NORTHGLENN —A portion of the cement trails that border Webster Lake at E.B. Rains Junior Memorial Park in Northglenn will be closed and rerouted for two months while construction crews repair dam erosion that was caused in part by park-goers wandering off the trails.
The trails that will be repaired have washed-out holes under them where the dam water flows, said Tamara Moon, Northglenn water resources administrator. Without stabilizing, the cement trails would break apart.
“When people walk outside of the trail or the concrete path, they break down the vegetation that supports the dam,” Moon said. “When you get bare ground and it rains, that bare ground starts to wash away and degrade the structure.”
The project will begin in the next week and most of the work should be complete by the end of the year, said Amanda Peterson, manager of Northglenn’s parks and recreation department. About a third of the half-mile trail will be detoured to the south end of the park, which is located just east of City Hall at 11701 Community Center Drive.
“It’s not completely closed,” Peterson said. “There will be a route around the (construction) section on the northeast corner of the park, but people can still walk around the lake.”
Contractors with Commerce City-based Richdell Construction will re-grade the dam slope, stabilize it, and plant landscape and some low fencing to discourage people from walking in and around the dam. They will also build a concrete retaining wall to block off a trampled area on the north end of the park where residents habitually trek off course.
Richdell will return in the spring for about two weeks to finish the landscaping and irrigation.
The total cost of the project is about $100,000, which is covered through a combination of 2013 and 2014 general fund and capital improvement project dollars.
According the most recent state dam inspector’s report in 2011, the Webster Lake dam is in overall good condition. The city is addressing the increasing erosion to prevent flooding from the 14-foot-tall, 1,300-foot-long dam, which is considered a “high-hazard dam” because of its proximity to homes.
Moon said the Webster Lake dam has never flooded, and the city wants to ensure it never happens. Officials began planning and design work for the dam after the report and the inspector’s recommendations came out three years ago.
“It’s a safety hazard right now,” said Moon. “We want to maintain that structure, because if the dam fails, we risk flooding all those houses that are (downhill) from the dam. There are a lot of residents who could be negatively impacted by all that water.”
James Green, 70, has been fishing at Webster Lake for decades. He said the trail rerouting doesn’t matter to him, as long as everything is back to normal by the time he returns next season.
Sheila Shea, 66, takes her grandson Kai Nunnally, 3, to Webster Lake several times a month to feed cracked corn to the geese and play on the playground.
“This is our favorite park — we’re here all the time,” Shea said. “We come even in the winter, so I’m glad that they won’t be closing the trails completely.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or
