Leave it better than you found it: Centennial Park, Englewood, Colo.

Through partnerships with local, state and federal agencies, the Englewood Department of Parks and Recreation made a recreational jewel shine even brighter. A 9.5-acre former landfill adjacent to Centennial Park was slated to become a waste transfer station. The parks and recreation department proposed an alternative--the land should become an expansion of 85-acre Centennial Park, a refuge for residents since 1969. Three lighted ball fields, restrooms, trail connections and fishing and boat access are among the expansion's offerings.

The project required substantial environmental clean-up, including a clay cap over the former landfill, a drainage plan and a methane gas venting system. The ambitious environmental work--such as venting the methane gas through ball field fence posts and foul poles--was made possible when Englewood received a $709,000 loan from the Environmental Protection Agency's Brownsfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative. The loan program funds projects that seek to safely clean up and reuse contaminated sites. The loan for the Centennial Park expansion was the largest in the project's history, and the first Brownsfields loan to be approved for park development. The parks and recreation department's strong community ties also paid off, as additional funding came from, among others, the Colorado Rockies, a local Catholic school and the adjoining city, Sheridan.