Two-year drainage project dividing community
As the City Park Golf Course nears its scheduled Oct. 31 temporary closing, the community remains divided over the controversial two-year construction project that aims to add a drainage basin under the golf course.
During a community meeting Saturday at the course’s clubhouse, a crowd of community members and golfers examined mockups for the new course while others held signs denouncing the plans. Both groups milled around families attempting to eat brunch.
The stormwater detention area would turn a portion of the City Park Golf Course into an underground drainage pond. During heavy rainstorms, the basin would fill before slowly draining toward the river, preventing some street flooding.
The city and the Colorado Department of Transportation struck a deal to share some of the costs of the drainage project and Interstate 70 rebuilding, connecting the drainage project to an already hotly contested project.
Neither side of the issue has budged.
Detractors view the drainage project as a step in the I-70 rebuild, a project that opponents fear will hurt local communities and businesses. There’s concern about the removal of 261 of the park’s 824 large trees. Additionally, some fear the channel moving the water could cause flooding elsewhere.
The city is adamant that the drainage project is separate from the I-70 plans, noting that the drainage project would continue with or without I-70, Denver Public Works spokeswoman Nancy Kuhn said. The city would plant 750 trees, which would be smaller, to make up for the lost canopy. The goal of the project is to prevent flooding in a high-risk neighborhood and would not pose a risk elsewhere, she said.
Opponents of I-70 and the drainage project filed two federal lawsuits and asked for an injunction to halt construction while the suits are ongoing. District Judge William Martinez is still considering the motion.
If the project goes forward, construction fences will go up Nov. 1. The city’s goal is to complete the project by May 2019.