Neighborhood Life – May 2016

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05 16 NEW 100-YEAR WATER HAZARD FOR CITY PARK GOLFERS? By J. Patrick O’Leary It’s official: City Park Golf Course – and not the Cole neighborhood – will be the site of an area to capture and hold runoff water from severe storms. The City made the announcement in an April 6 press release. The detention area is one project within the Platte to Park Hill: Stormwater Systems improvements, and will be integrated into an updated design of the golf course and help protect some of the city’s most at-risk neighborhoods from flooding, according to the release. Planning began late last year, and construction is expected to begin on some areas in 2016 and continue through 2019. According to the city’s summaries of community meetings, residents who participated strongly supported the golf course option over Cole, but some are calling for additional options, questioning the overall project, and threatening a lawsuit. The plan is conceptual only at this point, and no work will take place until a final design is developed and approved. “Preliminary design of the water detention area in City Park Golf Course will be starting in the next few weeks and meetings will be announced soon,” said Nancy Kuhn, Director of Communications for Denver Public Works. “The design process for this water detention area, as well as the 39th Avenue open channel and recreational trail, and Park Hill Golf Club storm water detention area will include significant collaboration with the local community, golfers and others.” The meeting date had not been announced as LIFE went to press. “This detention area will not be a ‘pond’, but an area

FIVE POINTS BID GOES TO CITY COUNCIL

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At RTD 40th & Colorado station (actually 42nd & Jackson), riders should look at map to decipher how to enter, as entrance from some directions are blocked. PHOTO BY JEFF HERSCH that will be integrated into the landscape of the golf course that will be dry the vast majority of the time, but would collect and slowly release water during storm events,” Kuhn explained, and provided a photo of a water detention area at Lakewood Golf Course as an example of what it would look like. The new detention area will connect into an existing stormwater pipe that cuts through the golf course and travels along High Street, according to Kuhn. The Platte to Park Hill program is focused on nearterm improvements to better protect neighborhoods

By J. Patrick O’Leary Property owners of the Welton Street Corridor will take their petition to form a Business Improvement District (BID) to city council later this month. The Five Points Business Improvement District will provide maintenance, security and marketing for a 10-block stretch of Welton between 20th & 30th & Downing, funded by a 10-mil property tax generating about $157,000 annually – provided that voters approve the tax in November. A petition signed by owners of more than 50 percent of property on the corridor was to be filed with the city clerk before May 6, according to Tracy Winchester, Executive Director of Five Points Business District – a separate, pre-existing community organization. As LIFE went to press, a committee consisting of community leaders and board members of the FPBD was still collecting signatures from the 42 owners of 88 parcels included in the BID’s boundaries. “We’re going for everybody, we don’t want anybody to think they were not part of the process,” said Winchester. “If we get

north and east of downtown, which see some of the worst flooding during storms, according to city presentations. It includes a Globeville Landing Outfall drainage design and park re-design; an open channel and recreational trail along 39th Avenue; and two temporary stormwater detention areas, one at Park Hill Golf Club and the other at either the Cole neighborhood or City Park Golf Course. The city, in presentations, has said the flood-protection, drainage and storm-runoff projects are being continued on page 16

65 or 70 percent I feel it would be well-endorsed.” The committee has already drafted an initial operating plan and budget, and is working on an initial slate of directors, which will require approval of the mayor. If the petition has sufficient signatures and the filing is timely, a presentation will be made before city council’s Business Development Committee on May 10, with a first reading before council May 23, and a second reading and public hearing on May 31. If passed, it will begin life on June 3. Voters will still have to approve the proposed 10-mill levy in November to provide future funding. BIDs are government-like organizations formed by property owners to enhance the environment of a business district or neighborhood with services and improvements. The services and improvements are in addition to, and do not replace, existing city services. continued on page 2

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