public art.
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And in protecting the riparian corridor, public works is looking at vegetation replanting, stream-bank stabilization, the reduction of sediment and habitat creation in the park. The Colorado Department of Health and the Environment, since 2012, has listed Gore Creek as an impaired waterway due to low aquatic life.
Many stakeholders
If anyone who visited the creek via the Gore Creek Promenade area is a stakeholder in the project, then the project involved some 487,000 stakeholders in 2024. It received 180 survey responses and more than 30 letters through the town’s Engage Vail website, with many people questioning aspects of the plan including the replacement of soft, pervious surfaces with hardscape features and the removal of trees. The proposed plan has also led to residents voicing concerns at public meetings.
“There were legitimate concerns about how this project might impact stream health,” Barrie said.
As a result of those concerns, the design has been modified to look closer at Gore Creek’s health by reducing the total amount of hardscape areas that allow runoff to enter the creek directly, revising creek access points that are heavily used by the public, and eliminating one of the proposed tree removals 鈥� a 12-foot twin-trunked fir tree 鈥� with other tree removals intended to promote the health and growth of that tree.
A final consideration public works is taking seriously lies in what the town feels is its duty to provide access to Gore Creek at the park. In this regard, the town is looking at providing improved pathways and access points to the creek, along with accessibility features.
All that access, Barrie acknowledges, will compromise stream health along the 200-foot area of the Gore Creek Promenade, but considering that “the town owns 14 miles of stream tract,” Barrie said, “it’s about 200 feet that gets this level of public interaction, there’s really no other part of Vail that gets this much interaction.”
That’s why, Barrie said, in providing access to the Gore Creek via the promenade park, the town will actually encourage engagement with the creek there, in that location.
“We’ve learned over the years,” Barrie said, “if you don’t provide a place for people to access the creek, they’re gonna make their own.”
The Gore Creek Promenade Renewal project’s final design review process is expected to take the remainder of 2025, and a placeholder of $1 million has been recommended to be placed on the 2026 budget draft when the town begins its considerations for next year.
