Golden—On May 17, the CMC Denver Group, environmental organizations, and over 150 local residents attended the Douglas County Commissioners hearing in Castle Rock to show opposition to a proposed development along Waterton Canyon near Littleton. The development is known as River Canyon, and it will lie between Roxborough and Chatfield State Parks if the Douglas County Commissioners decide to allow a change in zoning from agricultural to residential.
The developer, River Canyon LLC, plans to build 249 two- and three-story homes ranging in price between $250,000 and $850,000, along with an eighteen-hole championship golf course on the south bank of the Platte River.
The Waterton Canyon property borders the Pike National Forest and lies just west of the Dakota Hogback. The Waterton Canyon Trail from the old Kassler Water Treatment Plant to the South Platte townsite is the first segment of the renowned Colorado trail, which extends all the way to Durango.
Waterton Canyon is one of the most ecologically healthy areas along the Front Range. It is the last river canyon without traffic between Colorado Springs and Fort Collins. Many argue that special protection should be granted to this area because it is a species-rich confluence of grassland, mountain, and riparian ecosystems. The Chatfield Basin Conservation Network claims the area is an important wildlife corridor for mountain lion, bighorn sheep, coyotes, deer, and bear. Various types of recreationists also wish to preserve the area because it offers great hiking, running, mountain biking, horseback riding, fishing, kayaking, and awesome wildlife viewing. The Friends of Waterton Canyon Gateway, which has plans to save the River Canyon parcel from development, collected over 9,000 signatures from people who use the nearby areas for recreation and would like to see the area preserved.
Andy Bush, one of River Canyon LLC’s partners and designer of the development plan, says, “we incorporated a lot of community input into our concept.” Bush has held over a hundred meetings with local residents and groups to minimize the number of complaints regarding the development proposal. Bush also worked diligently with the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) to lessen the impacts on migrating wildlife, although even the CDOW agrees that serious changes will occur to the ecosystem at Waterton Canyon after the development is in place. Even though the developers have attempted to lessen the environmental damage to Waterton Canyon, many rare plant and animal species throughout the canyon will likely be displaced from the area due to the development.
Although River Canyon LLC claims to have made many compromises regarding the development, they refuse to reconsider numerous requests by local residents and environmentalists to change the plans by replacing an eighteen-hole championship golf course with designated natural open space. Environmentalists claim pesticides and herbicides applied to the golf course will seep into the Platte River, poisoning wildlife and people. Furthermore, River Canyon LLC has no long-term plans for determining how they will maintain the golf course because the developers don’t even know where they will find a long term water source.
After five hours of hearing comments, the commissioners decided to delay their decision regarding the proposed development until May 30. The CMC will continue to show support for protecting Waterton Canyon. We all hope this long-time favorite hiking area for many CMC members will continue to remain an amazing natural area.
Editor’s note: At press time, The Denver Post reported that Douglas County Commissioners had approved the Waterton Canyon Development.