Last year, staff kicked off the Future of Recreation Centers project by asking community members to share their values around recreation centers. Now, the city needs help ranking the types, location, and quantities of amenities and programming to inform system-wide investments and prioritizations.

As Boulder’s recreation centers age, the City of Boulder is planning for the future of the indoor recreation system through the Future of Recreation Centers project. In addition to aging, recreation centers use high amounts of natural resources (gas, electricity and water). Recognizing that the city’s recreation centers are important community well-being hubs and resources are limited, the city is planning to improve the energy efficiency of the facilities to meet the community’s recreation needs today and into the future.

Future of Recreation Centers project questionnaire

Last year, staff kicked off this project by asking community members to share their values around recreation centers. Now, the city needs help ranking the types, location, and quantities of amenities and programming to inform system-wide investments and prioritizations.

  • If you visit our recreation centers or have an opinion to share on indoor recreation activities, please fill out this questionnaire. The questionnaire is best viewed and completed using a computer browser. UPDATE: We are aware that some phones and browsers may have issues displaying the response options for question 9. We will take this into consideration when analyzing results. Our apologies for this survey formatting issue.

If you provide your email address at the end, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free 10-day pass to Boulder Parks and Recreation (BPR)’s recreation centers and receive project updates and future opportunities to provide input. The questionnaire is open through Monday, Sept. 30.

“Recreation centers are critical community wellness hubs. We must ensure that Boulder’s can serve the community into the future by addressing aging infrastructure and improving their energy efficiency,” said BPR Director Ali Rhodes. “We encourage the community to complete this questionnaire to help us support Boulder’s health and well-being while also meeting the city’s climate goals.”

East Boulder Community Center retrofit/renovation project

Part of the Future of Recreation Centers project is a deep energy retrofit/renovation project happening at East Boulder Community Center (EBCC) and East Age Well Center. EBCC is one of the city’s top energy users and an ideal candidate for a retrofit. The mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems are outdated and not energy-efficient, but the building's structure is sound, making this facility a prime opportunity to reduce energy consumption.

In addition to energy efficiency upgrades, community input from the questionnaire will help the city prioritize other improvements that could be made at the same time to support indoor recreation activities that are most important to community members.

Construction for the energy retrofits and facility renovations is expected to start in 2026.

South Boulder Recreation Center

We know from the first round of input on this project that South Boulder Recreation Center (SBRC) is valuable to many community members and that some amenities are a key part of the recreation system. Community input via the Future of Recreation Center project questionnaire will help the city prioritize which indoor recreation activities are most important to provide across our recreation center system.

While this feedback will first guide design for the funded EBCC retrofit/renovation project, the input will also influence the city’s long-term financial strategy. This will inform a funding approach for future recreation investments, including what happens at the site of the South Boulder Recreation Center since the facility has reached the end of its lifecycle and major repairs or renovations to the current building are not feasible.

As we plan for the future, please check the Future of the Recreation Centers project webpage for the latest facility updates and frequently asked questions.

Please subscribe to the Future of Recreation Centers project email for the latest updates to the project, BPR’s recreation centers and opportunities to provide feedback.

Thank you for your support as we plan for the future of BPR’s recreation centers.

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