What We Create

The American Planning Association (APA) Sustainable Communities Division recognized The Shooks Run Corridor Facilities Master Plan (FMP) with their 2019 Award for Excellence in Sustainability: Sustainable Green Infrastructure Plan.

The FMP illustrates the Colorado Springs community’s forward-thinking vision to manage infrastructure replacement, create a transformative greenway and influence land use along the four-mile Shook Run Corridor.

Grounded in extensive community engagement and existing conditions documentation, the FMP identifies specific bridge and infrastructure improvements (including drainage facilities and various utilities for improved water quality and detention) necessary to ensure that Shooks Run operates well as a major drainage basin in the community, and to facilitate the completion of the greenway.  Recommendations include the potential replacement of bridges that cross Shooks Run, their general design parameters, and how these bridges tie in with and complement the greenway concept for the corridor.  Channel location, stabilization, flooding and erosion issues, and the size of the overall corridor are also addressed.

Extensive community engagement included one on one, electronic input options, community meetings, kitchen table gatherings and door to door contact. 

Tapis contributions included participation in community engagement, integration of stream corridor stabilization and ecosystem reestablishment with existing and proposed residential and commercial development and stormwater quality and quantity facilities.  Adjacent streetscape concepts included green infrastructure. Tapis developed graphics to communicate these concepts.

Client:  City of Colorado Springs Public Works and Felsburg Holt & Ullevig
Location  Colorado Springs, CO

Camp Creek originates high above Colorado Springs in a large watershed that was severely burned in the devastating 2012 Waldo Canyon fire. As a result, rainstorms often produce significant flooding and erosion as the Creek flows down a steep canyon, through the National Natural Landmark Garden of the Gods and the Historic Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site, traversing the well-established Pleasant Valley neighborhood, and on through a busy commercial area. The need to ensure public safety and protect private property as well as two treasured public properties by reducing flood risk and adding stabilization measures throughout this drainage corridor was urgent.

The purpose of the City of Colorado Springs’ Camp Creek Drainage Improvement Project was to thoughtfully plan short-term and long-term solutions to protect the corridor from flooding and erosion to improve public safety.  Tapis Associates was retained to serve on the Wilson and Company consultant team to develop community-supported solutions that were both technically sound and responsive to community needs and values.

The eight-month open public process involved over 250 people. It was carried out primarily through a series of community workshops designed to:

1. Define issues and hopes for the project;
2. Review and respond to five conceptual ideas;
3. Review and respond to three alternative designs; and
4. Review and comment on the draft preferred plan.

Tapis Associates worked closely with the engineering team to develop alternative that were sensitive to the Garden of the Gods and retained the character of the Pleasant Valley neighborhood. Before and after sketches as well as illustrated sections enabled the community to clearly understand and visualize the alternative designs.

The results of the open and transparent public process were impressive: strong community consensus around a preferred plan and an expressed level of trust in the project and the process. As one Camp Creek process participant summed it up, “Just being an active participant and seeing that community input helped drive the results is reassuring. Much better than being told ‘This is what is going to be done.’ The process used enhanced pride and ownership in the final design decisions."

Tapis Associates continued collaboration with Wilson & Company, completing landscape and irrigation components of the award-winning detention facility, and downstream Camp Creek stabilization.

Awards: Colorado ACEC Award for Engineering Excellence - completed Garden of the Gods Detention Facility
Client: City of Colorado Springs Public Works and Wilson & Company
Location: Garden of the Gods National Natural Landmark, CO

North Nevada Avenue Streetscape - Urban Renewal District

Set in the shadow of Pulpit Rock, the North Nevada Urban Renewal District continues to serve as the navigational beacon and gateway to Colorado Springs.

Lofty goals initially set for this streetscape guided decision making throughout its design and construction. The streetscape is more than a "complete street":

• It creates a unique, identifiable cohesive corridor setting the stage for further retail, office and University development.
• It provides a pedestrian friendly corridor with slower traffic speeds.
• It is visually and texturally interesting for both pedestrian and motorists.

