The City of Greeley recognizes that Bittersweet Park does not look like it used to. Instead, the City is working hard to reshape the park to meet water conservation needs, decrease maintenance, and provide a natural
area that reflects our state’s beauty and enhances wildlife while maintaining areas that our community enjoys using. When this project began, the City of Greeley worked with a well-known consultant, Matrix Design Concepts, to design the park
to reflect the natural native beauty of northern Colorado. J2 Contracting, a local company, worked with the City of Greeley to install the park project. J2 Contracting has a long-standing history of working with similar reconstructed park projects,
such as Valmont City Park in Boulder (which has a blend of native and bluegrass areas), Woodbriar Park in Greeley, and the Horsetooth Swim Beach and the Fossil Creek Trail in Ft Collins. Like all projects, they take time and patience—we
literally have to watch the grass grow and be patient to see positive results.
While the City continues to implement various phases of the planned reconstruction of Bittersweet Park, here are a few things the community should know:
- Mowing will occur along walkways every 3-4 weeks as weather allows. As the native grasses seed, city crews will mow to drop the seed heads on the ground and encourage new growth.
- Mowing of native grass will occur 2-3 times a year, which decreasing the need for labor intensive maintenance on the park.
- Additional seeding will occur with spot watering, if necessary, to germinate seeds of native grass.
- Pre-emergent weed herbicide will be applied in the spring and fall, weather permitting.
- Spot weed spraying and mowing will take place as needed to control invasive weeds.
- Native watering will be on an as needed basis.
- Trees in the native have supplemental drip and bubbler irrigation so they will not suffer from reduced overhead watering.
Residents are encouraged to visit greeleygov.com/bittersweet for FAQs, story map, and detailed information about the park’s transformation.
Listen to the KFKA interview with Andy McRoberts or watch this short video for an update on the project.
BITTERSWEET VIDEO UPDATE
The City of Greeley created this video to address some of the residents’ biggest concerns about Bittersweet Park. We understand and hear your concerns. Bittersweet Park needs time and patience to work
through the natural progression of the plan and become beautiful again, but with added benefit to our state’s natural environment.
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