Downtown Fort Collins river park awaits green light

It's a critical week for the future kayak park in the heart of the Poudre River District. 

The city of Fort Collins is awaiting a final permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  that is due any day. When it comes, it will signal the start of an $8.5 million park designed to electrify downtown. 

The kayak park is only one piece of the Poudre River Downtown Park that is expected to draw more people to Old Town and the river district, but it is the most visible and anticipated piece of the project.

The river park is not just for kayakers. A 2008 city survey showed more than half a million people a year use the river corridor — mostly in the summer — for swimming, tubing, picnicking, walking, biking, fishing and bird watching. 

That trend will only increase with the redevelopment of the Poudre River District that is bringing new apartments, businesses, restaurants, breweries and distilleries. 

The park is intended to extend foot traffic from Old Town across Jefferson Street to Linden Street and will include a pedestrian bridge to serve as a gathering spot to watch paddlers.

Land for the park was already mostly owned by the city, including McMurry, Salyer, River's Edge, Gustav Swanson, and Udall natural areas, as well as Lee Martinez, Legacy and Heritage parks. The city spent about $1 million to buy three other parcels along Vine Drive for the park. 

The $8.5 million project is being partially funded by the city's Community Capital Improvement Program tax initiative passed by voters in 2015.  

A committee of whitewater enthusiasts, Poudre Whitewater Park, is raising the $1.5 million needed to build the park's whitewater features. The group expects the whitewater park to be a tourist draw and keep money from kayakers and tubers from heading out of the city to find good water. 

The plan 

The whitewater park will be built on the highly-altered section of the Poudre River east of College Avenue.

Among the first steps in transforming the river and improving water flow is removing the Coy Ditch Diversion dam and boulder‐lined boat chute just east of College Avenue. The work will narrow the river channel, translating to a more natural, faster flow.

Four in‐stream sloping rock features will be built, two of which will create whitewater wave features and holes for kayakers, stand-up paddle boarders and tubers. Shallow play areas will be created near the shore.

The south bank of the river will be reshaped into a a series of terraces with a variety of places to walk, play, sit, sunbathe or people watch. The north bank will be more park-like and natural to support wildlife habitat as well as activities associated with the whitewater park, according to the city's master plan. 

The park is a long time coming, first laid out in a 2014 master plan that spells out improvements from Shields Street to Mulberry Street. Construction on different parts of the plan, referred to as reaches, could take several years. 

The city had hoped to begin work in the river this year, but the permit was delayed partially because of the acquisition of the final parcel on Vine Drive, said Matt Day, project manager for the city of Fort Collins. That means river work will have to wait until next fall when river levels drop.

Day said the park should still be on track to open in the summer of 2019. 

City staff is already working on its site on Vine Drive, cleaning up trees, doing utilities and stormwater work, and creating a staging area for work outside the river. 

"The nice thing about water features is it's not a very long construction time," said Tim O'Hara, who is helping with the fundraising. "It's moving rocks and digging holes. If we did everything in the river next October, it could be done by Jan. 1. As soon as the water starts coming up, it's time to play." 

The estimated economic impact could be between $800,000 and $1 million a year, O'Hara said. "The community will be so proud of it." 

Funding

The delay in permitting cost Poudre Whitewater Park $750,000 when a major donor pulled out, O'Hara said.  Another potential donor stepped up, pledging $1 million.

"We have met the goal of $1.5 million in private funding, therefore, the (city's) money is officially committed to the project," he said. 

As private donors, "we are pushing the city to add a third recreational feature" farther downstream. It would amend a current feature to be recreational rather than a fish passage. 

"It is our understanding from the whitewater engineers that this is a fairly easy change that should not delay the project any further," O'Hara said. The additional features create a better project and speed up the process by doing all the river work at the same time, he said. 

More large donations could come in if the city is willing to explore and accelerate the recreational possibilities farther downstream, O'Hara said. 

Three-legged stool

While the whitewater kayak park gets most of the attention, Day said the park is really a three-legged stool that includes the whitewater features, access to the river and stormwater improvements.

"It's a highly urban area that's choked up," he said.

"Removing the old Coy Ditch diversion and lowering the river by 6 feet allows the opportunity to get better conveyance (access) and places for people," he said. 

In addition to obstacles posed to recreation, the area also has significant floodplain problems, according to the city. Anyone who has lived in the city during heavy rains knows debris and detritus often get caught in the bridge piers and railroad trestle, leading to flooding near Martinez Park and Colorado State University's Powerhouse. 

Removing the Coy Diversion Ditch and boat chute while lowering the channel bed will prevent the river from over-topping College Avenue during a 100-year flood.  

Modifications will also substantially improve aquatic and riparian habitat, stream health and function, and the floating/boating experience, according to the city's master plan. 

"The new sloping rock features would be designed to allow fish passage, creating aquatic connectivity that hasn't existed (in this part of the river) since the Coy Diversion was constructed," according to the city's master plan. 

"It's a pragmatic approach that allows us to rebuild the whitewater features and build back in fish passage," Day said. It's about public private partnerships coming together and collaborating and making this project go, he said.