Denver Stormwater Plan Ruffles Feathers

"Critics of Denver's plan to improve the flow of stormwater toward the South Platte River voiced their concerns about the city's push to create a stormwater detention area at City Park Golf Course Saturday morning," reports Katy Canada.

The opposition claims the plan "exclusively benefits development-rich communities in the Platte Valley" while leaving the burden on "long-standing historic neighborhoods." In this case, the burden is the closure of the golf course for two years, the removal of 150 trees, and the demolition of the clubhouse on the site.

The Platte to Park Hill project, as its called, includes three additional components, reports Canada: "a larger outfall on the river at Globeville Landing Park; a new mile-long open drainage channel along 39th Avenue from Franklin to Steele streets, lined with 12 acres of new open space that directs storm runoff toward pipes leading to the outfall; and the creation of a second detention area on the northeast corner of Park Hill Golf Club, to slow the flow of stormwater northward."

Critics of the project compare its methods to that of a widely-criticized project to widen I-70.