By Wende Reoch
The Montclair watershed is Denver’s largest drainage basin without an open waterway and has seen several periods of flooding, most recently in 2014 and 2015, with the Mayfair neighborhood in particular experiencing extensive damage from flooding. Over the decades we have paved over the natural percolation system Mother Nature installed and have created a storm water drainage and water quality problem we collectively need to address. The Montclair Basin has been identified as a priority basin for storm drainage improvements and has also been identified as a priority basin for water quality improvement.
You may have read a recent article in a local paper about the Hale Parkway which omits important information, and we wish to encourage you to read the actual plan and the community outreach that has been underway for the past few years so that you may draw your own conclusions. The Registered Neighborhood Organizations in Bellevue-Hale, Mayfair, Crestmoor Park and Hilltop have been involved with and are monitoring this project to express their concerns and to help guide the project, along with several other RNOs, business and community groups over the last 4 years. A project of this magnitude is not without controversy, and again, we encourage you to review the information, learn more about the project and communicate with your City Council Representatives and with your RNO. The Assn will have a community presentation and discussion on the project — which is not expected to start for another few years while the city is working to identify funding — and will keep you posted on the meeting and any updates on the project.
Below are few pages from the Final Report but pages 50 – 74 have a more detailed explanation of the hybrid pipe and open channel strategy that is not adequately covered in the aforementioned article.
