Highlands Ranch considers new Plaza Drive park, garden expansion

Highlands Ranch residents now have a chance to weigh in on a proposed 2-acre park on the north side of Plaza Drive, just northeast of Fly'n B Park and beside the High Line Canal, a location that could add both quiet open space and room for more community gardens.

Highlands Ranch Metro District posted the concept on April 24 and is collecting feedback through an online survey due Friday, May 8. The district says the park is meant for passive use, with walking, relaxing, wellness, gathering and low-key recreation rather than sports fields or other high-intensity amenities.

The most practical piece of the plan may be the garden expansion. The district said its community garden program already includes three organic gardens and 94 plots, with 31 at The Corn Cob at Cheese Ranch Historic & Natural Area, 19 at The Potato Patch at Dad Clark Park and 44 at Farmer’s Field at Foothills Park. Each plot measures 10 feet by 20 feet, runs seasonally from May 1 to Oct. 30 and is limited to one per household. For 2026, resident plots cost $60 and nonresident plots cost $69.

That shortage matters because the proposal is not just about adding another patch of turf. It is aimed at meeting existing demand for garden space in a part of Highlands Ranch that already has several heavily used parks and trails. Fly'n B Park, at 2910 W. Plaza Drive, is a 10.3-acre destination with a fishing pond, trails, a large shelter, a restroom, parking and a house built in 1906. The High Line Canal trail map identifies Fly'n B Park as the end of Trail Segment 5 and notes a gap where a future underpass is planned for S. Santa Fe Drive.

The land would be donated by Shea Properties, which would also handle construction while building affordable senior housing on the adjacent parcel to the east. The district said park funding would come from its existing general fund balance and is not projected to raise taxes, a detail likely to draw attention from residents weighing open-space benefits against other public priorities.

Highlands Ranch Metro District manages 26 public parks and four dog parks, but the Plaza Drive proposal stands out because it ties neighborhood recreation to a specific land-use decision. If approved in some form, it would add a small but strategically placed public space near an established park corridor about 12 miles south of Denver in Douglas County, where the final design could still be shaped by the public comments submitted before May 8.