Citizen group to be created for river corridor project

MONTROSE  — A committee of community stakeholders will be created to establish a consistent river corridor plan for the city, as determined in Thursday’s City Council work session.

Senior City Planner Garry Baker went before council Thursday to update its members on the river corridor project and ultimately recommend that the city create a citizen group.

After several open houses on the project, Baker said major stakeholders were split on the different components of the project. He believes a smaller 11-member citizen committee could narrow down the ideas, creating a consistent plan that could be established into a city ordinance.

The city’s comprehensive plan is clear that there needs to be a 100-foot buffer between pavement or buildings and the river’s edge. However, details and exemptions need to be hammered out.

To apply for the committee, citizens must submit a letter of request to the city’s office, 433 S. First St., in care of City Clerk Teri Colvin. The letter should indicate their affiliation regarding the river corridor (land owner, interested citizen). Deadline is June 19.

After reviewing the letters of interest, city council will appoint the committee at its July 2 council meeting. The committee would probably meet about three times in August and early September, and present recommendations to council after, Baker said.

Baker said he’d like to see land owners, developers, realtors, river advocates, along with recreation and citizen interests, represented. He said the idea is to work with everyone first, to see if a consensus can be met.

Preserving the river corridor was one of the highest ranked objectives stated by the community during the 2008 comprehensive plan update process. This led the city staff to move forward with implementing the plan.

In January, the city held several open houses at the Montrose Pavilion to get input, during which large aerial maps of different sections of the Uncompahgre River, creeks and waterways within the city, were displayed.

Buffers, which are natural vegetation areas along waterways, were highlighted on the maps, along with details for the proposed River Corridor Overlay Zone (RCOZ). Three RCOZs were proposed.

A 100-foot buffer, measured from the edge of the average yearly high water mark, would provide open space, room for recreation trails, and help to preserve the natural state of the river, Baker said.

“The (comprehensive) plan is clear about the 100-foot buffer, but we needed to elaborate on that,” he said.

The proposed conditional uses described by the city include bridge crossing, public streets and public utility crossing. It also includes plazas, outdoor cafes, kayak parks and other similar uses.

“Every (city) plan since 1978 has identified the river as an asset,” Baker said. “It’s asked for development that takes advantage of the river ... bait shops or cafes next to the river, they can make economic use of the river in an environmental way.”

The maps also showed a 300-foot river corridor managed-use area proposed by the city. This buffer would include the 100-foot buffer, but extend pass that, prohibiting hazardous or sanitary waste landfills, auto or mobile home sales and wrecking yards to be placed within that area.

The plans also included a buffer averaging and incentives. The distance of a buffer may be reduced to 50 feet for up to 50 percent of the river frontage if different features, such as orientating a building towards the river or a 20-foot public trail corridor, are incorporated into the site.

More information on the project can be found on the city’s Web site, www.cityofmontrose.org and click on department services; planning & building; planning; river/stream overlay zone.

Contact Kati O’Hare via e-mail at katio@montrosepress.com