Project Description
RICK led a multidisciplinary team to create a new Comprehensive Plan for Frederick, a growing community of 17,000 residents east of Longmont, with the new Comprehensive Plan adopted in October 2024.
This effort, dubbed “Frederick Forward,” included outreach at community festivals, local restaurants and breweries, community open houses, and stakeholder meetings with a wide range of groups in the community. The Town of Frederick has always significantly valued robust and transparent community engagement. RICK delivered with three rounds of community engagement that reached over 3,000 community members, three community surveys, outreach at over 30 community events, an open house, and numerous stakeholder meetings. The resulting Frederick Comprehensive Plan truly serves as a document driven by broad and meaningful community input.
The Comprehensive Plan established the guide for land use development and decisions, representing a nearly total overhaul of this plan for the Frederick area. The plan established a series of mixed-use development nodes around the community in addition to historic Downtown Frederick and a regional hub along I-25. It also further refined the vision for the types and densities of residential housing to be developed in different areas to ensure that Frederick’s growth reflects community vision, the need for more affordable and diverse types of housing, and the realities of the local real estate market. RICK went beyond the normal requirements for Comprehensive Plans and established a vision for the Frederick Central Loop Trail, a central greenway feature that will anchor future mixed-use districts around the community and link different neighborhoods on both sides of I-25. This idea was extremely popular with Frederick residents and stakeholders, and it represents a priority mission for the Town and elected leaders over the next 10 years.
The project included community outreach materials in both English and Spanish, a bilingual project website with survey and online engagement opportunities, and a Steering Committee to guide the planning effort. RICK led all aspects of community outreach, parks and open space planning, and planning for Downtown Frederick. FHU assisted with multimodal transportation analysis and strategies, and Francisco Miraval of Project Vision 21 assisted with bilingual community outreach.
RICK is currently working on a new Frederick Downtown Plan that will provide a more detailed physical plan, building from previous visioning and workshop efforts completed by Downtown Colorado, Inc. The Downtown Plan will specify improvements for streetscape, public gathering places, bike facilities and accommodations, parking, lighting, and other features to elevate the appeal of the district. Within the Comprehensive Plan contract, we have completed park conceptual designs for Crist Park in Downtown Frederick. RICK has also completed conceptual plans for the Mendoza Open Space property, also in Frederick. Our team is also currently working with the Town to update its Land Use Codes to integrate current best practices in planning and design and help implement the goals and policies of the adopted Comprehensive Plan.