HELIX Environmental Planning (HELIX) staff prepared the master plan, provided grant support, prepared construction documents and specifications, obtained regulatory permits, conducted biological monitoring during construction, and designed interpretive signs for the Sunrise Recreation and Park District’s Arcade Creek Park Preserve in the City of Citrus Heights. The site is heavily forested with native oak woodland and riparian vegetation. Arcade Creek, a highly degraded urban creek with steep eroding banks, flows through the parcel. HELIX staff prepared an opportunity and constraints analysis based on GIS data, a wetland assessment, and a site evaluation by our landscape architects and arborists. This analysis helped design the Preserve by identifying areas to avoid, thereby minimizing impacts to sensitive resources and streamlining the permitting process. During the Master Plan process, HELIX staff facilitated two community meetings to elicit desires, needs, and concerns of local residents. In addition to an overall conceptual design, the final master plan included a cost estimate, an analysis of environmental permitting requirements, identification of possible funding sources, and a maintenance plan. The final master plan includes a group picnic and play area, multi-use trail, Low Impact Development (LID) parking lot with bioswales, a boardwalk through wetland features, an informational kiosk, par-course workout stations, and an interpretive signage program. The final plan includes restoration of the creek through removal of invasive plant material species and regrading, stabilization, and revegetation of the creek banks.

HELIX staff assisted Sunrise Recreation and Park District with preparation of the Prop 84 grant proposal for construction of the park improvements. HELIX also organized five community outreach events, including site tours, and hands-on workshops with local elementary school children. The project received Prop 84 funding in 2012 and the firm was selected to develop construction documents and obtain regulatory permits. In 2015, the park was awarded a Merit Award – Development under the California Trails and Greenways Conference Award Program.