Let’s Improve the Park Hill Creek Watershed

Recently I was privileged to speak with a class of Environmental Design students at the University of Colorado in Boulder regarding the Park Hill Creek watershed. They are working with some Denver agencies to address stormwater quality problems in that watershed.

My primary goal was to encourage an approach that would simultaneously address flood risk, water quality, bike/pedestrian transportation, connectivity of parks and open space, enhancing the aesthetics of the community, recreation and health opportunities, and wildlife habitat.  Sounds pretty ambitious!

The goal of my goal – simultaneously addressing all of the issues listed above – is to enable the connection of people and their communities with their watersheds. I invite each of you neighbors to join me, and others, in exploring possibilities for and obstacles to such connection.

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” – Albert Einstein

In that spirit, I’m inventorying the watershed to enable you, the readers (including myself and my family living in Park Hill) to decide what kind of connection you might like to encourage. I’ll try to make it possible for you to envision both the possibilities and the challenges.

Here’s flood risk information for the watershed. The city’s Public Works Department has retained a consultant to model a flood event having a 1 percent chance in any given year (commonly called a 100-year flood) along Park Hill Creek.

I’ve split the watershed into three segments below. In the maps at bottom, the blues illustrate shallow flooding, then the colors go to yellows, etc., showing progressively deeper flooding:

Upstream Segment (Colfax Avenue to 26th Avenue)

The highest point in the Park Hill Creek watershed is outside Park Hill, at 12th Avenue and Pontiac (the site of the Richthoffen Castle).

There’s shallow flooding along the East Branch of Park Hill Creek between Olive and Poplar at the crossing of Colfax. That flow path continues on its north/northwesterly course through the western edge of the Johnson & Wales campus.

A tributary drainage, originating near 17th Avenue and Niagara and flowing toward the Philips Elementary School campus, joins the primary path a little north of Montview Boulevard. The consolidated East Branch flows on toward 26th Avenue, between Niagara and Monaco Parkway, with overflow along 26th Avenue as far west as Jasmine, just north of the Smiley Middle School campus.

Meanwhile, the West Branch of Park Hill Creek originates near the intersection of the 17th Avenue Parkway and Leyden. At Montview shallow flooding occurs between Kearney and Jasmine. The flow path continues toward the Smiley campus. At the same time, a tributary starts along 22nd Avenue between Dahlia and Forest. The main flow and tributary flow coalesce at 26th Avenue, with shallow flooding from Dahlia to Holly.

 Middle Segment  (26th Avenue to 38th Avenue)

From 26th Avenue to 30th Avenue, the East Branch consists of street flows from Jasmine/Ivy east to Magnolia. At 30th Avenue the topography splits the flow into two distinct streams.

North of 30th, the eastern stream drains areas as far to the east as Quebec and as far west as Locust.  At 38th Avenue that “streamflow” is mostly confined to Monaco. North of 30th, the western stream drains areas between Ivy and Holly, consolidating at 38th Avenue into a substantial and concentrated flow near the Police Station at 38th and Holly.

From 26th Avenue to Martin Luther King Boulevard the flow pattern of the West Branch of Park Hill Creek is consistent, extending from Hudson to Dahlia. At Martin Luther King Boulevard and then north to 35th Avenue the flow is more concentrated, affecting only Dahlia, Eudora, and Elm. North of 35th Avenue, the stream begins to overflow into the Park Hill Golf Course, west of Dahlia.

Downstream Segment (38th Avenue to 50th Avenue)

Land use patterns north of 38th Avenue permit the stream to look more like a stream than a street drainage network. The stream becomes more and more concentrated until it crosses north Colorado Boulevard, near the US Bank at 49th Avenue.

Several years ago, in the parking lot of that bank, a Denver police officer died trying to save a customer stranded by flash flooding. Driving by on Colorado Boulevard, the danger is not very apparent.

Next month I’ll revisit flooding in the context of inventorying parks and open space in Greater Park Hill. Meanwhile, I’d like to hear where you wonder about drainage patterns, where you like to walk or cycle, where you’d take a jaunt for a burger or an ice cream cone or just to be out and about.

Brian Hyde is an expert in floodplain management and stream restoration. He wants your feedback at westerly_connect_brian@comcast.net or 720-939-6039.