Human-caused damage to the Left Hand Creek riparian corridor adjacent to Left Hand Creek Park will cost at least $9,000 to fix in a time when the city’s budget is already constrained, Longmont officials say.
Damage to the corridor in south Longmont includes a bike skill course and creek access, both created by the public without approval by the city. The riparian corridor is considered “sensitive,” according to the website for Loris and Associates Consulting Engineers, which provided design services for the pathway.
City council on Tuesday will consider three options on how best to fix the damage:
- Leaving the disturbed riparian corridor as is but preventing further damage by spending $9,000 in unbudgeted funds to cordon off the corridor, putting in signs and adding city ranger patrols. At a future date, crews could restore the corridor through ongoing open space restoration efforts, according to a city staff report. The bike skills use course also would be blocked, which would be counter to a petition signed by 2,000 people that calls for keeping the course in place.
- Spending $35,000 in unbudgeted dollars to remove the bike skills area from the creek corridor, improve creek access to minimize erosion and protect and restore all other disturbed bank areas.The city would have to increase ranger patrols to enforce the closure. The closest bike skills area is the Dickens Farm Nature Area, a 2.5-mile greenway trail ride without street crossings..
- Relocating the bike skills course, improving existing creek access and restoring and protecting the disturbed area within the riparian corridor at a cost of $115,000.
A proposed site for a new bike skills area is on land not currently owned by the city, the staff report states.
City council’s contingency fund could fund some of all of the improvements to the area, according to the report.
