EPRD Board Progress Report on Execution of Strategic Plan Priorities

October 28, 2025

In October 2023, the Evergreen Park and Recreation District (EPRD) approved and published a 5-Year Strategic Plan for maintaining and improving its facilities. The Plan outlined three broad sets of initiatives to be completed over a 5-year timeframe. The initiatives were:

(1)   Take Care of What We Have, which focused on maintaining our existing facilities

(2)   Rebuild Recreation, which focused on improvements to Buchanan Park including building a new indoor pool and gymnasium

(3)   Expand Facilities and Services, which focused on potential land acquisition and trail connectivity.

Since publishing the plan, EPRD has made substantial progress on the first initiative: Take Care of What We Have. Examples of needed maintenance that has been completed recently include replacing an HVAC system, replacing the Buchanan Pond bridge, obtaining new fleet vehicles, replacing windows, converting EPRD computers to the same technology platform, and buying needed equipment. EPRD is now focused on the second initiative, Rebuild Recreation, which is the most expensive part of the 5-year plan. In specific, with the tax extension approved by voters in November 2023 and assuming additional funding through grants and donations, the total cost of all the 5-year plan projects (using midpoints from cost ranges on page 32 of Plan) was $26.3 million, with $19.5 million (74%) of that amount allocated to Rebuild Recreation.

Because our funds are limited, EPRD must determine which projects are most needed. Many sources of information were used to select projects. During the 2023 strategic planning process, EPRD gathered input from a wide range of community members in a number of different ways, generating 2,365 touchpoints of engagement, including 11 public meetings & events, 25 meetings with civic organizations, an online feedback tool (288 comments), rec center stations (150 comments), a Youth Voice Campaign (617 responses), an Open Link Survey to all stakeholders (557 responses), and the Communitywide Survey sent to all households in the District (580 responses). Other key sources of information considered by EPRD for project selection included the condition of existing EPRD facilities, e.g., the Wulf pool, and project cost.

Below is the list of the major Rebuild Recreation projects now prioritized for completion over the next 1 to 3 years, as well as the rationale for selecting them.

Decommission the Wulf Rec Center pool and build a new 8-lane indoor pool at Buchanan Rec Center: Estimated cost is about $12 million, which includes repurposing the old Wulf pool area to create additional recreational space

o   The Wulf pool is past its design life and could fail catastrophically, leaving Evergreen with no pool

o   Building a new pool now on land owned by EPRD at Buchanan (the Wulf rec center is located on land owned by Jefferson County Schools) provides a smooth and predictable transition from the Wulf pool to the new pool

Improve Buchanan Park, which includes changing the road layout, adding more parking, building a playground with a water feature, building a pavilion, and constructing a skatepark: Estimated cost is about $5 million

o   Developing Buchanan Park to support community events and gathering spaces received strong support during the development of the Strategic Plan

o   There are economies of scale to completing a package of Buchanan Park improvements at the same time as compared to building individual elements sequentially

o   EPRD has received significant grants and donations supporting Buchanan Park projects

Build a gym/fieldhouse in Buchanan Park: Estimated cost is about $3 million, which includes equipping the facility

o   Public input and EPRD staff support a new gym/fieldhouse

o   The start of this project is mid-2026 to allow EPRD staff to focus on the first two projects; EPRD can only execute so many projects at once

EPRD has made significant progress toward top priorities from its Strategic Plan. For example, EPRD has near final designs for the new pool and the pavilion and a preliminary design for the playground. On October 22, 2025, comments were heard, and approval was granted by the Jefferson County Planning & Zoning Commission to allow improvements at Buchanan Park to include a plaza, playground, pavilion, skate park, gym/field house, accessible trails, field lighting, an expansion to the rec center, and the new road/parking layout and utility infrastructure to support these elements. This is a major step forward in the execution of the Rebuild Recreation initiatives. Evergreen residents should look for significant improvements in the look and feel of Buchanan Park over the next 1 to 3 years as these projects are completed.

To review the Strategic Plan see this link.

For ongoing information about the EPRD’s improvement of Buchanan Park and other projects see this link.  

The EPRD Board and staff remain dedicated and passionate about our mission to "Elevate Your Life”.