• Sep
    2018
    18
    2018 / Sep / 18

    Mehaffey Park

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    This 69-acre community park is the City of Loveland, Colorado’s premier park for residents in the western part of the city. Logan Simpson developed a master plan and construction documents for the site, which includes a disc golf course, multipurpose fields, natural restored landscapes and drainages, tennis and basketball courts, skate park, dog park, an arboretum, fruit orchards, unique adventure play area, signature bridge, paved and soft surface trails, raw water irrigation and detention pond, picnic lawn and picnic shelters. Located on the route of the Overland Trail, references to this historic route are expressed in the design of site elements, and through art pieces and are sited throughout the park. We also designed a 0.25-mile of streetscape and road improvements near the park, as well as park access roads. We held public workshops in order to meet City standards and maintenance requirements, while respecting adjacency to residential development. The master plan process included programming/visioning sessions with City staff, several workshops, collaboration with a local artist, and a public survey of community preferences. A 3-D SketchUp model was also extremely valuable in showing neighbors what they would see from their residences.

  • Sep
    2018
    14
    2018 / Sep / 14

    Arvada Comprehensive Plan Development Update

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    Community planning firm Logan Simpson managed the comprehensive and transportation plan update for Arvada, Colorado. Arvada has changed and grown since its last comprehensive plan update, and is anticipating significant changes with the opening of a new commuter rail line with three local stations, a new regional parkway, large-scale new developments, and a renaissance in its Olde Town.

    Logan Simpson’s Colorado environmental planning specialists worked to leverage Arvada’s strengths through integrated land-use and transportation planning, focused effort on key corridors and catalyst sites, and a robust analysis of demographics, economic conditions, and fiscal impacts. The multipronged community engagement strategy aims to continually reach and unify this diverse first-tier suburb of Denver through an interactive MindMixer website, speakers on the big issues and opportunities facing the community, multimedia coverage of events, mailed newsletters to all residents, advisory board summits, and engagement of youth in the planning process. The overall policy reform focuses on sustainability, healthy eating, and active living. The plan was unanimously adopted by City Council in December 2014.
    The project included integrated land use and transportation planning for four new TOD stations, a regional parkway, a new creative district, policy reform focusing on sustainability, healthy eating, and active living, and plan elements for neighborhoods, housing, economic development, community character, historic preservation, parks and open space, environmental quality, utilities, and city services.

    Read it here. 

  • Aug
    2018
    18
    2018 / Aug / 18

    BLM Salmon and Challis Field Offices Visual Resource Inventories

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    Logan Simpson is preparing two visual resource inventories (VRIs) encompassing approximately 5.9 million acres within the BLM’s Challis and Salmon field offices in Idaho. The project areas are nestled between the Bitterroot Mountains and the Continental Divide to the east and the Salmon River Mountain Range to the west. These BLM-managed lands hold some of the most ruggedly beautiful landscapes and notable natural and cultural resources in the state of Idaho.

     

    The VRIs document the scenic quality and visual sensitivity of the area’s outstanding visual, geological, historic, and prehistoric resources including the Jim McClure-Jerry Peak Wilderness Area, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and Salmon River Special Recreation Management Areas, the Herd and Trail Creeks Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, and the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. In addition to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, the project area also contains notable linear scenic platforms such as the Peaks to Craters Scenic Byway, Lewis and Clark Backcountry Byway, and the Sacajawea Historic Byway. The history-filled Sacajawea Historic Byway offers compelling views as well as a wealth of mining and Native American history.

     

    The project area also contains a portion of the longest free-flowing river in the contiguous United States—the Salmon River, which provides the public with exceptional recreation opportunities including whitewater kayaking, canoeing, rafting, and fishing. Tourism and recreation are major economic engines for the area’s small rural communities who place great significance on protecting historic vistas and special use areas.

  • May
    2018
    10
    2018 / May / 10

    Handbooks, Manuals, and Field Guides

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    Logan Simpson has developed many manuals related to planning, design, construction, and maintenance of public facilities. We have also developed a variety of other technical, procedural, and program guidance documents, such as best management practices, field guides, decision-support tools, and training curricula. Our in-house staff includes technical writers and editors, graphic designers, and document development specialists who work with our landscape architects and other professional staff to translate complex technical requirements into easy-to-understand text. Depending on our client’s direction, we have produced detailed “cookbook”-style manuals that prescribe specific actions; guidance manuals that mix narrative with instructive graphics and images; and even manuals that rely heavily on interactive graphics as the primary gateway to the information the manual contains.