SILVERTHORNE — The Town of Silverthorne wants to spruce up Rainbow Park, and it's looking to local residents for ideas.

The park, adjacent to the Silverthorne Recreation Center, currently features tennis courts, a skate park, a playground, a playing field, volleyball courts, basketball courts and a pedestrian path. About 5 acres of the park's land are undeveloped.

The town drew up the park's existing layout about 15 years ago, so town officials hope to update residents' vision for improvements, changes and new amenities. Opportunities for public input will begin with an open house Feb. 8 and continue through mid-March.

“We're trying to get anybody and everybody to come to the meeting to give ideas, thoughts and suggestions,” said Mark Leidal, community development director. “We're casting the net as wide as we can. Everybody's got their own ideas of what they'd like to see out there.”

After the Feb. 8 brainstorming session, town staff will sort through participants' ideas and formulate various alternative plans. The public will be able to comment on the various alternatives in early March.

The town has already budgeted $250,000 to replace the park's playground equipment in 2010. Some of the existing playground features are almost 20 years old. Once the park's overall plan is finalized, the town will seek input from playground users on the kinds of new play equipment they would like to see at Rainbow Park. Any additional improvements to the park will take place in future years.

Town staff will have maps and information on the Rainbow Park master plan update on display at the Silverthorne Rec Center beginning Feb. 1.

Julie Sutor can be reached at (970) 668-4630 or jsutor@summitdaily.com.