What is Vail’s plan for the next decade of Ford Park?

The town of Vail is looking ahead at the next 10 years of the Gerald R. Ford Park. On Tuesday, Nov. 7, the Town Council approved the 2023 Ford Park Master Plan, ushering in the next phase of the park’s life.

The town acquired the 39-acre park in 1973, seeking to preserve “one of the last remaining open and undeveloped parcels of land accessible to all residents and visitors of the Vail community,” the master plan reads.

In the 50 years since, the park has evolved to include numerous amenities including the Betty Ford Alpine Garden, a playground, the Vail Nature Center, the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheatre, the Vail Tennis Center and more. And every 10 years or so, the town begins to evaluate the park for ways to not only maintain its purpose in town but also to ensure it’s meeting the community’s needs.

The 2023 master plan is the result of 17 months of planning, community engagement and research, said Todd Oppenheimer, the town’s capital projects manager.

Andy Dawson, a senior associate at WRT, which was one of the firms tapped to help with the 2023 planning process, acknowledged that most of the improvements and initiatives outlined in the 2013 iteration had been completed.

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The plan had outlined seven capital improvements, all of which have been implemented. This included the construction of the Betty Ford Alpine Garden Education Center, upgrades to The Amp and more.

This made it “time to reassess the park and in particular, reassess the management and maintenance of the park,” Dawson said.

Similar to the previous versions of the plan, the 2023 update provides an assessment of challenges facing the park as well as potential ways to address these challenges. The document — which is 155 pages in length — includes an in-depth look at the park’s past, present and future conditions as well as insight into the planning process.

However, there are two things that make this particular version unique, Oppenheimer said.

“First, this master plan acknowledges the complexity of Ford Park and through the formation of the oversight committee, utilizes that complexity in the varying focus of the different stakeholders to unify overall management of the park,” he said. “I believe that’s an important takeaway of this process and this document.”

The creation of an oversight committee in the park will bring together various stakeholders and create a unified way for the park to move forward on all fronts.

Outside of the town and its numerous departments that work and operate in the amenity, Ford Park brings together various community stakeholders and organizations. This includes leaseholders in Vail Valley Foundation (which operates The Amp), Betty Ford Alpine Gardens and the Vail Recreation District as well as contractors in Bravo! Vail and Walking Mountains.

While these entities all operate side-by-side and have for many years, there has never been a formalized collaborative group, which has led many of the park operations and maintenance responsibilities either unclear or duplicative.

Thus, the first priority identified in the 2023 plan is for the town to establish the Ford Park Oversight Committee, which can then drive the rest of the plan forward. The goal of the committee is to increase collaboration and coordination between the entities, streamline operations for all and prioritize the right projects moving forward.

This, Oppenheimer said, is the second unique thing about the latest version.

“This master plan acknowledges several shortcomings of Ford Park, many of which are interconnected; but rather than lay out a long list of specific capital items or actions for the park, the master plan suggests a series of studies, which can be taken on individually or collectively to arrive at meaningful and long-lasting solutions,” he said, adding that “the oversight committee will play an important role in these studies going forward.”

There are two main areas that these studies will focus on: circulation and access as well as facilities and programs.

Within circulation and access, the plan recommends studying wayfinding and signage, parking and transit, ADA compliance and accessibility, vehicular access and traffic, adding an additional entry and exit to The Amp as well as management of Gore Creek. Within facilities and programs, the plan recommends studying the impacts of the planned renovations of The Amp, reorganization of the Lower Bench area of the park, starting a design process for the Vail Nature Center and more.

The plan’s recommendations are “in response to proposals put forth in the last few years and challenges that have evolved since the last master plan,” according to its introduction.

“The goal is to offer a comprehensive vision that informs decision-making, prioritization, funding allocations, additional studies and immediate actions,” it adds.

Vail’s Town Council unanimously approved the 2023 Ford Park Master Plan, which is really just the beginning of the park’s next decade.