The surrounding development is knit together by distinct 'Campus' and 'Urban ' streetscape environments which share the gracious native inspired median. Intersection plazas establish pedestrian-dominated nodes along the corridor where seating, special paving, lighting and internally lighted sculpture pedestals create a venue for professional and student sculptures. The water-conscious plantings sustainably showcase native and adapted plants. The irrigation system converts to a non-potable water source when it is available.

Tapis Associates designed, provided complete construction documents and is overseeing the construction of the entire streetscape. Construction was completed in the Fall of 2009. The project was honored as a winner of one of the top three awards in its category for the Mountain States Construction's Gold Hard Hat Awards program. The award region includes top projects from Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Awards:  Mountain States Construction's GOLD HARD HAT AWARD. This award region includes top projects from Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Client:  Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority Location: North Nevada Urban Renewal District, Colorado Springs, CO

Uintah Street Bridge

The site location between an affluent Colorado Springs residential neighborhood and the Colorado College campus required meeting with, understanding and addressing numerous neighborhood association, individual homeowner and campus planner concerns throughout the design process. Tapis was brought into the project specifically to address the organized and vocal neighborhood concerns. Tapis presented alternative solutions at public meetings and created a tree preservation plan and planting design for this bridge reconstruction.

Client: City of Colorado Springs Traffic Engineering and Wilson & Company Location: Old North End, Colorado Springs, CO

North Nevada Avenue 
Urban Renewal District Conceptual Entry Icon Study

Set in the shadow of Pulpit Rock, the North Nevada Urban Renewal District continues to serve as the navigational beacon and gateway to Colorado Springs.

Lofty sustainability goals initially set for this streetscape guided decision making throughout and especially influenced the Entry Icon Study. Tapis developed several windmill icons utilizing the different technologies. Not only are they appropriate to the windy site and scale of the 8 lane arterial road, their uniqueness, educational value, energy production and kinetic interest were received with great excitement by the Client and the UCCS University Architectural Review Board.

Tapis Associates designed, provided complete construction documents and is overseeing the construction of the entire streetscape. Key components include gracious native inspired medians, venues for professional and student sculptures and an irrigation system that will convert to a non-potable water source when available. Streetscape construction was completed in the Fall of 2009. The future Entry Icon project will be a collaboration between UCCS University, the Urban Renewal Authority and the Colorado Spring Utilities.

Client: Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority Location: North Nevada Urban Renewal District, Colorado Springs, CO

Interstate 25 Landscape Concepts and Life Cycle Cost Projections

This conceptual landscape study was commissioned to fully understand the aesthetic and financial considerations brought forth by three distinct landscape scenarios for the I-25 Widening Projects through Colorado Springs.

The three landscape scenarios adhered to four key principles:

• The landscape shall be horticulturally sustainable. Plant selection is based on Colorado Spring native plant communities and maintenance procedures and scheduling reflect good horticultural practices for native landscapes.
• The landscape shall be fiscally sustainable. This includes maintenance, water usage and anticipated plant replacements.
• The design shall visually communicate to the traveler their location along the corridor.
• The corridor is Colorado Springs’ front door and should reflect the level of pride and responsibility we take in our city.

Typical plans and sketches provided the basis for installation and maintenance cost projections for each scenario. This document was the basis for negotiations between CDOT and the City of Colorado Springs to determine long term maintenance commitments.

Client: Colorado Department of Transportation and Wilson & Company
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

Parkways Landscaping Brochure

Parkways or 'hell strips' are a constant challenge for homeowners and commercial owners alike. Tapis was commissioned to write illustrate and produced a pamphlet for use by the City Forestry Department to educate residents of their responsibilities in the landscape parkways. The pamphlet documents numerous creative, code compliant, water thrifty techniques to create and maintain beautiful parkways in the City of Colorado Springs.

Client: City of Colorado Springs City Forestry Department and Colorado Springs Utilities
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

Bijou /Cascade Avenue Intersection and Sculpture Display

Fillmore Street Improvements

Downtown Colorado Springs Business District Phase II