Photo Credit: Fred Coester from Sink Combs Dethlefs
In the 1960s, the city of Fort Collins, Colo., stopped using a city dump site north of downtown and immediately adjacent to the Poudre River. In the early 1970s, most of the 13-acre site was converted into a neighborhood park. Then in 1978, a 15,000-square-foot community center was constructed in the park.
Almost immediately, the facility began to shift and sag as the landfill did the same. Several renovations occurred over a period of years, including replacing the gymnasium floor onto structural piers to bedrock, and stabilizing other areas through mud-jacking.
Starts And Stops
In 1997, voters approved replacement of the community center through a capital-sales tax extension program. Typically, projects are pay-as-you-go (funding collected prior to the project’s start). This project was the last to be funded, which meant a 2004 start date. City council chose to place the new facility on the same site as the old one.