Agenda Date: 06/16/2025
Subject:
Title
City Ditch Project Overview
Body
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Prepared By: |
Sara Dusenberry, Senior Planner Ryan Germeroth, Deputy Director of Public Works & Utilities |
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Presentations: |
Sara Dusenberry, Senior Planner |
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Brent Soderlin, Director of Public Works & Utilities Ryan Germeroth, Deputy Director of Public Works & Utilities Stephanie Ellis, Engineer III, City of Englewood |
PURPOSE:
To provide an informational update of Englewood’s City Ditch project and to provide an overview of the outcome of the conversations with City Council regarding the Slaughterhouse Gulch flume.
LONG-TERM OUTCOME(S) SERVED:
Vibrant Community with a Rich Culture
High Quality Governance
DISCUSSION:
Brief History of City Ditch
City Ditch was one of the first irrigation canals in the state and runs water from the South Platte River to Denver. The 26 mile stretch was initially started in 1861, with the beginning of ditch more closely located to what is downtown Littleton. Due to the Civil War, construction was halted and restarted in 1964. The ditch was completed in 1867, with the start located nearly four miles upstream. Richard Little, founder of Littleton, was responsible for surveying the stretch of land to ensure the water flowed appropriately and noted the original location of the ditch would not be effective inmoving water. Construction of the ditch and the ability to move water in a highly arid landscape was a catalyst for much of the development within the region. Richard Little utilized the abandoned ditch to channel water from the Platte, allowing for the construction of the Rough and Ready Mill.
Utilizing gravity to move water required the use of flumes to move water across features like gulches or side streams. The flumes effectively acted as bridges to allow water to move across these features. The original flumes would have likely been constructed from wood. The use of steel would have come later when shipping the material to the region was easier and more cost effective. A steel flume structure currently exists over Slaughterhouse Gulch in Littleton and was likely constructed in the 1940s. The structure is currently in use today to provide water to the City of Englewood.
City Ditch Project Overview
The City of Englewood is planning to pipe the open channel City Ditch in both Slaughterhouse Gulch Park in 2025 and in Lee Gulch in a future year. They will also pipe a portion of the ditch in Belleview Park to the north of Littleton limits. City Ditch is Englewood’s primary water supply source so piping the ditch will improve the quality, sustainability, resiliency, and safety of the water source. The design effort for this project started in the fall of 2022. Community outreach and coordination was included as a part of the project, including meetings with Historic Littleton, Inc. Due to the potential removal of the flume structures, a request was made by representatives of Historic Littleton, Inc. to consider keeping the flume structures. The City of Littleton then hired a consultant to assess the condition of the flume and provide cost estimates to repair, relocate, and maintain it.
During a Council study session presentation on April 22nd, 2025 regarding the condition of the City Ditch flume structures, City Staff provided an overview of the consultant condition assessment reports for the flume structure and the costs to repair and then maintain the structure either in place or relocated to another location. Based on the condition assessments the flume structure is leaking, has corroded steel, has spalled concrete, is missing anchor bolts, and has exposed or undermined foundations. Englewood addressed the undermined foundation in the Fall of 2024. Most of these deficiencies are rated as “serious” or “high” need in the assessment reports. The full inspection report has been included with this summary memo. Given the extent of the maintenance needs, the costs for repair or relocation are expected to be extensive and the flume could pose a safety risk once abandoned, especially if left in place. After discussion, Council directed staff to work with Englewood to save a portion of the flume for use in commemorating the structure and have the Englewood project remove the remainder of the structure. Council also asked to be given more details on the project scope and agreements needed between Littleton and Englewood for the Englewood City Ditch piping project.
As a follow up to Council’s request for more detail on the project agreements, City Staff presented to Council at the study session on May 27th, 2025 to provide an overview of the agreements between Littleton and Englewood that are needed to create new easements, relinquish old easements, and transfer property. These agreements will be brought to Council on July 15th for consideration of approval. Staff also informed Council of a planned presentation to the Historic Preservation Commission on June 16th.
The following provides a summary of the key terms and conditions for each of the agreements.
• Intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Englewood (Slaughterhouse Gulch Park Only)
o Effective during the construction project only
o Englewood will pay a $216,500 mitigation fee due to trees removed with the project limits
o Englewood is responsible for all project management duties and costs
o Englewood will coordinate with Littleton on schedule and review tasks
o Englewood will stabilize the bank of the abandoned ditch per exhibit included
o Englewood will preserve a section of the flume as identified by Littleton and then remove the remainder of the existing flume structure
• Temporary construction easements
o Effective during the construction project only
o Allows temporary access to Littleton property for Englewood to construct City Ditch project
o Grants permission for the staging or storage of equipment and materials
o Includes exhibits showing the easement area(s)
o Requires Englewood project to have insurance as outlined in agreement
o Requires Englewood project to restore surface of easement area back to the same pre-project condition
• Relinquishment and grant of permanent easements
o Relinquishes City Ditch easement rights for abandoned portions of the ditch after new alignment is constructed and operational
o States that relinquishment of easement rights will be recorded via a quit claim deed
o Includes reference to exhibit showing the relinquished area in quit claim deed
o States that other than bank stabilization agreed to in IGA, Englewood has no obligation to fill or otherwise restore abandoned ditch in relinquished area
o Establishes permanent easement areas to Englewood for newly constructed City Ditch alignment
o Includes an exhibit showing the new easement area(s)
o Easement allows Englewood to operate, maintain, construct, repair, replace, or remove water pipeline within the area of the new easement
o After maintenance activities, Englewood is only required to restore the primary surface of the easement area (i.e. asphalt, dirt, gravel) and not any above surface features installed by Littleton (i.e. vegetation, curb, gutter, sidewalk, streetlights, or other infrastructure)
o Allows Littleton access to new easement area for the regular and emergency maintenance of sanitary or storm sewer owned by Littleton
• Quit claim deed regarding abandoned easements & infrastructure
o Records relinquishment of easement rights to abandoned portions of the ditch
o Englewood releases and quit claims to Littleton all rights, title, and interests of Englewood in the relinquished area including any infrastructure located in the relinquished area
Council asked for some clarification on when the quit claim deed would be recorded but did not provide any feedback on changing the terms of the agreements. This included the IGA which includes text on both the stabilization of the abandoned ditch bank, the preservation of a piece of the flume, and the removal of the remaining flume structure.
FISCAL IMPACTS
The tree fee of $216,500 as outlined in the intergovernmental agreement will be a revenue source to the City. Currently, there are no other fiscal impacts to the City as a part of this project under the current direction from Council to remove the remainder of the flume structure with the Englewood Project.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
N/A
ALTERNATIVES
There are likely several alternatives for how best to commemorate the abandoned portion of the ditch in Slaughterhouse Gulch Park, including the piece of the flume structure saved by the Englewood project. Further conversations will be needed with both Historic Littleton Inc. and the Historic Preservation Commission on how to successfully do this whether in Slaughterhouse Gulch Park or at the Littleton Museum.