Stalled in the water
With redesign postponed, boaters rally funds for upkeep

SideStory: Whitewater Park benefit set for Saturday

Local boater Aaron Lombardo stands on a rock near Corner Pocket on Tuesday. He and other members of the boating community are coming together to help fund regular maintenance on the Durango Whitewater Park. The city’s planned redesign of the park has been postponed until 2013./Photo by Stephen Eginoire.

by Missy Votel

There is rock, but it will be a few more years before the city rolls on the new Whitewater Park.

Despite the arrival of 3,600 tons of free boulders, courtesy the Glacier Club and National Guard, there will not be enough money in city coffers until 2013 to put them to use.

“Right now, we have it in the 2013 budget,” said Durango’s Director of Parks and Recreation Cathy Metz. “It’s been slower than expected, but it is moving forward.”

Alas, for boaters growing wary of the long wait, there is a trickle of hope. Although the revamped park, including several grouted features, is still a few paddling seasons off, Durango Whitewater is hosting fund-raisers this week to help defray costs of regular maintenance on the park.

Organizers are hoping to raise $6,000 through a downriver race today and a benefit show Saturday night at the Summit. The money will be used to pay for heavy equipment rental this winter for maintenance. Any extra money raised will go toward the future Whitewater Park design.

“We are hoping to have enough to pay for five days of work this winter,” said event organizer Aaron Lombardo. “Five or six days with a trackhoe is a lot of time. I think we’ll be able to do a ton of work.”

The City of Durango has a permit through the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct periodical “required maintenance” on the Whitewater Park. Despite postponement of the new park, Lombardo, who will be working with Durango Whitewater Coach John Brennan, said there is still plenty to be done. Since the last maintenance three or four years ago, several structures have shifted, blown out, become dangerous or filled with sediment.

Of primary concern is the simultaneously loved and feared Corner Pocket, which has changed in character since its initial debut around 2003. Over the years, the hole has developed a “seam” at certain flows that kicks out play boaters, and the service eddy has filled with sediment, requiring potentially sketchy use of a rope at higher flows.

Lombardo said crews will work to clean out the eddy and restore the hole to more of its former self. Despite common belief, he said the hole was not changed by shifting rock within the feature but by changes in the river upstream. “What has changed the hole is the wings above it, which are redirecting the flow,” said Lombardo, “so, we’ll work on reshaping those.”

Plans also call for working on intermediate features such as K-Hole and Clock Tower, making them usable during a wider range of flows. “We are shooting to improve on some more intermediate and beginner structures,” said Lombardo.

The crew would also like to improve the Smelter river-left sneak, which poses a pin hazard. “The funny thing is, if there was a park in town where something existed that they knew could kill someone, you bet the city would want to fix it,” said Brennan.

Brennan stressed the current round of work is meant to be a “band-aid” fix and there will be no grouting of permanent features, as is required by the city’s recreational in-channel diversion water rights. Acquired in 2007, the RICD – which guarantees flows of at least 1,400 cfs, nature willing – must include permanent structures to direct the flow. The only way to ensure this is through use of grout, to cement the structures in place. This requirement kicked off an extensive design review process with help of Scott Shipley’s S2O engineering in Boulder. The city is still awaiting approval of the plan’s 404 permit from the Army Corps, which it expects by year’s end, Metz said.

However, due to other Durango Parks and Recreation needs, including the city’s new multi-purpose fields slated for 2011 at Fort Lewis College, the estimated $1.1 million whitewater park will have to wait. But Metz said fund-raisers such as this week’s are important in demonstrating community support to elected officials and grant benefactors. She pointed to the $42,500 that was raised by various sports associations, including soccer, football and lacrosse, for the new fields. She believes this demonstrated commitment will help the city ultimately procure a $700,000 GOCO grant for the fields. “That really can make a big difference,” Metz said. “We had applied in 2009 and weren’t successful. But with this extra $42,500, I think we’re going to be successful this year. The only difference this time is the community stepped forward. Sometimes even a little cash really makes a big difference.”

While she won’t know for a month on the GOCO grant for the new fields, Metz said a similar scenario is possible with the Whitewater Park. “If funds become available, it is possible we could move construction up to 2012,” she said.

Regardless of time, she said once the city gets its 404 permit, the design will be revisited. “Although the 404 process included design, we do want to get with the community again on what we’re going to do because it’s been such a long time,” said Metz. The ultimate design will include not only in-stream changes but improvements to parts of the river bank as well.

Although the real work is still years off, Lombardo echoed that now is the time for the river community – which can tend to be a laidback lot – to show its support. “We really hope the community will support this,” he said. “If you boat on the Animas and play at the Whitewater Park, you better get your butt down to the Summit.” •